Good morning everyone, Mike in El Paso TX here.
Well, it isn't that I procrastinate...... not all the time anyway. But when you have a mission-critical job working 12-hour shifts, a wife and 4 Great Danes to support, a JEEP to build, sniper skills to maintain, rifles that need cleaning, hiking gear to maintain (and use)... and ham radio is the hobby you turn to when the other hobbies cannot be done.... things get put off.
I have been meaning to "work on" my two Yaesu FT-817NDs for a long time. When was it that the 60m channel changed frequency? Yeah - that long. I meant to do it when that channel changed on 60m. I meant to make a change when the CW allocation on 60m was authorized. I really regretted not doing it in June of 2017 when we went to Northern Bavaria to visit relatives and friends. But it just didn't rise to the top of the "To-Do" lists here. Until this morning.
We are packing to run to a dog show this morning. My wife (N5NHC) is a professional dog trainer. She has raised several champions and one National winner. Today we are headed to Albuquerque NM with two Great Danes for a large show. And I know we will have some time away from the show grounds, perhaps a SOTA summit or three..... and my two FT-817s were not ready.
I quickly downloaded the latest chirp, connected my cable, started the program - HOPING I could figure it out. It was totally painless! With no previous experience, I was able to download my configuration, change the 60m parameters, and re-upload it to the radios in minutes.... then test it against my FTdx5000MP. PERFECT! My two FT-817NDs are now ready.
Thanks to everyone for this program. It works, and it was simple to use. For me, SIMPLE is important, I hate software.
Wish us luck, and have a GREAT weekend. If you're around the ABQ-NM area, the dog show van is QRV on 144 FM and SSB, and FM only on 220, 440 and 1240 MHz. Catch us, we'll stop for a howdy and a coffee.....
Oh - dog show is at the ABQ Fairgrounds. There are over 50 Great Danes entered..... we're hopeful. But so are all the others.
Vy73 - Mike - KD5KC. El Paso, Texas - DM61rt. SOTA W5T-Texas Association Manager. NA-SOTA info is at: http://na-sota.org/