I have put the ic7000 back in the landrover again and this time, without doing anything else, it is pretty much interference free.

I did re wire the Tarheel but that's it.

I have also put the CB back in…but don't drum me out of the brownies…..so i can chat to good buddy MP. who has the same initials as the UKAC site…..just realised that!

I managed to works Russia and a few others whilst broken down the other day o the way back from Kampton Park.

I feel like a proper radio ham now I have used some “test equipment”.

Oh yes. A signal generator no less. Wow, I hear you say………possibly.





The KX3 is a SDR radio and comes in kit form so there are various combinations of boards that you can put in it. All of these affect the way that the oscillator performs in relation to the temperature of the radio (watch out we might be getting out of our depth here).

You can calibrate an offset to adjust what the oscillator is producing against the temperature. Because this is a long winded process it comes with a standard calibration which is ok for HF but on 2M SSB which comes via a transponder board and narrower modes such as RTTY and PSK you can find the radio drifting off. A couple of people have mentioned this when I have operated on 2M SSB for any length of time on it.

There is a calibration process built into the SDR ….how brilliant is that. So I borrowed the Sig Gen (got the lingo already) from Jeremy, many thanks. Basically what you do is inject a 50mhz CW carrier into the radio and set is calibrating as you change the temperature. You cool it in the fridge and then get it out and warm it up with a heat gun.



Here you can see the temp pf the oscillator at 35c and the actual frequency of it. 385 thnigamijigs.

When it is all calibrated you can watch , and hear, the frequency stabilise as the temp drops.

The proof of the pudding is yet to bake as we go and plug it in and search very hard for someone to speak to on 2M to test it out. I will let you know.

UPDATE: yes it works. just had a nice QSO with wales and didn’t drift off a bit.

Just wait till I work out what to do with the oscilloscope!

I have had a reasonable play with the 991 but the real test will come with the UKAC where it will get used in earnest.

If you are familiar with the Yaesu menu structures then this radio will immediately seem familiar. There are essential two menu structures. One that you scroll through pages of buttons on the touch screen which has things like the RF power mic gain etc. Basically all the things that you use frequently. Tis is accessed by the F button. Then there is the traditional menu structure by numbers where you find the set and forget type items like vox gain and equalisation.

I have it set up with the stealth inverted 40/80m dipole and the receiver is sharp and there are the same filters that you find in the rest of the range , but out of the box it is pretty handy.

You have split functions with a quick split and then using the clarifier to adjust the vfo B frequency for chasing this split Dxpeditions.

Another lucky winner.

The ticket cost me £1250 but I was glad to be one of the first 4 winners of the much awaited 991.




No time for a proper review yet as i am dashing to get the Stepir done before the scaffold goes back on Monday. But the 991 got plugged in and tested. What a lovely radio it is to operate. All touch screen and for Yaesu fans everything in the same place as the larger rigs like the 5000.

I hooked it up to the Gap and gave a quick QSO with Emmanuel CT7AFR who was kind enough to record the audio and send it to me. He was pretty impressed. Less so about my forgetting his call sign. You can hear it HERE



I will do a run through it in a few days when my feet have touched the ground.

The 991 has landed.

I have been busy finishing off the stepir ready for the scaffold to go back tomorrow so haven’t even plugged it in yet. Hopefully I will get round to that later tonight with some pics.

Have a happy sunny Sunday

Well it’s still not here.

Martin and yours truly have one on order. Hopefully this means that we will have a bug free batch when they do eventually turn up.



Mine will be replacing the c7000 in the go box. With the 7000 going into the truck for mobile ops.