Yes, my magnificent Icom IC-7700 has been sold. It was definitely the
finest and best radio I will ever own, but at the end it was a huge
overkill in my small town and not being able to go to the coast for
DXpeditions sounded its death knell. It would not run on batteries and
at 35kg's/80lbs packed it was just too heavy to take anywhere.

So it will be replaced with an Icom IC-7600, a portable radio that
will run on 12v DC auto batteries. It has many of the fine features of
the 7700 and is quite pricey at $4000, but aw shucks, you only live
once and you can't take it with you. Unfortunately the dealer has no
stock in Joburg and it may be a few months before he gets new stock
in, So I will just have to be patient and hope the ball and chain
doesn't get her hands on the boodle from the 7700.

Also I will sell the old Icom IC-756PROIII that I am currently DXing
with, and that will be replaced with a laptop and Perseus SDR - then I
will be fully up-to-date with the world's other top MW DXer's.

Later in August it is DXpedition time again, this time the beautiful
Jongensgat, so I hope for good weather and wonderful propagation.

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7600 coming, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

John Plimmer wrote:

Yes, my magnificent Icom IC-7700 has been sold. It was definitely the
finest and best radio I will ever own, but at the end it was a huge
overkill in my small town and not being able to go to the coast for
DXpeditions sounded its death knell. It would not run on batteries and
at 35kg's/80lbs packed it was just too heavy to take anywhere.

So it will be replaced with an Icom IC-7600, a portable radio that
will run on 12v DC auto batteries. It has many of the fine features of
the 7700 and is quite pricey at $4000, but aw shucks, you only live
once and you can't take it with you. Unfortunately the dealer has no
stock in Joburg and it may be a few months before he gets new stock
in, So I will just have to be patient and hope the ball and chain
doesn't get her hands on the boodle from the 7700.

Also I will sell the old Icom IC-756PROIII that I am currently DXing
with, and that will be replaced with a laptop and Perseus SDR - then I
will be fully up-to-date with the world's other top MW DXer's.

Later in August it is DXpedition time again, this time the beautiful
Jongensgat, so I hope for good weather and wonderful propagation.

A question John,

Not having dealt with much of this in the past, but would it be possible,
and/or less costly to have someone here in the USA purchase what you need and
ship it to you?

On Aug 4, 10:16*pm, Bob Dobbs wrote:
I always thought successful MW-DXing was more about persistence than
gear, although good equipment is a requisite, so if off loading some
ballast will allow more time to devote, then so be it. And when you
decide on a price range for those nice Icoms, be sure to post a heads up
in this forum.

--

Operator Bob
Echo Charlie 42

Bob, in old style conventional MW DXing, persistence was indeed one of
the criteria, plus operator skill and experience. The radio is down
about fifth on the list of requirements.

However the Perseus SDR has changed the whole outlook for MW DXing and
perhaps has taken a lot of the persistence out of the equation.

The top prime time on a DXpedition at the coast is the magical TOH top
of hour just around sunrise. With a conventional radio you may snaffle
up as many as four ID's if you are good, but since Perseus records the
WHOLE MW spectrum for later playback, you can thus capture everything
that is going, perhaps twenty rare stations or more.

So the Perseus has changed the whole ballgame and I've got to get into
that.

The Icom 7700 sold for $6250 and the 756PROIII is up for $1900 asking.

regards JP

"Bob Dobbs"
Not trying to give you a hard time, just always thought of you as old
school, where manually diddling the knobs to tweak out that elusive
signal was the bulk of the pleasure.

--

Operator Bob
Echo Charlie 42

Ya Bob, I like to turn the knobs.

I DX for myself, I enjoy what I listen to and I don't care what anyone
thinks about "my-way"

I started DXing with an Oat Meal box, my little Sony 7600 with a 100 feet of
wire was my main friend in NAM, we spent a lot of time together.

I have an antenna farm here and I had one in Ca. also.

Loving it,

Burr

Bob Dobbs wrote:

John Plimmer wrote:


However the Perseus SDR has changed the whole outlook for MW DXing and
perhaps has taken a lot of the persistence out of the equation.

SDR is to old fashioned tune and listen DXing
is like a gill net is to a rod and reel.

The top prime time on a DXpedition at the coast is the magical TOH top
of hour just around sunrise. With a conventional radio you may snaffle
up as many as four ID's if you are good, but since Perseus records the
WHOLE MW spectrum for later playback, you can thus capture everything
that is going, perhaps twenty rare stations or more.

I can see where compiling a DXers guide could benefit from a method so
comprehensive, but where's the sport?

So the Perseus has changed the whole ballgame and I've got to get into
that.

Only difference between that and draining the whole pond to count the
fish, is that the stations will still be alive tomorrow.

the 756PROIII is up for $1900 asking.

Sounds fair enough for a radio not used for transmitting.

Not trying to give you a hard time, just always thought of you as old
school, where manually diddling the knobs to tweak out that elusive
signal was the bulk of the pleasure.

I'm old school myself in many ways, however, when I returned to the SWBC hobby
circa 1981 or so, the one thing that got me was digital readout and recording
capabilities.

I was able, using the FRG-7700 that I purchased from Gilfer SW , to set the
radio to a particular frequency, set the timer, and have the next day a
recording on cassette of what happened on the frequency.

A whole new world of DX'ing!

I do get and understand your 'gill net' analogy.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Drake R7, R8, R8A and R8B
70' and 200' wires

239 countries heard and 224 QSL'd (veried, for those in Glendale) using the
NASWA Country List.

And, as always, don't let your children attend the Sullivan College of
Technology & Design.

They've hired at least one dufus who once claimed to have a PhD and lied about
being arrested, and who knows, there may be more dufi there.

On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:07:30 -0700, Bushcraftgregg wrote:

On Aug 4, 10:42Â*am, John Plimmer wrote:
Yes, my magnificent Icom IC-7700 has been sold. It was definitely the
finest and best radio I will ever own, but at the end it was a huge
overkill in my small town and not being able to go to the coast for
DXpeditions sounded its death knell. It would not run on batteries and
at 35kg's/80lbs packed it was just too heavy to take anywhere.

So it will be replaced with an Icom IC-7600, a portable radio that will
run on 12v DC auto batteries. It has many of the fine features of the
7700 and is quite pricey at $4000, but aw shucks, you only live once
and you can't take it with you. Unfortunately the dealer has no stock
in Joburg and it may be a few months before he gets new stock in, So I
will just have to be patient and hope the ball and chain doesn't get
her hands on the boodle from the 7700.

Also I will sell the old Icom IC-756PROIII that I am currently DXing
with, and that will be replaced with a laptop and Perseus SDR - then I
will be fully up-to-date with the world's other top MW DXer's.

Later in August it is DXpedition time again, this time the beautiful
Jongensgat, so I hope for good weather and wonderful propagation.

Good job John, that is a pretty good chunk of change.

I got my Hammarlund 129X with Heathkit Q Mutiplier back yesterday,
totally recapped and realigned. The fella even added on for me a new
digital readout for an extra $30.00

Total cost $152 - why the extra two dollars I will never know. But I
know my Hammar really likes the broadcast bands.:-)


I have a great HQ-145XC. It has been totally gone over. Who did your
digital readout? That sounds like something I would be interested in for
my old HQ!


--
"What do you mean there's no movie?"

Magnetic Poles Drift.

Don't let em fool you, there is Nothing much to it.I just now checked my
old Compass.
cuhulin

On Aug 5, 9:38*pm, CountFloyd
wrote:
On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:07:30 -0700, Bushcraftgregg wrote:
On Aug 4, 10:42*am, John Plimmer wrote:
Yes, my magnificent Icom IC-7700 has been sold. It was definitely the
finest and best radio I will ever own, but at the end it was a huge
overkill in my small town and not being able to go to the coast for
DXpeditions sounded its death knell. It would not run on batteries and
at 35kg's/80lbs packed it was just too heavy to take anywhere.

So it will be replaced with an Icom IC-7600, a portable radio that will
run on 12v DC auto batteries. It has many of the fine features of the
7700 and is quite pricey at $4000, but aw shucks, you only live once
and you can't take it with you. Unfortunately the dealer has no stock
in Joburg and it may be a few months before he gets new stock in, So I
will just have to be patient and hope the ball and chain doesn't get
her hands on the boodle from the 7700.

Also I will sell the old Icom IC-756PROIII that I am currently DXing
with, and that will be replaced with a laptop and Perseus SDR - then I
will be fully up-to-date with the world's other top MW DXer's.

Later in August it is DXpedition time again, this time the beautiful
Jongensgat, so I hope for good weather and wonderful propagation.

Good job John, that is a pretty good chunk of change.

I got my Hammarlund 129X with Heathkit Q Mutiplier back yesterday,
totally recapped and realigned. The fella even added on for me a new
digital readout for an extra $30.00

Total cost $152 - why the extra two dollars I will never know. But I
know my Hammar really likes the broadcast bands.:-)

I have a great HQ-145XC. *It has been totally gone over. *Who did your
digital readout? *That sounds like something I would be interested in for
my old HQ!


Yeah, I have the 140X also, that will be next in
getting tuned up. There's all kinds of people all
over the internet that do that type of work, apparently
there is nothing to it.