New Radio

As a result of my trip to Dayton to the Hamvention, I did acquire a new radio.  I didn't actually purchase it at the show but I did compare all the radios on my list and make a decision.

I wound up with a Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver.  For non-hams, that is about a Buick in the Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac scheme of things, not the top of the line, but not the base unit either.  The word "transceiver" comes from "transmitter" and "receiver" since this radio has both functions built in to one case.

The upper picture shows the complete radio and the lower picture the TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD display.  Interestingly, the meter with the needle is not really a meter but a digital representation of a meter.

Transmitters are relatively simple devices and most of them do about the same thing, receive an audio signal from your microphone, convert it to radio frequency (rf) energy, and transmit it out.  However, the key to a good radio is not the transmit function but how well it receives a signal.  The receive function is the justification for my purchase of this new radio.  It has a much better receiver than my old FT950 which was still a good radio.

I was fortunate enough to sell the FT950 to a new ham in Oklahoma City.  It will make him a nice radio to learn with.  As for me, I think I'm about done for a while!

Journey to Dayton

In just over three weeks, Dave Ward and I will set off to Dayton, Ohio to attend the 2013 Hamvention.  This is the largest amateur radio convention in the United States and is "Mecca" for those of us who like to talk radio.  We will drive 800 miles there and back and, because we started planning so late, we are having to stay in a hotel which is 32 miles away.

I've been twice, in 2010 and 2011.  Dave hasn't been and figures this may by his only venture to see the show.  The attendance at Dayton will be about 18-20,000 people and every manufacturer who makes anything remotely connected to ham radio will be there.  New  equipment manufacturers and distributors will have about 300 booths and the flea market area will have over a thousand tables.

Like all shows, there will be seminars and demonstrations, along with dinners sponsored by various companies and groups.  The group I am most active in, OMISS, or Old Man International Sideband Society, will have a booth and they are also planning a dinner for Saturday night, May 18.  The dinners are really fascinating because you get to meet and see the people you talk to on the radio every day.  We have several people in the group who are musically inclined and there will be some "pickin' and singin" after the dinner.

I've kinda been eyeing a new radio and I might just take a look at them while I'm there.  Yaesu has introduced their new FTDX-3000 which is really neat looking and one of them may follow me home.  Besides that, I have a few odds and ends that I need to find but nothing else.

Dave says he is not in the market for anything but we'll see when we get there.  Regardless of any purchases made, it promises to be a lot of fun.