Interesting Observations

Last summer I posted a YouTube video of a comparison between my IC-7000 and IC-9100.  Just listening to some VHF FM chatting going on; I thought I'd see what the difference between the 2 rigs would be - I re-cabled the antenna's to an Alpha Delta switch and was able to switch between them.  That's it, pretty simple.

YouTube Video

When I switched between the 2 rigs, I was pleased with the apparent sensitivity of the 9100 compared to the 7000.  The night was somewhat quiet and there was very little background noise anyway; but still - the 9100 S-Meter was reading S-5 or so with the 7000 having no S-Meter movement.

The interesting thing is that I received a number of comments/e-mails/suggestions that I turn the 7000's pre-amp ON in order to have a "fair comparison" between the 2 rigs.  Adam Farson (AB4OJ) has a FAQ which mentions the S-Meter is calibrated accurately when the Pre-Amp is ON.  Page 148 of the 7000 manual states "Sensitivity (at pre-amp ON)" - which I never noticed at all before this event occurred...

Anyway, I suppose I need to give it a try and see what the difference is - I'm also wondering if the 7000 actually has a 2m/70cm pre-amp built in.  It's on thing to turn on a setting, but it's another for the setting to do something useful.  The 2m/70cm/1.2ghz pre-amp setting for the 9100 is designed to power an external pre-amp - doesn't do anything for the VHF+ bands at all.

Boy Scout - Field Day with Skeet & Radio Fun

I'm back home after a wet, wet weekend.  The weather guys all week long said, "Beautiful weather - upper 50's during the day and possible rain late Sunday afternoon."

Well, they were partially right - Saturday afternoon the temp did warm up to the upper 50's.  However, around 1am on Sunday morning, the downpour that arrived was not very nice :(  Eventually, the tent decided to perform the same function as a river and little rivers flowed through.  There is just nothing like a wet sleeping back to ruin an otherwise pleasant sleep!

Anyway, Saturday was a really nice day - the Scouts had a great time shooting skeet; this year we only shot around 4,000 shells - down from 5,000 last year.  My youngest son ended up shooting 250 shells, has a HUGE bruise on his right shoulder and completed the Shooting Merit Badge requirements by hitting 39/50 skeet!  He (and I) was very excited.

I set up a radio station on Saturday morning and really had a great day!  I took my Icom IC-7000 and Buddipole with me.  The first thing I wanted to do was check in to the Central Virginia 6m Net (50.215) that run every day at 7am and 8am.  The Buddipole aluminum tubing was pretty chilly in the AM as the temp was around 35 degrees or so.  I managed to get the Buddipole set up with a 6m dipole configuration and I heard Ralph (WA4FEG) calling for check-in's to the net!  I was very excited!

(A note on the Buddipole configuration - if you decide to pick on up - you MUST own a antenna analyzer of some sort.  It's just not an option to try with your radio - there is so much variation in locations, coil tap locations, and antenna whip length that you start each band "excercise" in the "general ballpark" and spend a bit of time trying to find a good resonant config.  Takes some time, but I can't imagine how'd I accomplish it with a analyzer!)

Rig Setup at Scout Camp

I used the battery power from the car as the power source.  I had forgotten that I need to run the car when using the IC-7000 on full power - but remembered VERY quickly when I keyed up to check-in to the 6m net.  My IC-7000 immediately power cycled, I jumped out of the chair and started the car, and then tried to check in again - this time success!!!

Buddipole - Set up for 6m configuration

Field Day Setup

My youngest son came on over to visit later in the morning.

My Assistant - Will

 I made a few contacts during the day with folks around the US, Portugal, and heard quite a few from Europe, Canada, Australia, and Mexico - quite a variety.  I had about 8 - 10 scouts talk to other hams during the day; it was pretty fun for everybody involved!  When the day had about ended, I had the opportunity to share a bit of detail with 3 boys who seemed quite interested in obtaining their Tech license - I'll have to follow up with them later on and see if the interest remains.

So, other than some crappy, late Sat night rain, and a cold - it was a great field day!

73 de KJ4WLH (reporting from a nice, dry QTH!)

ICOM IC-7000 Low Power Output RESOLVED!

I've recently been using my Icom IC-7000 inside my house as a convenient way to listen to W1AW Morse Code practice sessions.  One afternoon, I was on 40 meters and decided to have a QSO with a fellow ham. I went to key and noticed that my power output level was peaking around 60 watts +/- or so.  Since I had the power output set at 100% (or 100 watts), I was concerned.  I knew that my antenna was good, the auto tuner had been successfully initiated and was operational.

Hmm, had I managed to break something?  Time to search the Internet for help!

It would seem that I'm not the only person who has had this issue.  The first answer was very common, something along the lines of:  "The IC-7000 needs 13.8 volts; anything less will affect power output."  I was already familiar with that problem - mostly due to my operation in my vehicle.  The IC-7000 worked great when the car was running, but when the car was stopped (engine not running), power output > 50 watts caused the unit to cycle off and back on.  Apparently, the solution for that problem is a "voltage booster."

On to the next "most likely" cause - bad fuses.  Really?  Bad fuses; corrosion?  Well, guess what - yep, that was actually the problem.  I found a good article by AB4OJ - Link Here -> Check out the heading "Low Power Output on Transmit."

I checked the 30 Amp ATC fuses and take a look:

IC-7000 30 Amp ATC Fuses

Notice the nice dark corrosion line across them?  Yeah, I noticed them also.  I took a pocket knife and scratched some of the oxidation off the fuses, put the back in the fuse holders and yep, the IC-7000 went back to transmitting all of 100 watts.

Next step:  get out my dremel and buff the oxidation off the fuses.

73 de KJ4WLH

Icom IC-7000 vs IC-9100 receive comparison

Here's a link to my YouTube comparison.

I was messing around in my shack and got around to doing a side by side comparison of my IC-7000 and IC-9100.  I was curious as to how well or different each transceiver was - the video showed it pretty well.

I was listening to a simplex conversation, the IC-7000 showed no s-meter reading and the IC-9100 show S5 +/-.  Unbelievable!

73 de KJ4WLH

2012 Geek-A-Thon and Radio "Field Day"

Geek-A-Thon 2012 "Field Day" setup

I had the opportunity to "help" the youth of today with a church "Lock-In" - aptly named a "Geek-A-Thon" (GAT).  The GAT is all about playing X-Box 360, PS3, and computer games from 15:00 on a Thursday until 09:00 on Friday - Yeah, 18 straight hours of gaming "fun!"

This year I decided to bring some things that were fun for me :)  I did a mini-field day where I hooked up an 80m Buckmaster and 2m/70cm vertical to my Icom 7000.  A little PSK, some SSB on 6m, 80m, and of course - talking to the local repeater guys as well.

It was a really fun time - EXCEPT for the fact that the assisted living home RIGHT NEXT DOOR had the fire alarm GO OFF about 5 minutes after I started transmitting!  I just knew that I'd triggered the fire alarm system - but NO, someone had been smoking in bed and set their mattress on fire!  Who would have thought that!!!

Anyway, a few boys stopped by and inquired, had some QSO's and just wanted to know what all that "stuff" was about.  It was "about" fun was my response - and it is!

73 de KJ4WLH