New HF Rig

[xj-jake]

Well I took the plunge and bought a fancy new to me HF rig for the shack. My new radio should come on the truck on Wednesday or so next week. I'll make sure to take some pics for you all and share them here and on the sister site www.di-dah-dit.com.

Here's what I bought for the interested minds.

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/7600/default.aspx

I've done TONS of research and was actually starting to get irritated with myself because I was researching so much. Either way it's in the mail, deal was fair I thought, now lets hope I like it!

[bluedragon436]

That certainly looks like it should more then fit the bill!!!

[OldFaurt]

Great Job!
I got a TS-480SAT For Xmas from my adorable most amazing wife in the world! Last night
I Made my first QSO with a guy in Venezuela using speaker wire hung in the attic as a longwire dipole!
Now you need a rig for the Jeep! unless you already have one...
She's a beauty. What are you running (Going to run) for antenna? Tell us more!

[prerunner1982]

Jake... that's going to be a sweet rig. Color display is going to be nice.

Do you currently do any PSK? Looks like it has it all built in.

[xj-jake]

Congrats on the qso to Venezuela! 10 meters was open actually for a little bit yesterday, it's USUALLY fairly easy to work South America via TEP during the day, but not necessarily on speaker wire either! I do run a 2 meter rig in the Jeep, mainly for Skywarn and chit chat during the week. I don't drive enough to justify an HF rig in the Jeep.

Currently I have a dipole cut for 20m up that I use rarely. The main reason it's still up is it loads up on 17m and I like 17. I also have a Hustler 5BTV vertical up. 5 band that loads up on 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80m. It works decent. Very narrow on 80 but it works. Plays 20 and 40 very well. I'm hoping to take down the dipole and put up an 80m horizontal delta loop instead.

I'm heading to my Elmer's place hopefully this weekend so we can model it and work out the kinks before I get too carried away with wire in the air.

[xj-jake]

Yes Jon I do a little PSK. My big kick now is JT65, I've been having lots of fun with that. I still need to figure out if I want to use HRD for rig control and digital modes. It is a nice system just not sure if I want to pay for it or use the free version.

[prerunner1982]

I have seen some amazing reports on JT65 with stupid low watts. Can't wait to play around with it myself.

[Pinkyman]

I have no idea what that thing is or how it works, but it looks awesome, and i think i need one lol :D

[xj-jake]

Jon I worked a ZS6 South Africa JT65 with 30 watts! 9600 miles I believe it is.

[xj-jake]

Well new radio show in the brown truck today. Now comes re-working the shack to get everything to fit and look like it belongs there. I'll try to take some pics when I get it all set up.

[OldFaurt]

I have been looking into JT65 and some of the other digital transports, I think I need to get a modem that can cover all the modes. I think for mobile it could be a lot of fun! First, I need to put a whip on the jeep to get the signals out. I have 2m, 70cm in the Jeep already. Soooo, now I need something a bit longer.

KC6VHS

[xj-jake]

JT65 is actually a lot of fun. I like to be able to work digital and be able to carry on a conversation with the wife at the same time. Look into a Signalink they're pretty reasonable and will allow you to work all digital modes. Setup is kind of a pain but once it's done it's worth it.

[xj-jake]

As promised, here's a few pics of the new rig setup and on the air. I didn't get to play too much but here's my initial impressions.

Ergonomics are excellent. Very easy to navigate menus once you play with if for a few minutes.

Bandscope is very nice for looking for signals up and down the bands.

Customization never ends.

It hears very well. Filters make pulling weak signals a piece of cake.

[prerunner1982]

Is that an Icom power supply?

[xj-jake]

Yessir, 2 of them. These are the PS-125. Made to work with the IC-746. The one that is "made" to work with the 7600 is the PS-126. The only difference is the cord to the radio.

[prerunner1982]

Nice, didn't know you had those as well.