Monday, May 25, 2020
This afternoon I enlisted the help of my son to help me repair my inverted vee that is the main HF antenna for Studio A.
One leg of the antenna had pulled apart at an earlier splice I made; that was many months ago. Then last summer, my wife drove her car around the house and pulled my twinlead feedline apart.
In the process of repair the break, my son found an earlier repair that I now remember never soldering — and one conductor was open. Yikes! I soldered everything securely now, and we hoisted the antenna back in its place at the top of an old maple tree.
In the last week or so, I had been working some to clean up the main shack, which meant moving some of the stuff into storage either upstairs or downstairs. Anyway, with the antenna repaired, I knew I wanted to operate from my main operating position!
After supper (my wife’s homemade Reuben sandwiches), I retired to the shack to continue cleaning up, and cleared the floor (and a path) to the operating desk. Oh brother, did it feel GREAT to take that seat for the first time in probably two years!
My inaugeral contact back in Studio A was going to be my Georgia CW net I decided, and back on my Yaesu FT-2000. Oh, how I missed my FT2K! Oh, man, what a fantastic rig! I know I’ve said that my FT-950 is close to the FT-2000, but it sure felt great to be back in front of my beloved main rig! I’ve had thoughts of selling my FT-950 and some other HF rigs to buy a second FT-2000 for use here in Studio B.
I decided not to check in on my CW net with a bug; I hadn’t operated a bug in many, many months, no use embarrassing myself with half-assed CW! I used my Vibrocube standard, and boy howdy, it felt great to use my old key again.
After the net, I connected a early 1960s Vibroplex Lightning Bug Deluxe and practiced sending. It took a little time, but I think my fist could pass muster on my CW net.
I also fired up a couple of my other rigs at the operating position in Studio A … a Ten-Tec Paragon and my old Hallicrafters FPM-300. I didn’t make any contacts with either rig, but I monitored my usual haunts on 75 meters. I enjoy operating the Paragon, the receiver is pretty damn good. The real surprise was the FPM-300 — once it warmed up a bit, it was very stable. Those rigs have a reputation for drifting; in fact, I bought a huff-n-puff frequency stabilizer for that rig, just never installed it. Maybe now I will.
I last operated the rig with a D-104 and got decent audio reports.
All in all, it was a great return to Studio A, and while I like my FT-950, I would swap it in a heartbeat for a FT-2000.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK SK …. (dit dit) …