Discouragement
It was with great enthusiasm I awaited the start of the CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest. Prior to 0000z, 14 February, 20m seemed alive with a flurry of pre-contest action. Unfortunately, when the the clock struck that magical hour the problems began.
It has been a few weeks now I have been experiencing a power issue on my Icom IC-718. While I have not been able to pinpoint the cause, K0PYB gave me a few items to think about. The rig was working well, based off the contacts I had made the past few months totaling over 350. I know that number is rather small for hard core radio enthusiasts, but January alone was my best month to date with 270 contacts made. So I know the rig was working well.
I recently acquired an Alpha Delta DX-EE, which I mentioned previously in some of my ham news and while it has been up and down the past few weeks I finally pulled the plug on it until I could come up with a more optimal setup, one that was not so unsightly to neighbors and the “association” while driving on the main road adjacent to my backyard.
I decided to use my new 9913F, since it was lower loss that then RG-58U I was using to run between the Hustler 6-BTV and the IC-718. So after disconnecting the DX-EE and the LDG Z-100 antenna tuner I connected the IC-718 to my Bird43 and the feed line to the 6-BTV on the other side of the Bird. All was back to my original setup before adding the second antenna and reintroducing the tuner into the setup.
Unfortunately I was met with shock and dismay when transmitting I could not generate any more power than about 5 watts. I suspected I forgot to change some menu settings for the antenna, so I powered down the rig, changed the configuration in the setup and powered the rig back on. I transmitted a CQ using Hellschriber and was amazed when KC9JCH responded because I was maybe seeing the aforementioned 5 watts. Yet all was not well.
After the QSO I measured SWR and Impedance R&X using an MFJ-259B. While SWR might have been a bit on the high side, the vertical was “tuned” to the best of my ability. This too has been an issue previously, but with the QSOs logged I would call the 6-BTV in working order.
With new feedline and the SWR/Impedance checked that left one component, the IC-718. I connected a dummy load to the rig and keyed up using my Vibroplex Square Racer. The power output reflected 65-70w output on the Bird 43. This tells me the rig was in good working order and that power level was in an acceptable range, based on the manual.
Upon reconnecting the rig to the Bird 43 I was met with the same lack of power. I reconnected the LDG Z-100 tuner and configured it in the menu. I restarted the rig and sent a CQ. I had power again!!! Why and how, I still don’t know.
Last night at the start of WPX I had other configuration issues with Win-test and MMTTY, but once corrected saw my power fluctuate from 25w to OVER 100w! WTF? How do you generate over the maximum rated output on your rig? Logic tells me I could potentially have a bad element in the Bird 43. I am currently using a 250w element since I do not own a 100w, but I am reading off the correct scale and making the correct mathematical conversion.
K0PYB (Dennis) said I could have the final transistor going out or a bad director. I will take him at his word. The “finals” did come to mind, but hopefully that is not the case. I have inquired at the IC-718 Yahoo Group but so far I have not received any possibilities as to what could be causing this problem.
So with all the anticipation building to WPX, I was nothing but frustrated for the 2 hours I played radio making only 25 contacts, mainly on 20m. I had planned on some further contesting today, remotely from work but so far the calls I have made have gone unanswered, which does not help.
If you have any ideas, please let me know.
