In the last entry, I mentioned not being able to tune the antenna for an SWR lower than 1.5:1. Well, it struck me last night as I was falling asleep why this was so. When calculating the SWR, the Autek VA1 assumes that you’re using a 50 ohm feedline. D’oh!
Fortunately, the Autek allows you to change that setting. You can program it to a number of different values from 25 ohms up to 450 ohms. Now, I’ll just have to remember to do that when working with RG-59 or ladder line or whatnot.
The rig I use on the HF bands is the Icom IC-735. I like it a lot, and while it doesn’t have some of the features found in the newer rigs, such as DSP or spectrum display, I really don’t feel the need to upgrade at this time.
The receiver is very good, and it puts out about 100W, which is sufficient for most operation. I also really like the break-in keying.
Having said that, it does have a few quirks. Several years ago, the backlight on the display quit and the power on-off switch is now intermittent. Anyone else out there have this problem? If so, is it an easy fix?
