So, in essence, this is a shout-out to any Amateur Radio Operators out there who use OS X…what features are important in a contest logger.  What features would be on your “nice to have” list?

I definitely will be working on features important for Field Day usage, but what other contests do Mac users participate in?

My intent is for this to be a no-cost, open-source program. Please keep in mind that I will be starting out slowly, then building in more complex features later.

It was fun, though!

N8MIQ (Karl) and I were playing around with the PSK31 digital mode on 2m SSB last night. He lives about 15 miles away. He had his rig set at ONE watt, and I had mine at it’s lowest setting of 5 watts.

We copied each other 100%, the signal floating in on the ether just fine.  Never mind that if we were working FM 2 meters, we likely wouldn’t have been able to hear each other.  I sent him a link to Ham Radio Deluxe and to the Feld Hell Club, and we’ll likely be exploring those (and other!) modes in the very near future.

My old (1994 vintage Icom Z-1A) HT was on the fritz, and I’ve been desperately seeking some way to be active…so I got myself a Yaesu FT-2800M 2-meter FM mobile.

$129.95 at R & L Electronics, a decent amount of bells & whistles, and good output power – not a bad deal!

We went upstairs and Mike Braun (KB8ZYE) was kind enough to show her the ropes on working 20M phone. We contacted a Ham in the Honduras, and had a conversation with a gentleman working QRP portable from a Chicago city park. He was very nice, and stayed in the QSO with us long enough for all of the non-licensed folks to have a go at working the radio. When it came for her turn at the mic, Jessica played shy, but afterwards, she was very interested in tuning the radio, or “turning the big knob”, as she put it. She watched intently throughout, asked some really insightful questions, and was clearly taking everything in.

As we were getting ready to leave, we saw Mike Suhur (W8RKO) and Mike Murphy (KA8ABR) hanging around. They asked Jessica and I if we had seen the club’s satellite shack. We hadn’t, so they graciously gave us a tour. Mike & Mike showed us how they work the club’s 7.2 meter (24 ft) satellite dish.  The coolest part of the evening was when they asked Jessica if she wanted to bounce radio signals off the moon.

Of course, she did!  And even if she didn’t, her Daddy did!

Mike^2 showed Jessica how they had aimed the satellite dish at the moon, and let her key up the transmitter.  2.7 seconds later, a distorted echo of her press (just a tone) came back.  Now, this wasn’t good enough for Jessica.  She wanted to know how they knew it was HER radio signal that came back.  They said, “Ok…press the button in a pattern!”  So she did, and her pattern came back.  THAT impressed her…and the look on her face was worth a thousand tantrums.

I was all grins that evening and all the next day, until she told me, as she grinned from ear to ear, “Daddy, Ham Radio is my favorite Geek Hobby!”  I’m not sure…but I think that was meant as a compliment.  At any rate, she still wants to go to the next meeting with me, so I’m going to take it that way!

I have gotten tired of waiting forever to make a purchase, so today I decided to make a small step forward: I bought an auto-tuner designed for the FT-897d! This auto-tuner has great reviews, seems to be able to tune a wet shoestring (not to say that using a wet shoestring will work well!), and is cheaper than the Yaesu-made alternative.  For me – a ham on a budget – this seems to be a great little product!  (I’ll provide reviews when I get on the air finally!)

I’m going to make a visit to R & L Electronics this coming week to check out some other accessories for the rig as it’s currently designed.  Purchasing of the radio itself will take place after my birthday and receipt of birthday funds!

The Goal

Since I live in an antenna-restricted, covenant-controlled neighborhood, I am unable to put much of an antenna on my home (footnote #1). Having said that, I DO want to be able to work the HF bands, but want to gear my rig toward a more portable installation. I am picturing a system designed to be easily set up & torn down – something that could contribute to a collective Field Day station, taken on a family camping trip, set up in the backyard for some patio DX, or be transported & set up during an emergency. However, I’m also seeking a lot of flexibility in the bands / modes that I can work. I’m a geek, so digital modes are a near-necessity for me (a laptop or other computing devices aren’t a problem).

The Budget

I am going to be spreading the purchase out over about six months’ time, but wish to keep my total expenditure under $1700. My initial focus will be on the Radio & Antenna, with accessories coming later.

The Radio

I’ve narrowed the radio down to the following possibilities, ranked in order of my preference:

1. Yaesu FT-897D
2. Yaesu FT-450
3. Kenwood TS-480SAT

I really like that the FT-897D is basically an all-mode, all-band transceiver, and includes 2m & 440 MHz. (100W out on HF-6M, 50W on 2M, 20W on 440MHz), It is form factored for portability, but it’s portable focus means that I would lose easy access to features, since it is necessarily menu-driven. That’s not necessarily a killing point for me. It has options for insertable batteries and power supply, either of which would greatly simplify mobile/portable setup. However, including those options makes this quite expensive

The FT-450 has a lot of visual appeal to me – it just LOOKS like a radio! It’s also the cheapest option, and includes an internal antenna tuner. However, I lose anything above 2M, and it’s not made for portability, per se.

To be honest, I threw in the TS-480SAT to include an option that isn’t a Yaesu product. The Kenwood offering is the most expensive that I explored, but does offer me features like internet connectability (which is NICE, since I am a geek!)

The Antenna

Here I haven’t put quite as much thought. To be honest, I probably need more help/advice here than anywhere else! Since I’m looking for simple, portable operation, I was looking at:

1. The BuddiPole antenna system (or something similar)
2. Yaesu’s ATAS series screwdriver antennas.
3. Something more homebrew

The Request

To the wise, radio-active surfers to this site: can you think of anything I’ve missed? If you have experience with any of the radios/antennas I’ve listed above, I’d love to hear anything you wish to throw my way! Is there a radio I’ve completely missed? Maybe an antenna to buy/build that you think would be good for my needs?

I appreciate any help you all have to throw my way!

——

Footnote:

(1): Yes, I know I have options for antennas that I could install at my home…and I probably will end up with some sort of antenna, be it a dipole strung along the apex or eave of my roof or a small-ish antenna that I can keep within 10′ of my roofline, while still getting a couple of bands. HOWEVER! That’s not my question here, and I don’t wish to start the base antenna holy war. Please read on!

I’ve gotta tell you – I used the HamTestOnline website, and it is AWESOME! I purchased my subscription at this year’s Dayton Hamvention, and within two months I’d gone from perpetual No-Code Technician to Extra Class.

Now that I have that license,  it’s definitely time to start saving my pennies so that I can buy my real station.  I’m trying to come up with a direction I’d like to take my involvement in the hobby.  However, because I live in a covenant-controlled neighborhood, large antennae are out of the question.  I think I’d like to restart the 2-meter digital work I did in Detroit, as I think I can put up an inobtrusive 2m vertical antenna without much hassle. However, that doesn’t use my new privileges at all!  So I would like to put together a portable rig that is capable of some DX work.  Something that I can take to field day and they can assign me just about any band…and I’d be able to work SOMETHING.

For my portable system, here’s what I have in mind:

Rig: Yaesu FT-897D

This is one of the newer DC-to-Daylight all-mode rigs that Yaesu has made waves with of late.  From what I can gather, it’s a decent starter base system, and a pretty excellent portable system, which can run on batteries or mains power.

Antenna: Yaesu ATAS-120

This is a automatically-tuned vertical (screwdriver) antenna that I intend to put on top of a 40′ portable pole/tower.  It’s made to go as a system with the FT-897D.  If I had a bit more money, I’d think very hard about a buddipole or some other portable dipole/yagi system.

Of course, there are a bunch of accessories I’m looking for, too…but I’ll save them for another post.

I’m going to keep on studying and will attempt the Extra Class exam in two weeks at the Milford, Ohio hamfest. WOOT!

I’m that much closer to my own HF rig! (I promised myself that I wouldn’t buy a real, expensive radio until I got my Extra Class…)

As of right now, I’m eyeing a Yaesu FT-897D radio.  This baby does almost all available bands, in all modes, is built for portability…and is under $1,000!

Today’s quote:

Wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. And radio operates exactly the same way. The only difference is that there is no cat. — Albert Einstein