AmateurRadio.com

For quite a while now I’ve not been able to get into the shack. Not because its stacked to the rafters with new gear but because I’ve had too much on to even think about it. Yesterday I managed to squeeze some time in and quite frankly I wish I hadn’t bothered.

My FT817 lives in a padded bag when its not in use along with its charger and an old Miracle whip. Now the Miracle whip no longer has a whip courtesy of my youngest who managed to snap it in half. Whilst it isn’t the finest antenna it was extremely useful for travelling. Now I need a replacement telescopic whip and I’m guessing they’re either hard to get hold of or unnecessarily expensive.

The other doom was the CI-V controller (mine is a G4ZLP USB digimater pro+) which has given some sterling service over the last couple of years but now has decided to read the frequency but not PTT or supply audio. Several wasted hours later the status quo remains. Reliability of kit in my shack isn’t that great at the best of times and this just confirms that a law based on expense and reliability. ‘No matter what it costs the chances are that it’ll stop working for no apparent reason’.

At this rate I’ll have nothing left either as a result of a 3 year old or its own suicidal components..