[aprssig] Yaesu FT1500M

[Stephen H. Smith]

The 24/7  VHF off-air monitoring for my UI-Webserver at:
      http://wa8lmf.dyndns.org:14439     

is being done with an FT-1500 with it's  minidin6 connector going into 
the VHF side of a KAM.  (The HF side of the KAM is connected to a 
Kenwood TS-50 on 30 meters.)   

The only problem I observe with the FT-1500 is that I can't set the 
squelch threshold high enough to prevent it from being held open (and 
thus preventing transmit) by grunge from a local cable TV trunk .

(Channel "E" on analog cable systems lands almost directly on 144.39)   
The sync buzz and hash varies with the brightness of the scene being 
televised. Usually when the scene cuts to another view or fades to black 
for a commercial, the crud level drops enough to allow the squelch to 
close which then results in a burst of queued packets getting 
transmitted all at once to 144.39.

This problem is most acute on cool nights, and goes away in warm 
weather. I think the trouble is with a improperly-installed compression 
connector on the aluminum-sheathed hardline  trunk cable.  When the 
weather is warm, the aluminum hardline expands faster than the brass 
fitting and makes a tighter seal.



Stephen H. Smith             wa8lmf (at) aol.com
                                                    
Home Page:                   http://wa8lmf.com

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