OPR: Ron Burchell
Grid: QG63KF
Rig: YAESU FT-DX10
HF Antenna: GAP 20 Metre Mono.
HF ATU: MFJ-994BRT.
6M / VHF / UHF Antenna: Diamond V 2000
A very Simple Station that seems to work well.

2022 working on building my CW skills with the CW Academy.
Frequently Practicing CW QSO'S on:
14.038 MHz between 04:30 - 07:00 UTC Mon - Fri
and
FISTS Down Under Weekly QSO Party every Friday at 11:00UTC
3.515 - 3.535 MHz
7.015 - 7.035 MHz
14.015 - 14.035 MHz
More Details...

SKCC# 24961
RAOTC# 1829
FISTS Down Under# 21307

Licenced February 1986

First Call sign was VK2NEQ, then later that same year I passed the Intermediate Exam and moved on to VK2KBG and an Yaesu FT-980.
1994 - 2000 I became VNNV International Marine Mobile aboard A.Y. Sea-D whilst Sea-D circumnavigated the World.
Moved to Queensland in 2000 and my Call changed to VK4KBG.
I let my Licence expire for a number of years, then applied for a new licence in 2019 and was given the Call Sign VK4JE.
As you can see I have remained in-active for some years on the Amateur Air Waves.
I have completely rebuilt my Station with a new Yaesu Power Supply, a new Yaesu FT-DX10, a new remote MFJ-994BRT ATU and a GAP 20 Mono antenna.
Made a NYE resolution in 2021 to make 2022 the year I mastered CW, check the log book entries below at the end of 2022, if there are plenty of CW contacts, I made it, if not!!

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Lithium Battery Replacement After being turned off for 15 years the memory battery was dead, so dead the Front Panel of the FT-847 would not even 'light up', More...

By mistake I left the Radio powered up over night, next morning the FT-847 was 'alive'. I decided to remove the Original Battery and replace it with button battery cradle and new battery that was easy to replace as required. Works well and has not missed a beat.

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Taming the Rear 40mm Fan Like all un-modified FT-847's the fans made a racket. More...

After reading how others had resolved the issue I decided to drop the voltage to the fans from 14.5V to 11.6V with the view to reducing the fan noise level from F1-11 status to Dreamliner level. This has been achieved by connecting a number of IN4148 small signal diodes in series encasing them in shrink wrap tubing, cutting the positive lead to the fan, inserting the strip of doides and a Tempature switch.

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Taming the Internal 60mm Fan Same process as for the rear fan, Voltage dropped with the strip of diodes and Tempature switch to bring the fans on and off as required. More...

The Tempature switches came in some clear plastic tubing which I have attached to the heat sink case with Araldite, now it is a pleasure to work with as the fans run quietly. During a recent 2 hour session of FT8 on 20M using 100 watts the Air Tempature being exhausted from the rear fan did not exceed 38C.

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Any Questions about these Modifacations Drop me an eMail and I will do my best to answer you the same day.

My Time Zone is +10

CQ Anytime

73

Maleny
Queensland
Australia

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