On the slow boat from.... Sweden?

In order to power the Surf PI metal detector, I decided to follow the advice of another builder and purchase a set of Lithium Polymer batteries and charger, from a reliable* Far East online supplier. All seems reasonably well, apart from one small issue - it seems the customs in whichever part of the Far East these were due to ship from are going rather overboard in interpreting ICAO shipping regulations and wouldnt let these get on a plane!

So, I received an email stating that the tracking number had changed. Logging in, and finding a guide to interpreting the tracking numbers in order to go to the correct webpage to see the process, I find myself taken to the website of NordPost! It seems my batteries have been rerouted to be dispatched from Sweden of all places! I can only assume that a large shipping container full of these batteries made its slow way around to Scandinavia some time ago, and that my cells are even now making the steady journey across the North Sea!

To increase my frustration at the shipping delay, the battery holder for these cells of course did pass customs, and arrived today by airmail!

Onto Lyke Wake Walk preparations - After sorting the batteries in my FT-290R mk1, I found that the S-meter, was almost but not quite pegged on transmit on USB. Putting the rig onto the test set showed 2w output power with NO modulation! FM worked as expected, and LSB was also fine. Hmmm, looks like a case of bad carrier balance! Indeed it was, and a steady adjustment to VR1001 had the set back into spec. It was then I discovered that the PTT switch was intermittent as well. Some liberal Servisol (other switch contact cleaners are available...) and that was also fixed.

However, after weighing up the pro's and con's, quite literally, weve decided FM only is the way to go for the walk - the FT-290 weighs 2.5kg with batteries, the Alinco DJ-F1 - just 450g!

Please click the link to the right and take a look at our blog for the Lyke Wake Walk preparations, and please, feel free to sponsor myself and Bob M1BBV, by clicking here -