Date: Sat, 28 May 94 04:30:20 PDT From: Ham-Equip Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Ham-Equip-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Ham-Equip@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Ham-Equip Digest V94 #163 To: Ham-Equip Ham-Equip Digest Sat, 28 May 94 Volume 94 : Issue 163 Today's Topics: HF starter rig recommendations (was Re: Bizarre QST Statement) Need phone number for R.L. Drake Quiet computers TVRO dish wanted (cheap) Yaesu Ft840 Or Kenwood Ts140 Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Ham-Equip Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/ham-equip". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 12:38:24 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hplextra!hplb!hpwin055.uksr!hpqmoea!dstock@network.ucsd.edu Subject: HF starter rig recommendations (was Re: Bizarre QST Statement) To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu Vinod Narayanan (vinod@watson.ibm.com) wrote: : So, please send me your advice on what I should look for in a used : HF rig. I expect to be able to spend around $400-$450 max, for the : rig, tuner, and power supply. So: I'm not sure of prices in your part of the world : - What models would fit the above criteria? More a case of which radios are still worth having despite age or problems sufficient to drop them into that price range. This means either very old, very undesirable or faulty. Some radios do well in old age, some radios considered undesirable by almost everyone are actually good, and I've come across a few faulty examples of desirable radios at very low prices. You do have a chance of success. You depend on luck for something worthwhile to be available in your area when you look. You'll probably need some experienced help as a cheap radio is likely either to have some faults or else to be unreliable through age. This is inevitable, but you'll learn a lot. : - What features should I look for? Most advertised "features" are trivia. You can have plenty of fun with a very plain radio. Decide what bands you need (many older radios miss the 3 new "WARC" bands). You should look for something in reasonable condition, or that could easily be put into reasonable condition. Treat this radio as a learning exercise, it is probably only the first of several you will own, don't try to do or get everything at once. : - What should I avoid? I agree with the "Bizarre" advice. If your radio has to have valve (tube) outputs, go for something with 6146's rather than TV valves. Both work, but the 6146's are much more tolerant of you learning how to tune up. With a few exceptions, the 6146 radios are a bit newer, and might be in better condition as a result. Early FT101 models used TV tubes and took some skill in setting them up after new tubes were fitted, FT101Z and FT101ZD bear little relationship to the other 101's, they use 6146. The FT901 was a 6146 radio and was the real parent of the FT101Z and 'ZD The old Drakes have really nice receivers, but you do need to be quick when tuning their transmitters. The Trio/Kenwood TS530 and TS830 competed with the FT101ZD and FT901 and are worthwhile. These radios can kill inexperienced, or incautious people trying to repair them. Nowadays most people are not used to handling high voltages. : - Can I get something which is all solid-state for the above price : range? Perhaps. The TS120 TS130 are fairly plain, but work OK. You could save some money by using a car battery and a charger as a power source. I'm not a fan of the TS430 as they do seem to be fairly unreliable, and the TX output is not as clean as I'm prepared to use on the air. The FT757 has a poor receiver which is easily overloaded. An old FT707 is another possibility, a bit small, packed and fiddly to work on. I rather like the FT107, a radio that never really caught on, but quite decent, it deserved far greater popularity. The older ICOMs are a mixed bunch, there seemed to be a period of them made with lots of dry solder joints, followed by a period of radios blighted by the fears of data loss killing the radio when a battery dies. I don't know exactly which radios are at risk. Later ICOMS are very desirable indeed, if you find a faulty/damaged IC735 it could be well worth repairing I rate these as performing comparably to many of the current top price band radios. If you take the buy-a-dead-one-to-fix route, I should point out that Ten-Tec have a fabulous reputation for parts availability and helpfulness. Their radios are the easiest to work on and cheap to repair. If I had to get myself a really good radio as first priority, and then wanted to minimise the cost, I'd go looking for a faulty CorsairII and get my soldering iron warming. : I am cross posting this to rec.radio.amateur.equipment as that : is probably a more appropriate group for followups. Also, please : feel to email directly to me, and I will summarize to the net. It is the right place. I wish people would try the most suitable group first, and then try others if the result was unsatisfactory. Crossposting spoils the purpose of having the separate groups. Sorry, just a pet niggle... Hope I've been able to help a bit, strictly my own opinions, David GM4ZNX ------------------------------ Date: 27 May 94 16:16:39 GMT From: agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!library.ucla.edu!csulb.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!netcomsv!skyld!jangus@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Subject: Need phone number for R.L. Drake To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu In article <1994May27.004741.11071@VFL.Paramax.COM> rossi@VFL.Paramax.COM writes: > > I need the phone number for Drake. I have seen it posted in the past. > Anybody have it? R.L. Drake: 1 513 866 2421 Amateur: WA6FWI@WA6FWI.#SOCA.CA.USA.NOAM | "You have a flair for adding Internet: jangus@skyld.grendel.com | a fanciful dimension to any US Mail: PO Box 4425 Carson, CA 90749 | story." Phone: 1 (310) 324-6080 | Peking Noodle Co. Hate "Green Card Lottery"? Want to help curb ignorant crossposting on Usenet? E-mail ckeroack@hamp.hampshire.edu for more information, or read news.groups. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 13:27:11 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!mixcom.com!kevin.jessup@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Quiet computers To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu In greg@netcom.com (Greg Bullough) writes: >Here's a different subject... >What specific brands/models of PCs have folks found to be particularly >good or bad with regard to RF hash generated, and suseptability to >RF fields? For what it's worth... My 2-meter packet system consists of a Yaesu FT2400H radio, a Kantronics KPC3 TNC and a Hewlett-Packard HP100LX palmtop computer. All running within 6 inches of each other on a small end-table. No problems. -- /`-_ kevin.jessup@mixcom.com | Vote Libertarian! { }/ | \ / N9SQB, ARRL, Amateur Radio | Call 1-800-682-1776 |__*| N9SQB @ WA9POV.#MKE.WI.USA.NA | for more information. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 94 02:25:57 -0500 From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!news.delphi.com!usenet@network.ucsd.edu Subject: TVRO dish wanted (cheap) To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu Looking for low cost dish antenna. usable in the 3.5 - 4.5 Ghz range. 5-10 foot. low cost or trade some computer stuff. (have lots) tnx Dave KJ6FY-1 BBS or daveaustin@delphi.com KD6BYV ------------------------------ Date: 26 May 94 21:08:00 -0500 From: blkcat!org!fidonet!z1!n109!f239!David.Edger@uunet.uu.net Subject: Yaesu Ft840 Or Kenwood Ts140 To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu The TS-140S is a fine basic rig that works well, has good audio, and a pretty fair receiver. I have one that I used for a while before I upgraded to the TS440S. The 440S does give you more for the money, but for the price it is hard to beat the TS140S. GL and DX, 73 Dave AA5NU --------- Fidonet: David Edger 1:109/239 Internet: David.Edger@f239.n109.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Date: 27 May 94 09:18:51 -0500 From: yale.edu!noc.near.net!news.tufts.edu!news.hnrc.tufts.edu!jerry@yale.arpa To: ham-equip@ucsd.edu References <9405261202.AA19929@umassmed.UMMED.EDU>, <2s2p2s$j7v$2@rosebud.ncd.com>, <2s2scq$17a8@watnews1.watson.ibm.com>s Subject : Re: Copying W1AW (was Re: HF starter rig recommendations) In article <2s2scq$17a8@watnews1.watson.ibm.com>, vinod@watson.ibm.com (Vinod Narayanan) writes: > I > was thinking of getting a tranceiver to listen to W1AW code practice, > but instead got a ten-tec single band kit, which I am goint to build > this weekend, thus postponing the tranceiver purchase until after > I have my novice ticket. Don't overlook the possibility of using your shortwave receiver to listen to W1AW. Even an inexpensive portable should bring it in loud and clear on one frequency or another (as long as it has USB/CW capability). ------------------------------ End of Ham-Equip Digest V94 #163 ******************************