Life without my 6400, VR-N7500 update and Bad Bands for WES

 Life without my 6400:

It has been four weeks+ since I sent my Flex 6400 in to get the power poles replaced. Of course next week is Hamvention and I am wondering if there will be anyone at Flex to work on my radio. We will see.

My TS-520S has been working OK for a 50 something radio. I did have to spray some contact cleaner on the AG gain and RF gain controls, which were very noisy.

I did learn a couple of things about the TS-520S. First, in order for the S meter to work correctly, the RF gain has to be fully on. Second, use the fast mode AGC for CW. Third, use the RIT so you don't wonder all over the band trying to chase the other station, who might be slightly off frequency for the CW filter. Fourth, using the VOX allows for semi-break-in operation. Sometimes the VOX doesn't work. There still some issues with the side tone volume. I think the pot to adjust the side tone volume might be dirty. Also the pots for the VOX circuit might need a little cleaning.

VR-N7500:

The other day I was checking in on our local social net, when my radio decided to reboot. Not a good thing. I can't decide if it was a firmware glitch or a power glitch. I checked the power cables and they seem OK. We'll see if it happens again.

WES:

So the May WES was a little disappointing. Bands were terrible and with my boat anchor I had trouble making contacts. Hopefully the bands will improve.

All for now - 73!