This is the You Tube channel where FatCat.Parts stores videos of radio-related gear. Some of it is for sale. Some may not be for sale at all. But, if you are interested in ham radio or any of its offshoots, then you'll probably enjoy poking around in here.
If you'd like to contact me, it's pretty easy. Sales@FatCat.Parts is the email address. I'll answer you as soon as I see your email.
I am located in North Mississippi, and sell primarily vintage radios, radio parts, test gear, and related stuff.
My videos are not professionally produced. They are brief, rough-cut demos intended solely to show the radio. Nothing else.
This is not a full-time business, with a staff or a brick and mortar location. It's not really even a part-time business. It's just me, one old retired guy who enjoys amateur radio, and I do this as part of my amateur radio hobby. I am a licensed amateur, and I do mainly HF DX using SSB and FT-8, and locally the 2M band.
ne helpful thing for Doing SWL, is the customizable fiters . I set one of my AM filters for widest possible band FOR VOICE , I also bring the low freq response up and high end down for nose reduction. Using the tunable filters really can improve the sound for SWL use.
Nice!! I inherited one of these from a friend. I presume from your YT name that you’re in the business of swapping radios? Do you still have this one? Lastly, do you know of anyone who can provide some guidance on using at TS-440?
CFRX is a 1KW international Shortwave relay station of CFRB 1010 AM Toronto. CFRX signed on the air in Feb 11 1937, 10 years after CFRB went on the air. Cheers!
You can listen to HF for free with a computer. And most people will not invest in a proper antenna, so buying a good receiver and not having a good antenna is like buying a $10,000 commercial walk in cooler for a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. The reason for the license is because it not only receives but it also transmits and it is human nature that anything that can transmit that someone is eventually going to be tempted to try it. And legally before the internet, the stores that sold the radio refused to sell to anyone unless they had a license and a valid call sign. Even in 2011, Ham Radio Outlet refused to sell the radio to me unless I gave them my call sign. Truthfully unless you listen to ham radio, there is nothing left on the shortwave radio. Everything has migrated to the internet.
Used to send out SINPO reports to radio stations across the world, hoping to get qsl cards in return. Most stations would return a card, some signed by the presenters and crew. Best return I ever got was fom a station in Beijing. I received a large package with magazines promoting their country ( couldn’t read Chinese though ) flags, metal lapel badges, calendars and pens. I received the same package three years running from them, happy days. Every letter I received from Russian stations, had been opened before I got it ! Must have thought I was a spy 😂 But internet came along and a lot of stations stopped using radio to broadcast their signal. I’m getting back into listening using my trusty FRG7700 and long wire, and there are still lots of stations to be found. A few hours listening seems like 20 minutes. Your video was very informative, not just for newies, but for anybody who has that radio. Well done 73s
Thanks for a most interesting and informative video. I have noted down the short wave webpage that you mentioned, which should be quite handy. I don't have an ICOM receiver, though I do have a Yaesu FRG-100 that receives the SW band among other things.
I bought one of these kenwood 2550a I paid 60.00 plus shipping which was 13.00. My question is whats the going price for one of these with the tone module is install3e. I haven't received the radio yet
No. Look for an on-screen "button" on the lower-right of the display that says "CENT/FIX" and tap that. It toggles between showing a large section of whatever ham band you are in (or even the whole band if you have it set that way), or being centered on the frequency you are listening to, no matter where that is. You can adjust the bandwidth being displayed on either side of what you are listening to as well ("SPAN"). I like +/- 25k when I am listening to SW stations. I'm not trying to be a smart a$$ when I say this, but read the manual and spend a lot of time experimenting. I too discover new functionality every now and then and have to look it up in the manual, even when I thought I had this rig all figured out. The manual can also be downloaded as a PDF (Icom website) which makes searching for stuff much quicker.
Hello, could you help me know how I should configure the 7300 with this amplifier? How much power does it give you ? Do you use antenna tuner? Thanks for your support !! I have the same equipment and I would like to make it work
This was very useful, thanks. Two months ago I bought a CCrane Skywave SSB, resurrecting my old interest in radio from years ago (as well as working in radio news journalism for years), and then set up a LoG antenna in the garden using 18-gauge speaker wire and (eventually) a 4:1 LDG balun from HRO. Two weeks ago I somehow persuaded myself to get an ICOM 7300 and a suitable power supply from the same store, and tomorrow I'm going to (attempt to) put a longwire 'random' antenna in our high locust tree, fed into a cheap 9:1 balun I got from China or somewhere. I also signed up for a ham radio study course with a view to taking my exam in a few months. So you could say things escalated. 😁 I used CB back in Britain some years ago and always meant to progress to ham but never got the chance in the end. Now I'm in the US and the Technician license beckons. Thanks again for an interesting and informative vid :)
I build an end fed half wave antenna for 40 meters using a 9:1 unun. 66 feet on antenna side and 17 feet on ground end. SWR is very low on 20-40-80 meters without a tuner.
Me personally I don't like the din microphone connections , I remember from my cb days when ratshack had din plugs they would fall apart if you looked at them sideways that is the only thing I would change on those little rigs.
Hello. Can the 7300 rf output be totally inhibited to prevent blowing up an active receive antenna? Too, can am bandwidth filter be variably adjusted or is that just fixed bandwidths. Thanks!
You can’t disable transmit using the controls. You can dial the transmit power down to 5 watts, the settings won’t let it go lower. Disconnecting the mic is a good idea but you can still transmit if you hit the tune button. The bandwidth filters are excellent on this radio and infinitely adjustable on AM from approximately 10khz down to some super low unusable number. To do this just press and hold the filter button until a sub screen pops up that will let you adjust the filters for each filter position. For AM listening I recommend using 9khz, 6khz, and 4 khz in the 3 positions. 3 khz is too narrow for decent broadcast fidelity. I also recommend increasing the span of the spectrum scope so you can see more signals.
Appreciate your perspective to use the 7300 for Short wave listening to. In the past I have enjoyed Short Wave programs Especially enjoyed you techniques. Thanks for the tips to identifying which stations are active 😀 73 Steve AA4SH
Why the past? Turn on a radio and do it now. There are entire clubs of DXers dedicated to receiving far away stations and logging them. Why the hell wouldn't that interest you anymore? It's not only about listening to powerhouses beaming to Tennessee. It's about the weak stations bud that are still there every single day.
I do own a Yaesu FT-891 and use it frequently for SWLing. I miss that big scope & waterfall the IC-7300 offers, would be thrilled to find pirate stations more easily. My question: with the IC-7300 can you select SW station, customize its bandwith and store it in memory? 73's from Québec, Canada, VE2YOW
I cannot answer that question. If you are using a Heathkit receiver and just want to hear some stations, all you need is a longwire, the longer and higher the better. 100' long at 35' up will work. Longer is better. Higher is better. What you actually need will depend on what you want to accomplish with the receiver.
It's great to see a video of this working. I've actually found an FRG9600 in the loft but can't seem to get a signal. I've plugged it in and attached a whip antenna. What am I missing?
Hard to say from here. A longwire antenna should get you at least some stations. Take the radio outside, connect the longest and highest wire you can manage, and then tune very slowly. It's easy to blow past stations if you are tuning too quickly. One MHz per second is about right, just to see if you are getting a signal. If it is daytime, tune between 14.150 and 14.350. That should get you some 20 meter ham stations. Also try 15.000 MHz, 20.000 MHz, and 25.000 MHz. You should get you the WWV time clicks, and the time every 60 seconds. If you get that, then the receiver is working. Then you can go back inside with the radio, follow the same process, and you should still get stations.
