Success

Today at 12:50 am 15-NOV-2021,I made my first FT8 contact in a couple of years. Here is the story of how we got here.

Back this past summer, I tried to use a magnetic loop and a moxon antenna to do digital (FT8). Both failed miserably. I got disgusted and put everything away. Fast forward to the fall.

During studying for the Extra, I realized we needed to get the radios operating again. So the shack got cleaned up (My Office). I ran new LMR 400 to the out side, Got the radio and power supply ready to go and connected all the cables. The radio was a ICOM IC-730, PS-15 power supply, Dell desktop, Signalink USB. Why was? Because during the troubleshooting the ultimate happened. The transceiver went dead and let a bunch of black smoke out and possibly a little flame. Anybody need one for parts?

I have an ft-817ND. It has the power pole connection on the back, usually used for a battery pack while mobile. Its the only uhf radio I have and I don’t want to blow it up. I decide that getting on air is more important and why do I have it if I’m not going to use it. So here we go.

I need a new power supply for the 817. Only need 3 amps to run it. I look on line, the Yaesu is suggested but at $250 is a little spendy. so I check Amazon and get a Audiotek AT-PS4 4 Amp power supply for $38.00. Its quiet and just works. No issues so far. Now we have a power supply.

See next post for more.