Decided to work on that VX-7R programming cable. Got my soldering iron and magnifying headset out and laid out the cable. Here's what it looked like:
I cleaned off the old solder from the center conductor that the red wire had broken off of from the twisting and put just a touch of flux on the exposed red wire and carefully soldered it back on:
Next I tried to figure out where they had soldered on the ground lead, but there was no obvious spot which means it was poorly soldered in the first place. I picked a clean spot, added a drop of flux, then heated up the body and attached the ground to it:
Before doing anything else I let it cool off then attached it to the VX-7 and first read the radio. The software downloaded the programming without a hitch so it was time for the big test -- writing to the VX-7! I opened up the file I had gotten by downloading the radio the day before, put the VX-7 into receiving clone mode and hit the "OK" button on the software. It worked like a champ! The VX-7 updated perfectly. Now I just had to add the shrink wrap and I'd be all done.
I made it back outside for the next low pass of the afternoon, this one in front of my house (still a ton of trees). I got a lot more audio from stations working the "bird" but wasn't able to make a QSO. At least I've got things set up for success, now all I need to do is work on my technique.
More to come as I keep trying for my first satellite "Q." There's a really high pass tomorrow afternoon around 2 p.m. that I'm hoping will do the trick. Until then...
73, Kevin AB2ZI
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