Sunday, May 29, 2005

Amateur Radio things

One of my other hobbies is amateur radio. This past weekend I attended what is most likely the largest amateur radio gathering in the world, the Dayton Hamvention, in Dayton, Ohio. Most of the amateur radio manufacturers and dealers are there and the are several hundred (maybe even a couple of thousand) people selling or swapping items at the outdoor flea market. For the most part, I didn't see anything new or earth-shattering within the amateur radio world, but during my last hour of attendance, I noticed that Icom had unveiled a new HF/VHF/UHF transceiver, the IC-7000. This radio looks quite a bit like the IC-706MkIIG, but has a color display and a bandscope. It apparently also incorporates IF-DSP. I had previously been researching the Yaesu FT-897D as I would like to start portable operation, but I think that with the right choice of battery, I could use a radio such as the IC-7000. It would just be a matter of lowering the RF output. The Yaesu 897D and the Icom IC-7000 are both 100W radios on HF, but the 897D only outputs 20W when on its internal battery packs. I think that a Buddipole system and a good HF/VHF/UHF antenna analyzer would round out a decent portable station. Now I just need to work on the Morse Code so that I can get out of the no-code Tech level.

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