Nice Box!

The Yaesu FT-857 doesnt have a proper S-Meter, instead it has an LCD bargraph that can be selected to show the various levels such as Signal strength, Tx power, ALC level, Discriminator balance etc. But an LCD is always a bit pants. Yaesu obviously realise this, and so on the underside of the control head theres a 3.5mm jack socket providing a meter output. So, a 100k pot, a small box and an old CB S-meter later, we have a nice add-on analogue meter -

The 0-V-0 plods on slowly. Most of the holes are drilled, two of the grommets inserted. One more grommet, a pair of standoff insulators, and the ferrite rod supports still to do, and then we can actually build the electronic side of the set! Couldnt get much done today due to spending most of the day refelting a shed roof.

More old electronic stuff gone on ebay today, including a Kenwood battery charger, some old dot matrix printer parts, the unsold ICs from last week, and my Alinco DR-130 mobile, which has developed a fault. Think i'll miss the old rig, its given me a lot of good service.