In my quest for simplification, I decided to try something I haven’t tried in awhile with regards to my shack configuration. I basically decided to just start putting stuff away. I put away my FTDX-10 and the associated antenna tuner. I put away my FTM-500DR. I coiled up all the coax and put it in the closet. And I put away my Astron power supply and Bioenno battery setup that was powering my shack.
It’s kind of hard to justify having a base VHF/UHF FM rig on a base antenna. Other than nets, the local repeaters have very little activity. Of course, this is what drove me to digital voice modes in the first place.
With regards to putting away my FTDX-10… I very rarely key up the mic on HF. While I have made a few memorable contacts, my end-fed random wire at 6 feet is a pretty poor excuse for an antenna. But just like my FTM-500, I basically concluded that it wasn’t worth the desk space to have this radio on the desk.
I did end up putting my WiRES-X node back up. That’s the only thing I have running off 12 volts at this point. So now I get to limit my activities to doing digital voice with my WiRES-X node and six hotspots or doing Allstar via my two Allstar nodes. And all with my handheld radios. I like the simplicity of this.
In addition to putting away virtually everything but my handhelds… I also bought a new ICOM ID-50A. Pretty nice little radio. But the sad thing is… the new price on the ID-50A is almost exactly what I sold my ID-52A for six months ago. I did give the buyer a good deal. Maybe a little too good. Too bad I couldn’t predict the future.