I have been bemoaning my absolutely abysmal broadband connection for quite some time now. It was slow, unreliable and would drop - out at the drop of a hat. Well, that seems to be all in the past now, as I have a super - fast, high speed fibre connection now. It's been connected for 36 hours without a single drop out and the up and download speeds are improved threefold. The upshot of all this is that MB6IAG (my Wires-X gateway) now operates as flawlessly as it can.
Heartened by this improvement I have obtained a second Yaesu FTM-100DE. The original FTM-100 is installed as node radio and the gateway operates through that and the HRI-200 interface, while the second FTM-100 is used for node access, local FM and to access the DV4 Mini.
The FT-817ND still continues to give a great deal of pleasure. I have found a superb spot for /P work and last Sunday I had a couple of hours working HF. I managed a QSO with a portable station in Denmark on 40m and a contact into Canada on 20m, amongst others which were mainly European stations, and all on just 5 Watts. Pound for pound that little radio has given better value in terms of enjoyment and functionality than any of my other radio purchases.
I'm still disappointed at not being able to have a decent V/UHF antenna at home but at least with the Internet Linked and Digital modes I am able to carry on enjoying the hobby. To be honest, working /P suits me fine - at least it gets me out of the house and into the fresh air.
And there I will leave it for now. Tune in next time for another exciting edition.........
73 de 2E0ENN
