Icom: IC-705: New QRP rig from Icom in the works
- Thread starter prcguy
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No. Speaker-mike, battery and DC power cable only.
Any ham worth his/her salt probably already has a dozen or two VHF/UHF whip antennae already, anyhow.
What a fantastic maximum solar cycle you had those years to facilitate those contacts with low power. What antenna(s) did you use during those years? Just a bit of wire and or something more improved at times?
A fellow amateur sent me a video of a guy making contact using a 10 meter handheld once. I explained to him that video looks a bit dated and I'll wager it was a nice maximum when he did that. I doubt I'll see a fine solar cycle like that before I'm SK. Thank goodness for digital and a radio like the 705. Still, I'm a phone fan at heart which takes effort.
A fellow amateur sent me a video of a guy making contact using a 10 meter handheld once. I explained to him that video looks a bit dated and I'll wager it was a nice maximum when he did that. I doubt I'll see a fine solar cycle like that before I'm SK. Thank goodness for digital and a radio like the 705. Still, I'm a phone fan at heart which takes effort.
That cycle spoiled me, I had several QRO rigs but kept coming back to the simplicity of the Argos. I seldom used phone, I was a CW guy and loved it.
I used a Cushcraft R3 10-15-20 Vertical (had a built in tuner) for most of my contacts. i used a Hustler 4BTV with a bunch of radials before the R3. The R3 was the real deal, great low angle radiation.
I lived in an apartment complex and had few options. My wife managed the complex so it was easy to get permission to put it up. Running 5 watts or less, RFI wasn‘t an issue.
I loved those old 509 Argonauts, there’s a guy in town that can refurbish them. Maybe if thin
I got my ticket in 1994, right before Cycle 23. I have a good friend who lives in Australia and another in New Zealand, and we could talk on 10m almost every day using 5w. Sometimes I would need to bump it up to 25w or 100w, but that was extremely rare. Hell, I even worked them on the CB using 12w SSB. The problem there is that it was just too crowded, and extremely difficult to find open space. And all that was with a Cushcraft R7 vertical (or whatever the all-band model was back then) 5 feet off the ground. Had basically just as much luck with the 102" whip in the car.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if people were making DX contacts with handhelds.
It's still plenty easy to do now, just not 10m, and you need a little more power or better antennas.
I keep getting notices from Main Trading in TX that they had 25 available for sale.
K9DWB
QRT
I'm not bashing anyone that says the IC-705 should have more of this or that, or that it just did or didn't include a this or that whatever. The problem I see is if it did have all those this and that wishlists fulfilled, it would no longer be an IC-705 and it would not be $1,299 or whatever price it's at now. And maybe that throws out portability as well. But what do I know, I'm just a guy on the internet, typing on the PC while in my pj's sitting in a basement somewhere.
K9DWB
QRT
I'd give HRO a call if I were you, just to be sure.
Yes, received mine a couple weeks ago from HRO. Reservation was about a year old at that point.
thank you
thank you
palmerjrusa
Member
Deferred gratification lost...succumbed and just ordered one from DXEngineering...
Sitting here working out the antenna lengths and counterpoises for use with a Comet HFJ-350. Doing lot's of SWR sweeps and clips with the dykes.
DeepBlue
Member
FYI, Universal Radio has a few on the shelf. FYI.
Sean
KB8JNE
Sean
KB8JNE
Try two elevated counterpoise of equal lengths, four would be better.
palmerjrusa
Member
Keep the IC-705-related antenna tips and successes coming please...
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