Saturday, May 23, 2020
FILTER YOUR ENTHUSIASM. While working to have some sort of audio filtering set to work with my Yaesu FT-817 — which lacks any kind of CW filter — I also took a look at a couple of my other rigs here in Studio B.
YAESU FT-847. The FT-847 came with the optional Collins 500Hz CW filter, which works quite well. I’m glad that Yaesu discontinued the use of its function tuning knob arrangement it used on the 847. Maybe if I used the rig more I would become more skilled at its use. To me its clunky. I almost always overshoot my intended frequency.
RS-918. This little 15 watt rig is fully equipped with IF level DSP; it isn’t lacking for any filtering!
FT-950. This rig is equipped with the same DSP found on its big brother, the FT-2000. Works fantastic.
FT-817. I work mostly CW, and what I didn’t realize about this rig when I bought it — at a bargain basement price — was just how damned expensive the CW filter is.
As I mentioned here some time back, I purchased an inexpensive audio filter kit to run with the 817 … but I needed a lower wattage soldering iron.
Our local Radio Shack store finally reopened this week — woo hoo! The first thing I did was to buy a low-wattage soldering pencil so I can complete my audio filter kit I purchased to compliment my Yaesu FT-817.
The 500Hz CW filter is crazy expensive for the rig, and given how inexpensive the audio filter kit was, I was willing to give it a shot. Of course, now that I have the appropriate soldering pencil, I can’t locate the kit! I put it safely back in the box … somewhere. My fear is that in my wife’s recent storm of cleaning (she doesn’t just clean, she bulldozes says she), the kit, which weighed damn little, may have ended up in the garbage when it was assumed to be an empty box. ARRGH!
I’m hopeful it will still turn up, I’m just not sure where the hell it might be. In the meantime, I have a brand-new soldering iron ready to rock and roll.
ANOTHER MFJ-259B?? Yep. This must have been a really late-night purchase. I vaguely remember submitting a low-ball offer on this thing, never expecting to get it. Its been sitting in its box now for quite some time. I finally opened it this morning to see what was in the box.
The unit shows a lot of wear, dirt and grime, but it works fine. A previous owner added a toggle switch to shut the batteries off ; the original power button was a square, nearly flush-mounted push button switch. My guess is that it was easy to turn the analyzer on, running down the batteries in the process — and it takes a gob of batteries, too. The toggle switch allows you to isolate the battery pack, not a bad idea.
I bought this unit to have upstairs in Studio C. What I would really like to add upstairs is another MFJ-986 Differential T antenna tuner. I have been a very devoted fan of the Heathkit 2040/2060 antenna tuners and I still own 3 or 4 of them, but if I have a choice of tuners (give the same antenna), my personal favorite is the MFJ-986.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z …. SK SK …. (dit dit)