The Perverted V Chapter 3

Yaesu FTDX10 and the Perverted V Chapter 3

Nicholas Petreley N2EWS

(This is also published in the March issue of CQ Magazine)

This is chapter 3 in a story that started with an antenna I call a “Perverted V”. It is a freakishly disfigured inverted V where the center is only 20ft high, attached to a flagpole in the corner of the yard. The two legs of the antenna are at right angles with each other, and one leg bends at the corner of the fence and runs a bit parallel to the other leg. Not ideal, to say the least, but so far it has fooled the HOA.

As promised in the previous chapter, let me tell you about the weird behavior with and without the 4:1 balun. I attached coax directly to the 450-ohm ladder line. It worked fine. When I added the 4:1 balun, it didn’t tune very well, which is odd, since a 4:1 balun is recommended for this kind of antenna.

My setup was configured like this: Transceiver -> Tuner -> Diamond SX-100 power meter -> Antenna. I changed the coax patch cords for an entirely different reason, but inadvertently changed the setup to Transceiver -> Power Meter -> Tuner -> Antenna.?Suddenly I couldn’t get a reasonable SWR on any of the bands. So, I add the recommended 4:1 balun, and everything works fine. It’s almost as if putting the power meter between the tuner and the antenna tricked the tuner into working without the balun. I have a feeling that’s not a good thing.

Speaking of tuners, I didn’t have much luck with the eBay sourced automatic antenna tuners I tried. This time, however, I purchase a new MFJ 939Y automatic antenna tuner from Gigaparts. This tuner knocks my socks off and makes them dance around the room. The first time I transmit, it goes clickety clickety click, ping, and the SWR is 1:1 or close. I change bands to a spot I visited previously, and ping, it’s 1:1 again. As God is my witness, I shall never go manual tuning again.

I’m still stuck with my insufficient Perverted V antenna. Short of building a magnetic loop, the Perverted V is all that will prevent my HOA from complaining.

However, I accidentally discover a way to get around its limitations, at least when it comes to reception. When I connect this abomination of an antenna to a $30 RTL-SDR software defined radio USB dongle and listen to ham bands via the SDR-Sharp software on the computer, signals come through much more clearly than with the ICOM IC-7410. I can switch back and forth between the two, and the voices are consistently much more readable when using the cheap dongle and software defined radio.

Please don’t get me wrong. The ICOM IC-7410 is an excellent transceiver, and I’m convinced that if I had a real antenna at a decent elevation, signals would be stronger, and the difference wouldn’t be as striking. But software defined radio seems to overcome some of the limitations of my antenna. So, I decide to bite the bullet and shell out what it takes to upgrade to a hybrid transceiver that includes an SDR. It won’t make my transmitted signal any stronger, but it should help with what I receive.

The Yaesu FTDX10 goes for more than I want to pay, but I commit and snag the Yaesu FTDX10 from DX Engineering. I choose the FTDX10 over a reasonable competitor, the ICOM 7300, for what some may consider to be a petty reason. The touchscreen display is bigger than on the 7300. Now, I must admit to some hypocrisy here. I once mocked my sister for choosing a Corvair for her first car because it had a radio with buttons. But here I am choosing a rig for the display size. My eyesight is pretty good, so that’s no excuse. It’s just something about a big display that attracts me. It’s why I was an early adopter of the Samsung Note line for a smartphone.

The FTDX10 has a DVI output and USB ports for a keyboard and mouse. A unidirectional DVI to HDMI cable should work very well to operate the rig using my PC monitor. If you get such a cable, make sure it’s unidirectional. You don’t want HDMI sending things in the other direction as it is wont to do.

If you don’t want to mess with a cable and a keyboard and mouse for the FTDX10, Ham Radio Deluxe lets you operate your rig from your computer and its keyboard and mouse. In fact, allow me a couple nitpicks with the FTDX10 as compared to Ham Radio Deluxe. I have a USB switch which lets you use one keyboard and mouse for multiple devices. You can’t do that with the FTDX10. It doesn’t know how to deal with the USB switch. I need to dedicate a keyboard and mouse to the rig. Furthermore, you can’t change frequencies on the DX10 with the mouse scroll wheel.

In contrast, Ham Radio Deluxe is a PC application, so there’s no need for a USB switch. And the interface lets you increase and decrease the frequency with the mouse scroll wheel.

So, Yaesu, if you’re listening (or, rather, reading), how about updating the firmware to allow a USB switch, and make it possible to tune with the mouse scroll wheel?

Speaking of tuning, the frequency tuning method on the FTDX10 is one area where I immediately miss the ICOM 7410. With the IC-7410, I press one button and tune in 1 kHz steps. Press it again, and I’m back to fine tuning. People transmit on an even 1 kHz frequency so often that I find that feature to be extremely useful. From what I understand, with the IC-7300, you touch the kHz section of the display, and you tune in 1 kHz steps. Touch it again, and you go back to the default. Same feature, different activation/de-activation methods.

The FTDX10 works almost the same way. Almost. You touch the kHz section on the display, and it tunes in 1 kHz steps. Then it goes back to the default tuning steps after you stop tuning around. I want to set it on or off. I don’t want it switching off on its own. Worse, my fat fingers often hit the outer dial while tuning the 1 kHz steps (there are two tuning dials on the Yaesu – the main dial and an outer ring). Touching the ring cancels the 1 kHz steps.

I dig deeper into the Yaesu settings and, lo and behold, I see that I can set the rig so that when I press the STEP/MCH button, it tunes 1 kHz at a time using the outer ring. I can still use the main dial for finer tuning. That’s a game changer for me. In case you have a different preference, you can configure the button to change the outer tuning ring to a variety of different steps, up to 10 kHz.

In the end, I’m very pleased with the FTDX10. I can pull signals out from under the noise in ways I never could with my IC-7410, especially when I invoke the digital noise reduction button.

So how is my new gear for transmitting? I still don’t get great signal reports. But I can check into various nets and almost always get heard. And remember, I logged only three FT8 contacts over the entire Field Day weekend with my former gear. With these shiny new items, I’ve logged over 300 contacts using FT8 at 10 watts, including 40+ countries. Now, whether the difference is the equipment or it not being Field Day is anyone’s guess. But I’m one happy camper now.?