No, no, Blurty reader, there's been no new bugs arrive, but a new main HF rig!!
On Wednesday, March 8th, I took delivery of a brand-spanking new Icom IC-756PROIII HF transceiver. It's more radio (and more money) that I would have ever thought of spending on a radio in my life. In fact, I've been pursuing a new rig for nearly 2 years — so long that I was originally going after the Icom IC-756PROII — the earlier model that cost much, much less.
I've eBay'ed a bunch of stuff to get to this point, but I made it.
What can I say about the radio? It's fantastic, an amazing piece of engineering. I don't know where to start with my love of its features — many of which I've not even used.
The band scope is probably one of the biggest things I've come to enjoy. It's an amazing tool to have at your disposal — a visual sweep of the frequency band you're listening too. You can visually “see” where other signals are on the band, which makes it easier to work them (at least in theory).
I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fact there are NO additional filters to buy. I can operate as narrow as I wish for CW and RTTY and even SSB if I wish. I'm not dependant on optional (i.e. expensive) crystals to add to the cost.
Sure you pay for all of these play pretties up front. But the radio really is hard to beat in quality and performance.
I'm not sure how much an improvement the top-end IC-7800 could possibly be over the Pro3. I'm sure the marketing folks at Icom were very careful to make sure there was “enough” difference between them to justify manufacturing a $10,000 transceiver.
I bought the factory external deluxe speaker with AF filters at the same time, and I like the speaker just fine. I don't find the audio filtering that special, but I might change my mind once I try operating in conditions where those filters are helpful. Just general chit-chat isn't exercising the rig much.
Charlie Brown, KI4FZR was my first QSO tonight with the Pro3. He was the first check-in on the 10-meter net.
So far, I continue to learn about how to best use the rig, though I'm still trying to take it all in. I would like to hook up a key to the thing, but I've not yet done that. I need a 1/4-inch stereo phone plug for that. Maybe this week.
Since the arrival of my new “baby” I've not operated ANY Cw. Not for lack of wanting, but I've been consumed with the new rig.
Speaking of CW keys, I DID get a new key — a 1988 Vibroplex Iambic Standard. This one has the gray crackled base and a serial number of 4,xxx. It's in great shape, and news only a couple of small screws on the paddles to be mint. It's a nice piece.
I need next to come up with some wiring for my new HF rig. I need to connect my bug and my keyer to the radio. I might try some iambic keying with my new key for once.
Well, thats it for now, I'm falling asleep here!