Tag: sculpture swing

Changes

Life is full of changes. Some are expected and some are not. Over the past couple of weeks I have had some changes for the good. One is that 2025 is shaping up to be a better year than 2024. My wife and I had some trials and tribulations which hampered my radio-activity. We had deaths, surgeries, and a few other health issues that slowed us down. This year, things have appeared to clear up and I am already enjoying more amateur radio activity.

To start off, I have had another shack shake-up. In a prior post I had my SPE Expert 1.5K FA up for sale or trade. It is a great amp but I needed an amp that would do MARS and SHARES frequencies so I ended up with an SPE 2.0 K FA. When I get back from Hamcation, I had a trade offer. My amp for a TS-890s. I have never owned a Kenwood HF radio so I thought I would give it a go. The trade went smoothly.

Before installing it in the shack I added the 270 Hz Roofing Filter and while I was inside, I did the MARS modification. I do not intend to use this radio for MARS, but in pinch, I am ready. My intention is to use the radio for fun and CW. I located it front and center on my desk. The IC-7610 was moved to the left which is where I set up for MARS operation. The 7610 plays very well for MARS.

As you can see in the above photo, I am using a Windows machine for radio control and logging. I really enjoy my Mac for everything else but when it comes to things radio, Windows machines are easier.

This weekend was the ARRL DX contest and the CW bands were crowded. this gave me a good opportunity to test the TS-890s. It performed very well.

The scale on the waterfall is 5 KHz on either side of the frequency. I had the 270 Hz Roofing Filter and a filter bandwidth of 250 Hz. The TS-890 easily blocked an adjacent S9+10 signal less than 500 Hz away. Even at less than 200 Hz away I could easily copy the target signal though there was some ringing. That is pretty impressive.

I am hoping to get back into CW this year. I made about 10 POTA contacts this morning with the TS-890s. It is a very pleasant experience. The TS-890s has more buttons and controls than my IC-7610 and even though I think the 7610’s ergonomics are great, The TS-890s’ is better. The 890 is a big radio and it is heavy. It’s built like a brick…

Tools of the trade for CW are my Begali Magnetic Signature and Sculpture Swing.

I joined SKCC last year but didn’t do much because of stuff. I hope to do better this year. A lofty goal I have in mind is to get my CW above 25 wpm. I think I am close. I need to practice. Hopefully this year will allow that to happen.

I hope everybody else is doing well and I hope to hear you on the air. I have a couple of camping trips coming up which should be me and the key trips. The IC-7300? It has gone back to being a field radio. Which is one arena it really shines. 73 – de Scott

Hamcation 2025

This was my first Hamcation and it was a lot of fun. Lots of people, lots of food and lots of ham gear. I only spent one day there, but it was a fun-filled, packed. day.

One of the highlights of my day was the Begali Booth. Up until this point, I had 4 Begali paddles in my collection. Each one purchased directly from Begali and each one through Bruna. Buying a Begali key/paddle is like being adopted into a family. That’s how Begali treats their customers. I finally got to meet Bruna in person.

They had many of their paddles there — so many to choose from. I like to dabble with straight keys and my preference being a cootie key since they have the same back and forth motion as a paddle. Bruna had a Sculpture Swing and after sending a couple of characters, I was smitten, and I was lucky to get the last one, the display model. I also got to meet Bruna’s husband Roberto who packaged up my prize for me.

I hope to get a review done on the Sculpture Swing in the near future.

Diamond Antennas, one of my favorite brands for mobile/portable VHF/UHF antennas has a new portable HF antenna for the US market. I have seen this antenna on European website but this was the first time I have seen it in the U.S. It is a portable HF/UHF/VHF antenna that covers 7-440 MHz. With optional coils, it also covers the 3.5 and 1.8 bands.

The screwdriver portion of the antenna is 15″ long and the 1.8 MHz coil is 17″. For comparison the yellow packaging is 21″. This will be a great antenna for POTA/SOTA. I can’t wait to get this on the air.

Kenwood had a teaser for their new VHF/UHF mobile. Looks like it might be out by the end of the year. Here is a shot of a non-working model.

It looks pretty cool. I am mainly an HF guy and I stopped there to look at the TS-890. That is my current dream radio. I brought one of my amps down there to trade but the stars were not aligned. I have a nice lightly used SPE 1.5K FA up for sale or trade. I would like to get a TS-890 and may consider a FTDX101MP. I would also consider an Elecraft KPA/KAT500. It’s a great amp but it doesn’t do MARS so I had to get another amp that would (SPE 2.0K FA).

While cruisng the swap building, I came across this book:

I bought on a whim and Grayson autographed the book for me. I may never build anything out of tubes, but I thought the book would be a fun read.

I got to talk to a lot of people while I was there. I talked to one guy there that was looking to get a radio after being absent from amateur radio for many years. He was thinking about getting an IC-705. I asked him if he had any other radios and he said no. I suggested he look into getting an IC-7300 first. The 7300 is still my “if i could only have one HF radio” radio. Many times new or returning hams opt for the QRP route, not knowing how frustrating QRP can be for the less experienced. For a first or only radio I recommend a 100 watt radio. You can always turn a 100 watt radio down to 5 watts but a 5 watt radio is already at its max. A lot of times when camping, I am running CW at 20 watts.

It was fun seeing all the stuff, meeting people, and bringing home a few things. Hope to see you at the next one. 73- de Scott