I have an Omni VI with Opt 3 installed, purchased from an SK estate about a
year ago. After our move to Texas, I got an antenna up and got on the
air. The meter and a couple of other functions were inop so off it went to
TenTec. They fixed all this, gave it a good checkout and got it back to me
very promptly.
I have the output going to a wattmeter, thence on to the AH-4 remote tuner
which feeds the 130' dipole with twin lead. On CW, the transmitter loads
to 100 watts output, good SWRs etc.
I have noticed an inability to get replies on CW. I spent an hour the
other night calling W1AW/5 in Missouri, another hour or so each this week
calling W1AW/1 and /2, and various other stations. Some of this I
attribute to being a 100 watt station with a wire antenna in a pile up.
There have been other instances where I have called and called only to have
the other station start up a CQ again.
Yesterday I decided to fire up my Icom 706 at QRP levels and work the
Florida QSO Party on 20M. To my astonishment, I had no trouble making
contacts with every station I heard, running 5 watts, other than being
treated as a weak signal (AGN?) which I'm sure was true. While doing this,
I heard HB9CA in the Helvetia contest, gave him a call and after going QRO,
made contact. I also worked W1AW/1 with 5 watts in 1 or 2 calls. I made
25 or so contacts in Florida with the 706, all QRP.
This started to puzzle me, so I shut down the 706 and fired up the Omni
VI. Once again, I had trouble getting responses. I tried fiddling with
the sidetone, thinking maybe I was not tuning to be inside the other
station's passband, but did not improve things. The "split" switch was off!
I am stumped to imagine why I can make contacts at 5 watts with the 706 but
not on the Omni VI at 100 watts, same antenna. The radio appears to be
operating normally in every respect. Is there something I am overlooking
in the set up of the Omni VI? Any other possibilities?
TIA
73 de W6OGC Jim Allen
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