It’s always about improving your operation and, for me, chasing more grids. Having earned 2-meter VUCC, I want to take a few station improvement steps to add more grids. Plus, since I’ve shut down my VHF roving, I can focus on the home station by selling some of that gear and reinvesting the proceeds.

Step one was to swap out the Directive Systems 2-meter 6-element Rover Yagi for a Cubex Quad 8-element 2-meter antenna. Step two was to swap out the RF Concepts 2-meter 170-watt amplifier for this nifty Tokyo Hy-Power HL-350Vdx that cruises along at 300 watts. Another enabling action was to separate the PTT/SEND connection from the IC-9100 into HF (for 6-meters) and VHF (for 2-meters) with a small relay box.

Amplifier Search

You may have read about my challenges with TE Systems amplifiers. I’ve had the 6-meter 170-watt and 375-watt versions back to the factory way too many times. So I wasn’t keen on adding a 2-meter version to the ham shack. However, watching eBay for amplifier sales revealed a few of the Tokyo Hy-Power models coming up for auction. More recently, a couple of nearly new amps were up for sale. Fortunately, I managed to win one of the auctions.

Amplifier On the Air

The one I bought is pristine on the outside, and the inside looks great, too. The eHam reviews were all glowing as to power output and durability.

I set up the power connection to the Diamond GZV6000 power supply that continuously provides up to 60 amps. BTW – I also picked up another one of these beautiful supplies on eBay, so the home shack is entirely powered by those excellent switching supplies.

I also did some work on the PTT line since the amplifier requires a 7-pin DIN connector for PTT. I ordered the needed plug on eBay, which was here a few days later. So I wired it up, and it’s working great.

For starters, I tried an MSK144 QSO with WB8LYJ roving in EM43. After a half hour, we gave it up. But the amplifier worked perfectly at 250 watts. Later that evening, I managed to get WB8LYJ into the log on Q65. The extra power and the gain of the quad had to make a difference, plus the nearly magic Q65 mode.

Another thing I like about this amplifier is that it has three input power levels. It has a slide switch on the back to select 10, 25, or 50 watts. I’m using 50 watts which helps when I switch the IC-9100 to the TE amplifier for 6 meters, where I run an attenuator on the input (trying to reduce or eliminate my repair bills).

It also has a built-in preamp with selectable gain settings of -20, +6, and +15 dB. I use an external ARR 2-meter preamp. So haven’t done much with the internal preamp.

Next Steps

The next thing on my list is to purchase a better coax connection on 2-meters. I have some of my 30-foot rover cables spliced together to get to the antenna. I need a long LMR400-type cable. There are quite a few options. It will be fun looking them over.

I hope to work you on 2-meters for new grids!