There’s not a scratch on it – not a defect at all. As luck would have it, my (new to me) Omni arrived via USPS as clean looking as the day it shipped from Sevierville, TN. The Omni has a dark front panel, and some additional controls were added as well. The Triton IV had a few more differences in its looks than in its circuitry, relative to the first Omni. The Omni-A that I found is an analog version, so it mimics the original Triton more closely in its looks than do the digital models. There were a number of changes made in the Omni, but the smooth feel of its ancestor comes through like silk, and now I’ve got that old-time CW-happy thing going on once again. The sturdier box was really needed, as all Triton fans know. The first Omni (the A model) was sort of a Triton in a sturdier box. After losing a number of auctions, I finally decided to pick up an easy Omni (they’re much more in supply because more of them were built). In recent months, these thirty five and forty year old gems have gone for as much as $400 (with the supply). They are made primarily of discrete transistors, with a smattering of commodity ICs, and so are relatively easy to fix in a pinch. The prices have crept up, as the numbers dwindle, and ebay resellers have ascertained that hams will give blood for these units. Some time ago, I decided to find another Triton (I’ve had and subsequently sold several, when I wish I’d kept them all). When I was older, I purchased a Triton 4, and fell in love with the quietness of its noise blanker assisted audio, its filters, and its fabulous QSK. As a kid I dreamed about the PM-1, but had to settle for home brew and (eventually) an old (even then) DX-40 transmitter / Lafayette-HA350 RX combo. I suppose the PAR could be strung around the perimeter of an outside auwning or porch, and would probably work pretty well.Īll of these items I've mentioned have links in our wiki, which has a few more ideas on the subject.Figure 1: The new-to-me Omni-A, my Bencher paddle, and my homemade tablet computer, on top of my homemade operating desk. The hard part is finding a 365pf variable cap needed to tune the loop (an old junker radio has these, or I understand there are some distributors that still sell them - again, inexpensively.) In addition, if you're up for a little homebrewing, the Carpet Loop is an excellent choice - being a loop, it rejects certain kinds of noise (something that's the enemy of all on HF.), as well as being able to be fed as a random wire (there's a switchbox that needs to be built - very simple construction, actually). Rare as it is these days, it's a kit, and the reviews I've seen on it are universally positive. If you have a small area to mount something outdoors, I understand the North Country active antenna works very well. Hopefully the prognosticators are right and solar activity will start to improve in 2008, which means HF conditions will also improve. Yes a good antenna will be a big help, but right now propagation - which, unlike that on vhf and higher, is greatly dependent on solar activity, and right now, it's way down - which means that it's harder to hear things on the higher freqs above 10 or 11 mhz or so. Oh, you may consider correcting your FCC ULS listing, Austrian should be capitalized. You'll find them a wealth of knowledge and experience and they'll be more than happy to help a beginner. I strongly suggest you join a local Amateur Radio club and ask the old farts to Elmer you along. Last but not least you're barking up the wrong tree here on this kind of forum and the QRZ Elite will surely take pot shots at you for asking such a question. (I may be an NCT but 40 years in radio communications qualify me as an old fart.) If I should mention the Pez candy dispenser, now THAT'S sarcasm. Not to be sarcastic, just expressing the feelings of the majority of old farts who had to pass a real test of knowledge given by the FCC. I won't explain further, I want you to actually learn something and do it yourself, not to be content with being an appliance operator. There's a lot you can do with them so just use your noodle but first in order to do that you'll actually have to learn the theory behind the NCG test you just aced by memorizing the answers. What you're looking at here are (obviously, hi) mobile antennas so treat them accordingly.