Biography

Been a Ham since 1976, QRO mostly until about 1989 then found an old Heathkit HW-8 and used that for about 3 years.

Did not operate from 1993 until Sept. 2012 when I got the little Yaesu FT-817nd which is wonderful except for the menu driven ----, however the rig would be a lot bigger without that.

Took me forever to really get going and I am still rusty (May 2014) and struggling with the Menu's.

Equipment

Not big on QSL cards but will do it under protest.

Mostly QRP using Yaesu FT-817ND 5W to 134 ft long OCF Dipole up 50 Ft. The OCF ant is all band but not fairly high SWR on 15M. During the winter of 2015 acquired a Yaesu FT-450D, not the same quality as the 817 but as they say beggars can't be choosers. Sept. 2015 the FT-450 is mounted in the glove compartment and the odd time I run 50 to 80 watts to the same OCF dipole.

Station is set up in my car as portable (not mobile). Use the 80M OCF Ant at home and a 40M OCF Sloper in a tree or whatever when out and about. I can easily remove the rigs from the car and operate on foot if necessary using the 40M OCF or that dinky Yaesu vertical. That thing and the enclosed FT-817 battery are a bit of a joke. The enclosed nicad battery would let you sign off if the external power fails. However, the 817 is still my favourite rig.

I can operate the 817 on 80, 40, 20 & 10 direct to the OCF and on 15M I have to use the small manual antenna tuner. The FT-450 has an ATU & will tune up on 15 if I do it manually first with the MFJ tuner.

2015 has not been great for HF. Sometimes I could swear my antenna has fallen down.

(NOTE:September 22, 2015 20, 40 and 80 starting to improve. Had a chat between here and San Antonio, TX (2800 Miles) with Scott Hopkins on 14060, he was using 1W and I was at 5W. Condx were poor with QSB. Our best RST on both ends were 329.

MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS parleea@gmail.com NOT ve7fly@gmail.com