First SOTA with Yaesu FT-857D

On this activation I logged contacts on 10, 20 and 40 meters. As I had the necessary battery power (4.2Ah LifePo) and 100W  TX power I spent a bit of time working DX on 20mt in the afternoon - unfortunately none of them were SOTA chasers.

This was the first time that I completely drained my batter...

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Icom Tuner connectors


Manual Icom Tuner

Many Icom radios (e.g.7100) have a connector for automatic tuners such as the Icom AH4. The cable supplied by Icom is of a fixed length (10m) and is not shielded. Icom recommends to use shielded cable for any length greater than 10m.

The cable is nothing special and doesn't...

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Keeping the FC301 cool

The FC301 is a very well priced and simple data radio made by Friendcom in China. With direct access to it's discriminator and 5W RF output it is an ideal candidate for Amateur Radio data projects such as D-Star hotspots and mini repeaters. 

The Problem

The first time I used my FC301D radio in...

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