First HT Purchase...

[Se7en]

O.K.....Here is the next 2 cents worth!

90% of the time I spend on radio is from the top of various mountains in the U.K.

I generally use H/T's...FT 270, Alinco DJ/G7 (for 23 cms), TH7e (th6 in U.S) a Wouxan and an Icom E90 for four meters and sometimes I haul an 817 and slab up as well.

Antennas are a Diamond X5000 for 2/70 and 23 and a slim jim for four.

The reason I'm explaining this, is because my usage of H/T's is pretty different from most folks usage but it does however, give me an interesting insight into the 'peculiarities' of their performance under the onslaught of high levels of amateur and non amateur R.F.

H/T's seem to have a fairly basic immunity to extraneous R.F. other than the desired frequency and the amount of 'noise' some let through from paging systems, data transmitters, microwave links etc etc is pretty horrendous, and at times, and on some summits, can make the radio worse than useless.

I took a VX7 up a summit at around 3000 ft asl and the incoming signals were desensed to a point that I couldn't make good copy with any other stations....I changed over to an old Alinco DJ/G5 and was able to work everyone that called in.......Interestingly, from the excellent vantage point that I had, I could see no signs of any commercial transmitting sites whatsoever.

Since then, I have tried many different H/T's, in various locations and heights
and the VX range come out badly, without exception.

My experiments with portable radios has been an interesting journey and many H/T's have been discarded along the way, with the Yaesu FT 530 being the biggest disappointment and the Yaesu FT 270 proving itself to be an absolute cracker.

However, this is based on my usage and most will find that in day to day radio play they don't have a problem with breakthrough....Well, perhaps not, untill they connect a high gain external antenna!

Regards, Ken.

Thanks for the read. Cheers

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[KF7RUQ]

O.K.....Here is the next 2 cents worth!

............... Regards, Ken.

Thanks for the explanation.....

 

[Se7en]

Th-f6a was here before I woke up thanks ups. Pictures to come shortly

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mudfoot]

Th-f6a was here before I woke up thanks ups. Pictures to come shortly

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I want one of those... Still saving for a car. :banghead:

 

[Mudfoot]

I'd like to know how the HF SSB behaves.

 

[Se7en]

I'd like to know how the HF SSB behaves.

Not too bad. Keep in mind today sucks bullocks !!!! I woke up and its been freaken overcast so much for my 5mi hike !!!

So ill upload pics in just a second.
Iv been listening to the air band, chp, am braudcast on the rubber ducky for ssb hf at home I plug in the 10m vert and it receiving ssb and cw no problem. Once it clears up maybe tmrw ill go up a mountain and make video of HT

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Se7en]

Diamond CR320A mobile used on ht on desk work good!

 

[unit248]

I've owned a Kenwood TH-F6A for several years. (I'm a long-time Kenwood fanatic; I've got 3 Kenoowd HF rigs to go with the HT). It's a nice little radio and I've never had any problems with it. I also got the hand-mic, SMA to SO-239 adapter and the computer interface cable.

One thing I wanted to share was that in addition to the Kenwood-supplied programming software, there is a document available that describes the command set that the radio understands. You can download it from here:

Kenwood TH-F6A/TH-F7E Protocol Specification

This is handy if you want to write your own programs to interact with the radio. I used this to write a couple of scripts to dump and re-load all of the memory channels. Most people might not need this, but it's nice to have if you're like me and want to tinker. There's nothing you can do via the computer interface that you can't also do using the keypad, so a computer isn't required for setting up the memories, but software makes it easier to manage them.

Note that Kenwood apparently doesn't publish this info: K6MAY reverse-engineered it all on his own.

One thing you might want to watch out for: I've noticed that over the years, the buttons on the left size of the keypad have developed some wear on their left edges. I think this is from rubbing against my jacket when I have the radio clipped to my belt. The buttons are transparent on the inside to allow the backlight to show through and have a dark coating on them and this coating can rub off.

-Bill

 

[Se7en]

I've owned a Kenwood TH-F6A for several years. (I'm a long-time Kenwood fanatic; I've got 3 Kenoowd HF rigs to go with the HT). It's a nice little radio and I've never had any problems with it. I also got the hand-mic, SMA to SO-239 adapter and the computer interface cable.

One thing I wanted to share was that in addition to the Kenwood-supplied programming software, there is a document available that describes the command set that the radio understands. You can download it from here:

Kenwood TH-F6A/TH-F7E Protocol Specification

This is handy if you want to write your own programs to interact with the radio. I used this to write a couple of scripts to dump and re-load all of the memory channels. Most people might not need this, but it's nice to have if you're like me and want to tinker. There's nothing you can do via the computer interface that you can't also do using the keypad, so a computer isn't required for setting up the memories, but software makes it easier to manage them.

Note that Kenwood apparently doesn't publish this info: K6MAY reverse-engineered it all on his own.

One thing you might want to watch out for: I've noticed that over the years, the buttons on the left size of the keypad have developed some wear on their left edges. I think this is from rubbing against my jacket when I have the radio clipped to my belt. The buttons are transparent on the inside to allow the backlight to show through and have a dark coating on them and this coating can rub off.

-Bill

Hey Bill, sent you a pm.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2