Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Oh, Boy....New Toy....

 Gee, I wonder why Jim ripped his radio desk apart, besides the fact it was filthy, per SLW.

I dragged the PC out to the garage, popped the covers and air filters off, and blew out all the accumulated dust, lint, dog hair, etc, etc. Scrubbed the keyboard and mouse, too, and then attacked the now naked table with Endust

All the old gear I had out went back to the workshop, as I was going to need some desk space.

Hmmm....the FedEx version of the Brown truck of Happiness came by earlier and deposited a couple of things.

Wonder what they could be....?

Why would I need a new power supply/speaker unit?

For this, maybe?

Whatever it is was sure packed well. The inner box had this cardboard/foam cradle to securely hold the boxes' contents.

VERY clever packaging, allowing you to swing the "handles" up, and extract the contents.

Cradled as if in a lover's arms when all packed up.

But what, Jim, Is In The Box? The briefcase from Pulp Fiction? The sacred stone from the Temple of Doom?

Nope, just Yaesu's latest and greatest HF~50MHz, 200 Watt transceiver, the FTdx-101MP.


I haven't made any contacts with it yet, but the receiver seems to be quite a bit "better" than my previous Yaesu FT-1000D. Signals pop up out of the noise, and it has more bells and whistles than I may ever use.

It has a built-in "Band Scope", really a Spectrum Analyzer, that let's you see all the signals in a given slice of the band you're operating in.

It has Dual Receivers, so you can monitor different frequencies, or even bands, to see if any activity pops up. I'll probably park the second receiver in the 50MHz band, so I can see if that band is "open".

For now, until I learn how to use all the adjustments it has, I put it in Single Receive mode.

One of the really neat things it has is a DVI jack for an external monitor, so I hooked it up to one of my old 24" Dell monitors.

And there are USB ports on the front of the radio for a keyboard and mouse. The mouse allows you to select/change menu items, and the keyboard lets you enter ASCII text for a variety of things.

I'm going to retire the FT-1000D, and strip it for parts to sell. I love the radio, BUT I bought this one based on it's cosmetic condition, and threw snake eyes on the functionality. I've fixed half-a-dozen issues with it, it has several I *can't* fix (unobtainium parts), and when the RF output power dropped from 200 Watts to 15 Watts the other night, with no ALC indication on the meter, I threw in the towel and got my little Elecraft K2 out. I joked with SLW about how it was a good thing I'd cut up my credit cards when we moved here or I would have driven down to HRO in Denver the next morning and bought a new radio.

WELL......we discussed it, and since I've been saving my nickels and dimes for a new radio since we moved here, I had about 60% of what I "needed". She got out her card, told me to buy what I wanted, transfer the funds to her, and pay off the balance. Since I can strip about $900 worth of good, functional parts out of the malfunctioning radio, and then sell the hulk for ~$400. That will pay off the balance and rid me of that jinxed radio. To be fair, if I *ever* find another FT-1000D locally that's in good shape, I'll be on it like stink on you-know-what. They're that good, and if you want to do microwave stuff with transmitting and receiving converters, they're superb radios.


For now, I'm beat. Saw the Doctor Monday afternoon for some shoulder problems, and we also talked about some other things I was experiencing. She agreed with me to reduce the dosage of the Metoprolol I take from 50mg to 25mg, and for the first time in months, I wasn't getting a bit faint when standing up, and that's only on the first day of the lower dose. BP and pulse rate are fine, but we agreed that losing 50 pounds and becoming much more active called for a review.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow....


13 comments:

  1. Full disclosure, I was hoping that it was the sacred stone from the Temple of Doom. I'm not sure why that is, but you have to admit that it would be on the same level as the FTdx-101MP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least I didn't have to outrun a ginormous boulder rolling after me...

      Delete
  2. Haven't a clue as to what you are writing about but good news on the health front.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, WSF. The light headed thing was almost getting scary. This is my second day on the lowered dose, so we'll see how it goes.

      Delete
  3. Oooow! Nice radio drjim. I would say I am jealous but I am not; I am glad you could get one of those. I would like to have something like that but nope not now. Maybe if I wait, sell my IC-821H and TS-570D, I can at least get something better than the 570D. My IC-9700 is off at ICOM for warranty repairs. I have an IC-7000 that can fill in for a while but I like a bigger radio for my operating desk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like the Beach Boys song "409", I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes. Also sold a few older rigs I don't use, and thinned the heard on my shortwave collection.

      I didn't really need three Heatkit GR-78's, and two Heathkit GC-1's!

      Delete
  4. Congratulations! I always was a Yaesu guy as you may remember.

    OK on the health - the plan to lose the weight sounds good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've always loved the big Yaesu and Kenwwod rigs. I still have my TS-950SDX, which I also enjoy operating. Was planning a "Shoot Out" between the FT-1000D and the TS-950SDX because they were the heavyweight champs of the day, but this particular 1000D has some problems.

      I really wanted one of these, but would have settled for the 101d with 100 Watts, or a Kenwood TS-890 with 100 Watts. I was looking for the FTdx-5000, which has been discontinued, because "200 Watts". Yeah, I know it's "only" a 3dB increase, but I can testify that it DOES make a difference at times.

      Delete
    2. As far as losing weight goes, I was ~245 back in Long Beach, and now I'm down to ~195 again. I pigged out about ~20 pounds during Teh Plague, and **finally** dropped the last 10 over the last 3 months.

      Delete
  5. Oooh... Shiny!!!

    Now, about that snowblower... :)

    Nice that you can export data onto a decent sized screen and have the ability to input and program. I can hear you now, mumbling softly to yourself as you play with your new toy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yo, Beans! Good to hear from you.

      Still looking for the snowblower. I've checked out several, but they were either beat to dust, over priced, or not as advertised.

      And I will NOT slack off on getting one this summer!

      Delete
  6. Nice radio! And you're going to be 'neglecting' something to play... Just remember what's 'important'... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yeah. Can't ignore adult obligations and responsibilities! Wrote a "promissory note" to TLG stating we'd play with his little Monster Truck in the backyard the next time he comes over!

      Delete

Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...