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Hi All, I refer to the FC-40 Control Cable which is just 5 meters long (abt. 16/17 feet). It is an 8 poles shielded cable straight wired, ended with 2x mini-Din8 plugs. I wonder how long can it be extended without to cause interferences/malfunctions to the FC-40 respectively to the FT857/897. Yaesu/Vertex don't say a word about it. I wonder if someone has done such an extension as well as where he found the extension cable (maybe in Mac "old" serial cables, unfortunately hard to find in EU), or perhaps just cutting the original cable and extending it by means of shielded connectors and a random lenght of shielded 8 poles cable? Many thanks in advance for any possible suggestion! I apologize for "my" english :o) Best 73 de Enrico - HB9FBN

Hi everybody, I'm new to ham radio and plan to buy some equipment soon (Xmax's comming up ;-) I was thinking FT-857D and Buddipole; since many package-deals shave 50% off of a FC-40, I'm wondering if I can use it to fine-tune a dipole antenna. I gather there is a difference between balanced and un-balanced antennas; let me see if I get this straight: since solid-state transceivers feature unbalanced final stages, it is desireable to insert a balun between the radio and the dipole, which is a balanced antenna (I guess this is to avoid currents on the outer side of the coax cable). The FC-40's output is geared towards wire antennas and is probably un-balanced, right!? (1) Can you comment on the use of the FC-40 with a dipole antenna (and the Buddipole in particular). (2) How is the LDG Z11Pro tuner different from the FC-40. Your help is appreciated! Thanks, Wolf

I just got back from using my FT-857D and FC-40 in N. Maine on a canoe trip. I used the FT-857D on battery (with a 14W solar pannel) and the FC-40 connected to a random wire (~30-33m) most of the time only about 10-15m high. I was using a sling to string the wires up in the trees so I couldn't get too high. I also used about 25m of counterpoise running on the ground. I was able to get tuned fairly well on 20m and most of the time on 40m. 80m was generally a problem with the tuner as I got HSWR most of the time. I didn't think 33m was close enough to 1/2? (40m) for it to be a match problem on 80m. Does anyone know the range of impedences that the FC-40 can match? Another thing that I noticed is that on 80m my carrier would have practically little SWR but my voice modulation (LSB) would peak the SWR. I also had some complaints while QSOing across the Atlantic about QSB. This may be the becuase of the FT-857D sutting down due to HSWR peaks. I also tried using the FC-40 with a 5x10m vertical loop 2m off the ground. This had the same tuning characteristics. --jon

Good morning, I am going off to visit my parents in Alberta next month and thinking of bringing my FT-857 and FC-40 with me. I am planning on using one of the electric fences as an antenna. (The fence is not energized, since no cattle are using this field) The fence is approximately 300 m (1000 ft+) approximately 60 cm (2 ft) off the ground and terminated to the ground at the far end. My question is if this would be a viable antenna system? Is there anything I should look out for? 73 de Greg VE3DB

Okay, I have followed the postings so far and have the radio and antenna and tuner installed in the TJ. I have grounded the exhaust system as advised. I placed two large ferrites on the fuel pump line. I put ferrites on the brake light power lines. Noise is still at S-7 to S-9. Pretty disgusting. My next direction is the injectors, I suppose. Any other ideas out there? Reply direct: crashlk55@... Larry-N7IBC

Hello all: A friend is about to buy an FT-857d and FC-40, which I understand uses the CAT port. He would also like to do psk31 using the CAT control capabilities of Mixw. Is this possible? Some sort of Y adapter? Where to purchase? Thanks, -Chris VA3ECO PS: I posted this in the 857 group and was told you can make one, but is there a source to buy one? And does the mixw and fc-40 data interfere with each other (ie. once the radio is told the fc-40 is connected and sees it there, can the radio still accept PTT commands from the mixw, and send freq data back to the mixw)?

Greeting FC-40 users! I have uploaded some pictures of the setup in my XYL's Jeep Wrangler TJ in the folder "W6SH Jeep Wrangler TJ - FT-857D & FC-40". Although my XYL would probably tolerate me putting the big ol' ball mount over the rear fender for the whip - in the interests of matrimonial harmony I decided to try for as much of a "bolt on" installation for a FT-857D / FC-40 / 102" inch whip combo as I could manage. It is a low-profile look and happily so far my XYL approves. This setup is just what I ended up with and is probably not optimal - but maybe someone will get some ideas for taking their own FC-40 mobile. Going HF mobile means making compromises - but I have been pleased with the FC-40 since I got it last Christmas. Some mobileer purists would argue for bugcatchers or screwdrivers, but the whip has the advantage for a Jeep of being somewhat more rugged when going off-road. I work downtown and the whip also is easy to pull down to a tie down mounted over the driver's side of the windshield when entering parking garages. I have been pleased with the performance on 20 meters and higher freqs. Tuning on 40 is sometimes hit or miss - the TJ doesn't have a lot of sheet metal for a ground plane. Interestingly, 40 tunes up better when the whip is pulled down. I am experimenting with an 1:4 toroid autotransformer and more grounding braids to see if 40 will tune up better. One issue I haven't had too much trouble with is RFI. TJs are notorious for fuel pump noise, but I quieted mine down by placing several clamp on ferrite beads on the fuel pump power lead as it heads into the gas tank (this is a tight place to get into, however). I also put ferrite beads on the taillight wires to keep down fuel pump RFI - that seemed to help too. Be sure to ground the tailpipe as it can radiate ignition noise too. I still get some ignition noise at times despite having several beads on the ignition wires, I have got some copper conductive adhesive tape however and I will cover and ground those ignition wires as suggested by K0BG (I highly recommend his site for mobileers at www.k0bg.com). The radio is mounted in the aftermarket metal "Insta-trunk" which provides some theft protection. The FC-40, and whip are mounted on a "Arizona Rocky Round" Jeep rear double antenna mount which is made by Rick at arizonarockyroad.com . This mount uses the existing bolt holes for the rear tire mount. The whip is a RadioShack 102" CB whip. The whip insulator is Delrin and available at geotool.com . Voltages at the tuner output can be very high so a good insulator is required here. The VHF antenna is a Comet SBB-7 foldover. I used #10 dual wire from the battery posts - this is hidden along the passenger side floor - both leads are fused. I had to replace the 7 year old battery as it was weak and used a Optima yellow top deep-cycle gel battery. I found a cheap 1 Farad car stereo capacitor at a flea market and put in the trunk to on the power lead to ensure there would be no voltage dips while transmitting - although this is probably unnecessary, it looks good! I used the existing brake light grommet in the tailgate to bring out the HF coax lead, I did have to drill another 1/2" hole in the tailgate to bring out the VHF coax and control lead. I coiled the HF coax into several 6" turns before it entered the tuner to reduce any coax radiation. The mounting plates that come attached to the FC-40 were removed. The tuner is mounted to the back of the Arizona Rockyroad mount using plumbers straps and stainless self-tapping screws and grounded to the mount and tailgate with 1/2" braid. The tailgate is also grounded to the body with 1/2" braid. Conductive grease was used at all ground points. So far I have been impressed with the FC-40, it performs as advertised and seems pretty stable on the road. So far I have worked North America and Europe, I have had S9 reports from W2 and VE7 almost had a VK-land contact during a late band opening on 20m a few nights ago, except he went QRT too soon. I continue to try to improve the setup and I will add new pictures if I think I have made any leaps forward. 73 de Jay W6SH

It's been suggested to me that I replace my 102" whip with an 80-meter HamStick. Has anyone tried this. My whip performs great down to 17-meters, but I've had trouble being heard on 20 and 40. Any experiences/opinions? Thanks, ke5bsa

I have a 6 foot wood fence that protects my back yard. It must be around + /- 200 feet in roughly a square configuration. I used 4 foot fiberglass fence sticks and nailed them to the posts around the yard above the wood fence. The wire is attached above to those sticks which gives a total height of about 10 feet for the antenna. The tuner is outside the shack and grounded right there. The antenna tunes ALL bands 160 through 6 meters with no problems. I get great reports too. If interested I'll send a picture. It does not look like an antenna!

I am going to be purchasing an FT-857d on a special very shortly. The special has discounted prices on both the FC-40 and the ATAS-120. Yaesu advertizes the FC-40 being used with a 102" to 108" whip. My mobile situation requires that I use a flexible whip of between 50" to 60". Has anyone used the FC-40 mobile with this whip length and can you tell me how much the lowest resonate frequency that the FC-40 would tune to changed? Also, regarding the ATAS 120, can anyone give me the motorized coil length and the whip length? Yaesu does not supply measured lengths of each in their advertisements. The overall length seems to fall within my needs but the length of the motorized coil may not meet the restrictions I am working with. Wiley WA5OTR

So what is a good wire lenght that will cover all bands? I have up to 100 feet of wire to work with. looking for 160 to 6 meters but 80 to 160 would be fine.

Gidday all, I have uploaded some photos of my mobile setup. It may not be 100% conforming with pure antenna theory, but it works! Regards, Peter, VK4TGV.

Hey all, I sold my truck with the 102 inch whip....I had the fc-40 about 3 inchis away from the inside lug of the ball mount so it was perfect for 10 gauge wire from the fc-40 lugs to the ant. Now I cannot drill into my (new) Olds Bravada, so I need to figure another way. Can I cut off the end of a 15ft coax, wire it to the tuner and connect the other end to a pl259 mount for the whip, off the bumper sor something? Didn't think I could use a coax. Also, what if I used a 4:1 balun in reverse to accept the wires from the tuner and adapt them to the coax to make the run over to the whip? Can a balun be used in reverse? Could use it in my shack to attach attick mounted slinky to the tuner. Greg W0GAN Just a dumb general.

I'm pretty new at this, been reading up what I can about tuners & stuff. I'm also a bit overwelmed by all the advertising about this tuner, that tuner, and I'm a little confused... Is there a difference between a "Tuner" and a "Coupler" or do the terms meaning the same thing? Does a tuner or coupler tune a wire into resonance? Or does a tuner or coupler match impedence? Is using a tuner or coupler merely "presenting" a radio a low SWR even when it is working into a mismatch? Can a tuner or coupler make a less than optimum antenna more efficient; can it increase gain? Is it better to use a varable length antenna system, like a Screwdriver, than to use a random length wire/tuner coupler? I have a FT857D, I've passed the General written exam, & have about got the code...(Yes, I know that it's been proposed dropping the code requirement, & Yes, I still want to learn it.) I'm about ready to start seriously building or buying my HF antenna(s), I'd like to start on the right foot. These questions I've stated will go along way toward the decisions I may make. Inquireing minds want to know... Thanks in advance for any inputs that may come... Bob KI4HEE

Dar friends, I am using the FC40 with my 857 and 897 under several circumstances. In mobile I tested the FC 40 with 1 3m whip against the ATAS 120. my opinion is: Atas on 20-10m better, FC40 /whip combo on 40-80 better. 6m no chance of dx for a test. my question: does anybody know a source for an additional extender cable for the remote control line? I do not want to cut the original cable. Greetings from Munich Hanno, DG8JZ www.yaesu-museum.com www.dg8jz.de

Any info on the use of the FC 40 withe a FT 897 and portable antennas. I go away and find the antenna is always a problem in Hotels......Any length of wire found to be good for 40 and 20m.......

Hi all. Newbie here. Just got the FT 857 and the ATAS 120 with a Comet CF530 Duplexer. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with the ATAS 120? It auto-tunes on most bands however a little difficult on 18mhz. All other tune 100% 40m thru to 6m. 1st Question: Is it possible to alter the whip length so as to work 80m? 2nd Question: The ATAS is supposed to be fine on 2m and 70cm. However 2m is 100% but high SWR on 70cm (SWR pops up on 857 screen) Also the power reading on the screen for 2m is very low? Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks Tony de M0MTD

Chuck, With a 102" whip, you get 6 meters through 40 meters. You really want the wire from the tuner to the mount as short as possible, although it will work with just about any lenght. Just remember that the "antenna" starts at that connector on the tuner. I have my FC-40 mounted in my aluminum toolbox. I have very little problems with tuning the 102" whip. It usually loads in about 3 to 5 seconds. Hope this helps. Thanks, Mike, KB5OZE

I am thinking of buying a FC-40 for my pickup truck installation and had a few questions. 1.Will the tuner with a 102" whip tune 10 to 80 meters? 2. How long a wire can be used to connect the tuner to the antenna mount? I was thinking of mounting the tuner on the side of the tool box. It would be about a foot from the tuner to the mount

I just purchased a FC-40 from Ebay... Should have it next week.. What is the general feeling about this tuner, does it perform well?? Robbie, EI2IP