A cool surprise gift. Woohoo! [Archive] - The Island Of Misfit Hams

ki4itv

01-09-2010, 10:58 AM

Mystery box arrives UPS?
My Dad just sent me a Radio Shack 10M radio as a surprise.
One of those HTX-100 25W rigs. New, in the pristine box! Probably never seen the light of day.
Perty cool, always wanted one, but would have never spent very much trying to get one.
:dance

KC2UGV

01-09-2010, 11:14 AM

Those are, IMHO, pretty nice rigs too. The tuning is a little funky with fine tuning knob, etc. But, I'm pulling in signals from Tennessee (Some net down there on Saturdays).

I think my antenna is keeping me from talking back though :(

ki4itv

01-09-2010, 04:35 PM

I'm going to put up a separate dipole up for the band at about 45' and see how that goes. Maybe with a rig dedicated to the band I can catch more openings, in the past, I've always missed the best conditions because I was doing other stuff. I still have a lot of "needed" WAS states on 10.
This was a welcome surprise.

What are you using for a antenna on 10M, Corey?

AF6LJ

01-09-2010, 04:54 PM

I'm going to put up a separate dipole up for the band at about 45' and see how that goes. Maybe with a rig dedicated to the band I can catch more openings, in the past, I've always missed the best conditions because I was doing other stuff. I still have a lot of "needed" WAS states on 10.
This was a welcome surprise.

What are you using for a antenna on 10M, Corey?
That's cool :)
Good deal.

KG4CGC

01-09-2010, 05:16 PM

Nice score!
An A99 can be camouflaged to look like a tree branch. Just saying. The difference between hearing and HEARING!

N8YX

01-09-2010, 06:26 PM

Nice score!
An A99 can be camouflaged to look like a tree branch. Just saying. The difference between hearing and HEARING!
+1

I used one of those for years, and worked a lot of 10M DX with it.

KC2UGV

01-09-2010, 07:14 PM

I'm going to put up a separate dipole up for the band at about 45' and see how that goes. Maybe with a rig dedicated to the band I can catch more openings, in the past, I've always missed the best conditions because I was doing other stuff. I still have a lot of "needed" WAS states on 10.
This was a welcome surprise.

What are you using for a antenna on 10M, Corey?

Homebrewed dipole, at about 25' elevation. Working on raising it, but have to wait for it to not be 10F :)

n0iu

01-09-2010, 10:18 PM

I think there is a guy at the truck stop near me who can mod that radio so it will work on the CB frequencies if you want!

N8YX

01-10-2010, 11:57 AM

I think there is a guy at the truck stop near me who can mod that radio so it will work on the CB frequencies if you want!
http://www.qsl.net/kf2tz/mods.html

"Convention" for SSB communications on 11M is to use LSB. For whatever reason ... :wall:

Legality issues aside, an HR2510/HR2600 is a better candidate for "conversion".

KC2UGV

01-10-2010, 12:09 PM

I think there is a guy at the truck stop near me who can mod that radio so it will work on the CB frequencies if you want!

No, he can't. The HTX-10 and HTX-100 can not work on 11M. Wrong CPU. Unless, you swap the CPU out, and in that case, you might as well buy a Magnum 257. Same radio as the HTX-10, different CPU.

n0iu

01-10-2010, 12:23 PM

I guess you are stuck on 10 meters... bummer!

ki4itv

01-11-2010, 08:56 AM

I guess you are stuck on 10 meters... bummer!

Nah, just enjoying the thought of having a radio to turn on that can't do anything else. This will make a lot of difference in my log on that band.
QRV 80m through 70cm. Not so good on 80 right now, but the leaves are bare and I have a ton of wire on hand.
Now...if it just wasn't so damn cold.

W3WN

01-12-2010, 02:19 PM

A-99 is a great antenna within it's parameters. Not only good for 10 meters, but I could easily load it for 12 & 17 as well. (And 15, but I never had much need for it on 15)

That said, we're still in the trough of the sun spots, so don't be disappointed if 10 meter activity is spotty. It will take a few years for the 'spots & propagation & activity to pick back up again, but when it does...

KA5PIU

01-12-2010, 06:50 PM

I think there is a guy at the truck stop near me who can mod that radio so it will work on the CB frequencies if you want!

No, he can't. The HTX-10 and HTX-100 can not work on 11M. Wrong CPU. Unless, you swap the CPU out, and in that case, you might as well buy a Magnum 257. Same radio as the HTX-10, different CPU.

http://www.chipswitch.com/

This was the first one I could remember but there are others.
The real trouble with the Radio Shack model is that it does not come stock with AM, several parts need to be added.

N8YX

01-12-2010, 06:57 PM

http://www.chipswitch.com/

This was the first one I could remember but there are others.
The real trouble with the Radio Shack model is that it does not come stock with AM, several parts need to be added.
Chipswitch is a 64-pin wide-DIP package.

The -1206 used in the HTX series is a 64-pin quad SMT device.

They aren't interchangeable.

W7XF

01-13-2010, 08:22 PM

I guess you are stuck on 10 meters... bummer!

Nah, just enjoying the thought of having a radio to turn on that can't do anything else. This will make a lot of difference in my log on that band.
QRV 80m through 70cm. Not so good on 80 right now, but the leaves are bare and I have a ton of wire on hand.
Now...if it just wasn't so damn cold.
Not so good on 80???? Try GB, Germany and France last night on 80 in the mobile!!!!!!! And they were giving me 5x7 to 5x9+ signal reports.

KC2UGV

01-13-2010, 09:10 PM

http://www.chipswitch.com/

This was the first one I could remember but there are others.
The real trouble with the Radio Shack model is that it does not come stock with AM, several parts need to be added.
Chipswitch is a 64-pin wide-DIP package.

The -1206 used in the HTX series is a 64-pin quad SMT device.

They aren't interchangeable.

And, either way, it would be easier and more efficient to just buy a Magnum 257 radio. Same radio as the HTX's, but covers 11 meters.