I have been on the air more and on the computer less, so I haven't posted lately. I have been active mostly on 75m and 40m. I did run into a friend on 160m a few nights ago. I was tuning across the band and heard "Otis", NN2E, and we had a QSO for a few minutes. I was happy to see the half wave dipole still doing it's thing.
I did do a modification to an old D-104 mic. I used an MRF 102 JFET to impedance match the element to the FT-767. I have gotten good reports with it and everyone has said the audio is clean and clear. I have also wired a Sure Beta Green BG 4.1 electret mic to the rig. This mic has an internal preamp that operates on a AA battery, so I don't need a bias voltage from the rig. I have also gotten good reports with it and I like it better than the D-104 because of the convenience of using a mic stand with a boom arm. This allows me to keep the mic in a location that is good for audio and out of the way of the computer.
I am still debating weather or not to bring the amp to the new operating position. I will have to run a 220vac circuit to the position and figure out where to put the thing. Every night on 75m the static is getting closer to the summer time levels so I keep leaning toward putting the amp inline.
It is good to have the radio up and running again.
