[TenTec] The Eagle

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On 9/26/2010 1:59 PM, Steve Berg wrote:
>
><SNIP>
> I am thinking about one of these Eagles, but they do not have a separate
> 6 meter antenna connector, and I am not sure if one would be easy enough
> to use to replace the Corsair II.  If I get an Eagle or Omni VII, I
> could replace most of my HF and 6 meter gear with one box, which would
> leave enough room in the shack to keep my Drake 2B, and Gonset GSB-100
> station set up all the time.  I am not a competitive contest operator,
> and appreciate simplicity, durability, and longevity over the latest and
> greatest.
>
> Does anyone here have any comments on how I might proceed?
>
> 73,
>
> Steve WA9JML
>
My FT857D which is slightly smaller than the Eagle but has about the 
same number of buttons and controls on the front panel has decent 
interfacing for a transverter and a really effective TXINH line on one 
of the two mini din connectors so its PTT or VOX or KOX can initiate 
transmit but the sequencer can absolutely prevent RF coming out until 
all is ready. It also can be "misaligned" for transmit gain on one band 
to make it transverter safe, which I have done for the one I use for 10 
GHz transverter service. It puts HF an 6 on one connector and VHF/UHF on 
the other. I built a 6m HF splitter, that mostly ldepended on a Drake 
low pass filter for the HF side and probably a series resonance circuit 
a 6m for the 6m side. Such splitters are also sold by Comet, Diamond, 
and probably MFJ. Recently I tossed antennas for 2 and 432 on an old TV 
mast and used the TV feed line, but there's just one, so I bought a 
Comet band splitter to mount at the antenna. I have two complaints. Its 
not waterproof and the Japanese idea of a SO-239 connector has no 
threads out to the end so their PL-259 won't screw tight on a good 
Amphenol barrel. I had to take three turns of threads off the Amphenol 
barrel to get the PL-259 to tighten properly. This was on a Comet 
CF4060i. RandL had the best price the week I was shopping.

So far I think the 857 does quite well on 6 and 2, but my contact rate 
is down on 432 and I have to work that one out.

I wrote and presented three papers on the FT857 at CSVHF 2010, they are 
on line in the folder at 
http://www.geraldj.networkiowa.com/papers/CSVHF2010/

73, Jerry, K0CQ