[CQ-Contest] re: FT-1000MP Mark-V ergonomics

[jrdavis at collins.rockwell.com]

Chris, GM3WOJ, made some comments on the FT-1000MP Mk V ergonomics. As a
new (2 weeks) owner of a Mark V, I'll comment on his comments from the
limited perspective of one who comes the the Mark V from an Icom 746 - a
big change, to be sure...

>1. The badly-positioned RF PWR control has not been improved
>- surely with 200W O/P driving a linear, being able to adjust power
>o/p easily is even more important.

Not that big a deal in a contest. Set it to whatever it takes to drive your
linear and leave it there. Use the FT-1 remote control to tune the amp.
There's an option to tune with reduced power if you want.

>2. I don't share the designers faith in IDBT - give me selectable pieces
>of quartz every time !
If this doesn't work for you, it's easy enough not to use it. The selection
button is on the shuttle jog dial. You can still buy the rocks to put in
the filter slots. That's what I did. IDBT seems to be available only on
phone (not CW) anyway.

>3. I guess the designers thought that the SPLIT button was redundant
>with the 'LED' RX/TX buttons available, but I still like a separate
>SPLIT button.

Probably a matter of personal preference, but I like the LED buttons. Seems
very intuitive to me, particularly with the ability to program in a auto
split of, say 5 kHz.

>4. How is the audio balanced between MAIN and SUB (the photo I
>have doesn't show these controls) - the concentric audio controls
>on the 1000MP are OK.

You get your choice. They can either be independent volume controls, or the
MAIN can be a master volume and the SUB be a balance adjustment. That's how
I use it.



My number one gripe is with the internal keyer. If I want to use Writelog
(or some other program) to transmit CW, I have to turn the internal keyer
off. Then to use the paddles, I have to hit a button to turn the keyer on.
Dumb.

Jeff N0DY







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