Every now and then the subject comes up of the proper way to solder a coax connector or heavy ground wires etc. In the past I have mentioned about soldering copper flashing etc also. I have mentioned about using a solder tip made to fit a propane torch and a lot of folks have never heard of such a thing. I tried to find an image on the net to post several times and came up empty. I have since looked in the hardware stores and again came up empty. Apparently these are a thing of the past I guess. Last week I was cleaning up my shop and low and behold I found it. this will fit the regular size propane torch head as well as the smaller "Spitfire" heads which I have it mounted to in the images below. It takes about 45 seconds to go from cold start up to melting solder. Not sure what the wattage equivalent it would be but any electric iron would be hard pressed to even try and keep up with it. It even works on LARGE copper sheets. Once you get started it just keeps going and going and...

Well I see we have a "new" forum. In the meantime while the upgrade was coming... I got my upgrade rig. I decided on the Yaesu FTDX-3000D. Very nice rig so far, and I really like the receiver. The DSP is not annoying like a lot of rigs I have listened to. Yes, you still get some of that phasing sound, but it's really not bad. You can make signals "pop" out of the noise with all the features it has. I haven't gotten the transmit audio worked out yet, as I have the W2IHY 8 band eq and Eq Plus outboard audio equipment. Doing some preliminary settings via the monitor through headphones, but I know that's not really accurate. I'm going to have to do some on-air checks to get it just right. Internal tuner is kind of weird, but it is tuning my delta loop on 40 through 6, and actually tunes my end fed random wire on 80 and up. So far, I'm very happy with it!

73,
Brett

The new WorldwideDX Radio Forum has launched, and we're giving away an MFJ Antenna!

Welcome everybody to the new and improved site. There are a lot of new features available for everyone, as well as vastly improved support for mobile and tablet users. Please take a few moments to look around and discover what's new, but please exucse some of the mess that still needs to be cleaned up. Now that we've completed our platform conversion, we will continue to add new features. Remember, new features are only possible by supporting the site and its advertisers!

Here is a picture of the MFJ-1790 Antenna that we're giving away in conjunction with the new site:


MFJ-1790 Installed on short mast by Moleculo on WorldwideDX Radio Forum

Antenna Specs:

• 10/11 meter...

Elecraft sent a pre-release 4 meter optional add-on board to Peter Waters of Waters & Stanton for testing in the U.K. Watch below as he makes the first QSO in the world on the new KX3 option:

I've been so impressed with Icom's recent ID-31 and ID-51 handheld radios, that when news came out that they were releasing a new mobile VHF/UHF/D-Star radio with built-in GPS, I was immediately interested. Early reports indicated that the new ID-5100 would incorporate most of the same user interface concepts, including the SD card slot which made the decision to purchase even more compelling. I freed up some cash by selling a few items from the shack and when the radio finally showed in stock at my favorite retailer, I made the $750 purchase.

Upon receiving the package, i immediately tore into it like a kid during Christmas, took everything out of the package and laid it out for the obligatory de-boxing photo:



One thing you immediately notice about this package is that it is missing some typical inclusions: the mobile mounting bracket for the body is not included and neither is a way to mount the control head. Other than the main radio body, control head, and mic, the...