Friday, July 9, 2021
I have my Drake TR-7 unearthed (meaning that I’ve taken the Vibroplex Lightning Bug, the Cedar Rapids bug, and the Bunnell Gold Bug off the top of the radio), and have it ready to haul upstairs.
I don’t have a damned power cable for it, so I’m going to have to use the original Drake PS-7, which frankly is one heavy S.O.B. It does have a handle to make carrying a little easier, but its still quite heavy.
In the process of getting the Drake ready to move to Studio C, I also found something believed to be long gone — the faceplate for an Icom IC-706 rig. I don’t remember why I removed the faceplate, but the radio and faceplate became separated years ago. I had just about given up hope of finding it, and has actually shopped for another on eBay.
But since the rig is the original IC-706 circa 1995, I really wasn’t that interested in plunking down cold hard cash for a faceplate.
IC-706 MINI-REVIEW. I own two of the first version 706 rigs, and they perform reasonably well. However, I also own two IC-706MkIIGs, and they have receivers that are head-and-shoulders above that of the first version. The white noise of the original 706 is just tough to listen to. Maybe its the tiny built-in speaker.
The MkIIG is a better rig all the way around, with some nice refinements. Right now I’m looking for a power cable for the rig … I have several in the original shack, but its so junked up with boxes from packing, I can’t find a blasted thing. I just want to check out the 706 and run it on CW and voice for a while.
I’m not using either of the 706s right now; one of the MkIIGs is in the main shack and was dedicated to 6 meter operation. The other MkIIG is in a Pelican case with an antenna and power supply for emergency/Field Day use.
I have a 6 meter vertical antenna to install sometime, and then I’ll put my MkIIG back on 6 meters. Whenever I was in the shack, I would turn the rig on the phone calling frequency and lightly squelch it. Anytime the squelch broke I checked for signals on the band. It was a good way to catch band openings.
I may put a rig in my new-to-me Dodge Journey. There’s a nice cubby hole in the dash end of the console, and a compact HF rig — like the MkIIG should fit. We’ll see.