Subj : RE: First HF rig recommendati
To : ALL
From : debian
Date : Sun Oct 16 2022 05:04 pm
Fell off the map for a bit, but I am back on now. Been really busy with work + prepping activities. I decided to go with the Yaesu FT-991A. I tried to go with a US seller, however it appeared that the US sellers I could find were sold out of this radio! So, I decided I would import it not realizing that the radio would be programmed for the band plan of the nation I was importing from (in this case, Japan). There is a good bit of overlap between Japans band plan and the US and most frequencies I use are within that overlap, but because it is hard programmed for Japan, there are some US frequencies, especially in the VHF and UHF range I can't transmit on with this radio. Doh!
You can put the radio into service mode and get around the programmed limitations, but be ABSOLUTELY careful that you only transmit on frequencies YOU ARE LICENSED FOR! Service mode will let you transmit on any and all frequencies.
I am sure a soft (or hard?) mod will come out in the future to unlock and maybe even let you reprogram the radio, but until then, I will just use this radio in the frequencies that overlap. I have plenty of other V/UHF radios, so its no real loss for me. There is a MARS hack you can do on the 991 (some say it works on the 991A, others say it doesn't - seems to depend on which iteration of the 991A you have), but that doesn't open all bands, just MARS. As I am not a part of MARS, I have no need to TX on those bands :).
For an antenna, I am using a Buddipole configured for 30M (I am receiving wefax on 12.784 USB as I speak). The dipole works really good too - received a ton of DX stations on 30M yesterday and today! Been having so much fun receiving the different modes, that I haven't even keyed up yet! One of these
days I will finally get around to keying up and calling CQ, I promise!
I have some parts arriving in the next few days and I will be building a window sill pass through for the coax, instead of drilling holes in the wall. I seem to remember there was a company that made wall outlets with SO-239 connectors on either side? I can't seem to find those anymore.
Anyways, Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I have been having a TON of fun with this new radio!
