The 400 Came Home!! The 400 Came Home!!!

Just jumping in for a quick note to say that the FTM-400XDR came back last week. The radio is working great and the first thing that I noticed was how much operating on 2m on my work commute had become a part of my life and how much I truly missed it while the radio was at Yaesu.

Back on August 9th I wrote about the radio leaving for the emergency room, aka Yaesu repair facility. You can find that post here. Due to some work obligations I did not actually get the radio on UPS until the 14th. They let me know 4 days later that they had received it and would be evaluating it for repair. What seemed like forever passed before another email arrived explaining that they replaced the internal speaker and that parts and labot were under warranty so no charges would be added. The radio was shipping the next day and it actually arrived in back in town on 9/6. So, if you take away the eight days of transit you are left with 15 days of actual repair process. I would say that is not too bad.

So, if you have a radio in need of repair get it sent in. Just try to have a backup in place so you can avoid withdrawals like I did.

73

Off To the Emergency Room

So, my return from the paradise of California has brought me challenges.On the HF side I knew I had a problem before I ever left and, as you know, I traced that back to a feedline that was either hacked by a lawnmower or a weed eater. I picked up the necessary connectors to put that back together again and will work on that this evening.

But, on the VHF / UHF side I thought everything was "just peachy" as the saying goes. So Monday, I jumped in the car to make the trek to work and catch up with my favorite amateurs on the local repeater. We were getting a little rag chewing in and as I sat back and listened it happened.

I know you can't hear through a picture! But, I was sitting right inside the car and the audio came to a tragic end. As I looked down I still saw that the scale was indicating that both were receiving signal I just could not hear anything. I shut the radio off and powered back up. No luck. I made it to work and went inside. Twice before lunch I cycled the power again hoping to get audio again. When I went to lunch I got the idea to throw some earbuds at it. It was working! Positive step, right?

Wrong. Pull the earbuds out and no audio. I shut the radio off again and fired it back up. Radio had audio but it sounded like a twenty year old speaker cone rattling like the paper was deteriorating. And, it only lasted about twenty seconds. I have not been able to get any audio out since other than by wearing earbuds. So, the FTM-400XDR will be boxed up and sent to the ER at Yaesu Community Hospital in Cypress, CA.

The only thing that sucks is that I was only fifteen minutes or so from there during my stay in Cali. Just my luck.

73
W9BRI

Is It Christmas?

Yesterday I told you all that I recently got a Yaesu FTM-400XDR for the car. Well, I may have struck gold for the shack as well. I am currently running the FT-857D at the house. I have, since getting my ticket in 2015, always wanted a specific radio but it has been out of reach. I have waffled many times on what rig to get but have always floated back to this one. I have enjoyed the 857 but the chance to get my MWR, Most Wanted Rig, has presented itself. So, tonight the 857 finds a new home and the FT-991A will find its way in the shack.

I have read countless reviews and watched many YouTube videos on this rig. I have listened to the pros and cons presented by the masses but I always go back to one thing. Just like a movie, just because Porky Ham down the street thinks the movie is bad doesn't mean I will. I have to go see it for myself and see if it meets my expectations, not theirs. So, tonight I hope to start testing, albeit in a very limited fashion as I do not have a tuner and I do not think the internal tuner is going to tune up a large area on my 80m OCF dipole. But, I will enjoy playing on whatever frequencies I can. I will be back at a later date to share my thoughts.

73

It's Been Such A Long Time....

I would bet that some of you have the Boston song in your head right now after reading that title. But, it has been a long time since I posted. Not a ton of amateur radio related things have happened lately but I did acquire a new Yaesu FTM-100DR mobile 2m / 70 cm rig. I loved it. "Huh?" you say? "Loved it?" Yep, loved it. You see, an FTM-400XDR came available soon after and was offered to me. I jumped all over it!! I have only had it for 3 days now and have not even tested half the features but just the dual receiver sells it for me. I will never have anything but dual receive from here on out and may never get rid of this radio!

I started back into my CW adventure and I am starting to be able to copy. I am turtle slow but instead of just listening to the letters on some app I am trading mp3's with another local ham, who, by the way is the one who called me out and kickstarted the blog posts again. I am going to add his blog to my favorites list on the right so be sure to go and check him out! His blog is Adventures with CW. Click on the name and it will take you right there.

Be back soon, or at least alot sooner than this time.

73