200 watt 2 meter amplfier on it's way.

[PA5COR]

Ordered a 200 watt linear amp from DX Engineering Toptek PA 200V, which is a direct copy of the Tokyo high power HL 200/V50.
Good to add some juice on 2 meter i never run the FT991A full power there mostly 25 to 30 watts.
Going to 200 watts out will add a few dB there.
Might improve FT8 a bit.
Just needs 1 to 10 watts input so even less strain on the FT991A.
Shoud be here in a week or 2 passing customs another week.
Just in time for spring ;)

[KG4CGC]

The difference between fishing and throwing the hook right down that fish's throat.
Please update with your results. :)

[N8YX]

I need to get some dedicated supplies for my VHF/UHF amps and finish the layout with a couple of 75cm units. Everything employed will be low-drive (10w) so I can use them with my FT-726Rs. These amps are capable of being remote-controlled so the thought is to move them out of the shack and near a battery bank or big 12v supply rack and use the remotes to enable the various functions.

The watt meters in use in my VHF/UHF position are Kenwood SW-2000s. These use sampling heads that are connected by a cable and DIN-5 plug to the instrument itself. I'll mount the heads directly to the RF Out connectors on the amps and build a set of extension cables to run to the operating position.

[PA5COR]

Diamond power/swr meter here 200 watts max ordered new 50 amp power supply as well today from the Netherlands as well 2/70 loop antenna 800 watt omnidirectional.
No more beams here that time has passed....
And some N connectors and more stuff that became low in home supply.
Using Aircom 15 very low loss coax here X510 N is at 45 feet over ground the 2/70 omni loop will be 3 feet lower.
D-ORIGINAL DX-YG-1443-VU-B cost just 55 euro.
SO some time on the roof when it arrives and good weather passes by it will be.
already had some nice SSB contacts in Europe on the vertical and good digital contacts FT-8 on 2 and 70.
Most there is horizontal so needed cheap and cheerfull anteenna for that.

I see you have the amps on a distance, all here is in the livingroom next to me LOL.
Everything in reach telly, laptop, radio and coffee ;)

[PA5COR]

WEll, today new omni dirrectional loop arrived, tested on the bench here 1/5 on 2 meter and 1.6 on 70.
New 50 amp power supply arrived as well, installed in plqace of th 30 amp psu.
Made a break out box so i can add more users to it like the amplifier.
Some other bits and bobs in the line new very low loss coax with N connectors some self amalgamating tape, few connectors etc.
Looks like it will be busy on the dlanted roof as soon the weather improves...
P.A. now on it's way 3rd March arriving in the Netherlands then clearing customs paying VAT and 2 or 3 days to arrive home.
Lets see what the summer brings sporadic E etc will come.
Back to where i started 45 years back 2/70 LOL.

[N8YX]

I'm planning to do something with loops on my VHF/UHF tower when it gets installed. Stacked 6, 2, 222 (possibly) and 430. These will be used to spot band openings and the steerable antennas employed to work them, though I could press the loops into service for our SSB round tables.

Probably do similar for 10M with a loop and a multiband yagi.

The receiving side of things here in the 25MHz and up weak-signal domain utilizes Icom R-7000s, two R-5000/VC-20s and one NRD-525 w/VHF-UHF converter. I'd like to add another -525 to that layout and leverage their sweep capabilities to look for interesting things in the ham bands they can cover while the R-7000s are tasked with doing same on 222, 902 and 1.2GHz.

[PA5COR]

Seems you are covered well.
I just have the FT991A and could use the FT847 with Collins filters though my real estate here on the table isn't big enough to hold all that.
WE'll see what my stuff does conditions wise.
Loop will be up at 40 feet free of houses and obstacles.
Vertical X510N is just above that adding another 17 feet to the top.

[N8YX]

I'd eventually like to get an IC-7300, IC-9700 and R-8600 for my home office - which will be set up separately from the ham shack. Those loops and other omni antennas will come in handy for just monitoring things while working.

[PA5COR]

I think i spend enough for this month.... all in all around the 1000 Euro's amp, PSU Antenna new Coax connectors 2 rolls of self amalgamating tape and some other bits and bobs.
Coax made ( N connectors) installed checked coax = good.
Waiting for sunny quiet wind day to mount antenna and coax to the slanted roof on the pole on chimney under the X 510N.
route coax to livingroom install N coax switch and N connector from there to AMplifier when it comes and then Ft991 A
Need to change PL259 connectors on amplifier to N chassis parts.
Changed in factory settings lowest power from 5 watts to 1,5 watts drive then 3 then 5 watts which will be max input for the amplifier.
So just waiting for the amplifier it si 60 km from me in a customs area ready to go out for thursday delivering.
Then test to see if we can tickle the airwaves a bit....;)

[N8YX]

Slight topic change, Cor:

Do you know Walter, PE1ABR or Rene, PD0EJN? Both are avid JRC users. Walter helped me get my first NRD-515 up and running.

[PA5COR]

Both live in the south of the country i'm up North so no i might have worked them on our country wide repeaters but don't know them personally.
Amplifier in the fed ex truck on it's way today so thaat is that, depending on how late it comes trip to the roof can/ cannot be doe to put up horizontal 2/70 loop and coax.
Seems there is a JrC clan in the netherlands ;)
Reading on our local ham forum we have a few threads there...

[PA5COR]

Well, the amplifier arrived, the horizontal loop antenna for 2/70 is in thee mast on the roof, routed coax inside and connected amplifier.
Stated it is a 200 watt amp, iinside 2 x MRF 247 transistors foor SSB 75 watts so i iimit output to 150 watts though it will do 200 watts but then i'm over the 1 dB compression point...

Did quite well in digital mode though after 45 minutes it runs a bit warm so fan needed for long runs
Internal 15 dB pre amp as expected just an S meter amplifier ;)
Well build the internals look fine, it is the copy of the Tokyo High Power HL200/V50 but has an extra stage in it for the max 5 to 10 watts drive.
Compared schematic and layout from the Tokyo HP with this it is exactly thee same, protection agains heat, bad swr etc.
Swr of the new loop for 2/70 quit7e good actually never worse as 1:1.2.
Just on 70 high band edge 1:1.3 here 70 is 430-440 MHz.
all in all quite a happy camper.

[N8YX]

JRC bump (relevant because it's VHF/UHF):

My second "loaded" NRD-525 arrived from Italy a few weeks ago - this one has the VHF/UHF converter and many other options. We're looking for another house (combining assets) so I'm going to set up a few dedicated receiving antennas for 25 through 500MHz and feed the JRCs with them. These will be used for ham radio activities (paired with JST-135 or RAY-152 transceivers) or for scanning the upper HF through lower VHF ranges in search of the interesting utility user and 6/2/432 opening. One of the -525s in my inventory has an Edvis PLAM (ECSS) board installed so there's no way of retrofitting it with the converter units - those spaces in the card cage are taken. I'm checking out yet another of these receivers and will probably buy that one if the deal works out. It's also equipped with the converter and an RS-232 interface (as are two of four I own).

I want to see if I can find another JST-135 and RAY-152 to run these receivers with in "twins" (transceive) mode, The -135/525 serial interface command set is...for lack of a better term, wonky. It's best suited to run the radios together as a pair, not for computer control. I have a couple of NRD-535Ds whose computer interface protocol is much better and I'll likely use those in tandem with modded TS-930S/TS-940S as the low(er) bands stations.

After using the gear for a while, I now understand why it has a following.