[SMCARA] FTdx-3000 and Optimized G5RV (ZS6BKW) on the air and observations.

[jbr13 at md.metrocast.net]

 Hello all, I thought I would through out my first thoughts on the new
station I finally got up and running this weekend. 

	FTdx-3000, as everyone that has one or played with one has said, its
a great rig.   I got mine on the air yesterday.  It took me a little
while to find my way around it, but most stuff popped pretty quick. 
One thing I did notice that struct me as funning, is the lack of a
control for RF Power.  RF power is only controled in the menu, but
since that is one of the things I would change most often, just
hitting the Menu button brings me right to it.  There is also a new
firmware update that adds control of RF Power to a front panel knob,
so Yaesu has seen we want this at finger tips.  The audio equalizers
in this rig are crazy.  from menu item numbers 159-176 are all
seperate setting for TX audio.  You can hear these effects by pluging
in headphones and turning on the monitor feature. I got the chance to
play with the Decoder feature of the rig a little on PSK and CW.  PSK
decode worked very well.  CW decode was a little trickier.  You have
to adjust the speed to try to match the person sending for it to
decode properly.  This was tricky with two gets transmitting at
slightly different speeds.  The Scope feature is very nice, and
continous.  You can see signals up and down the band from where you
are presently at.  This is a feature that I didn't think I would use
much, but now may leave that on the screen all the time.  The digital
needle works perfectly.  I much rather have the digital needle showing
Power Out, S Units, ALC and what ever else it will option to, but you
also have the option to switch to digital bars if you so want. 

	I got on the air and hit several DX contacts trying out 15M, 17M and
20M bands.  Most contacts were picked up on first call, and several
commented on nice audio and that the rig sounded great.  I operated
for about an hour or so just with stock Mic and Audio settings.  It
will take a rag chewing evening to play with the stock mic and Heil
mic and get true setting figured out. 

	Optimized G5RV (ZS6BKW) Antenna. 

	After getting the ZS6BKW up and all tied in, it did pretty much what
W8AMZ advertized!   

	I mounted the antenna in an inverted Vee with the peek at about 35
feet and 75 feet of Low Loss 400 from Jefa Tech. 

	Performance of the ZS6BKW was great, I can follow up with my real
SWR notes if anyone wants more info.  10M 12M 17M 20M and 40M were all
down below 2.3 SWR with lows at 1.1 SWR, but 10M was up at 3 SWR or a
little over. MFJ 949E tuned things in with no problem, and I am sure
the internal would work at touching these bands up as well.  As for 6M
15M 30M and 80M.  The low end of 6M is pretty good, I think it was
somewhere in the 2 SWR range. 15M it is out there, but the external
tuner brought it in fairly easily. 30M, I really didn't mess with. 
80M  3500 area is not sowhere around 1.7 to 2 SWR but the 3900 range
is up there a little more, have to use the tuner, and the tuner is
touchy on 80M.  The needles will jump down to 1.1 SWR and jump right
back up with a little turn of the adjustments. 
	Over all, I am very happy with both pieces of gear!  The radio is
wonderful to work and I haven't even found all the cool stuff it will
do yet.  The ZS6BKW G5RV antenna from W8AMZ's website is perfect for a
single HF wire setup.  I would buy both again with no problem! 
	Jason N3YUG Rearick 
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