It was everyone else on the band who had the problem when you keyed up 
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I had a Liner 2 which I modified for CW and I worked quite a lot of European stations when we had some superb auroras in 1981 and 82. To say it was a bit quirky to use is a massive understatement.
Victor GI4ONL
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Many of them were also using Liner 2s so the “blame” was widely shared!
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Thanks Alex. It was a strange old day, in a good way!
Are you heading out today for 2m CW? I will keep Ham Alert open and try to get you on my cake tin and Bingfu mag mount on the window sill (CW and Voice). I might have to use the Quansheng for extra power if the 290 doesn’t reach you.
I can usually get Ben of Howth and the old lady (Great Sugar Loaf) if conditions are good. I think I can get Little Sugar Loaf on voice but CW might be better.
I really hope you make some 2m CW QSO’s today. Maybe some folks along the UK coast line might catch you on CW? Best of luck and looking forward to your report and snaps! 
#M270CWGA 
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I have an FT290 but its sadly currently in Sickbay 
however plan for its return is to make a cable up to make it do FT8! 
I also have a 30W amp to run with it, works fantastic!
Alan
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I’ve seen your message way too late Ian, just after coming back after my activation! I went to Barranisky EI/IE-062 single pointer so it would be perhaps difficult to make a QSO with Dublin. I’ve tried to put my beam that direction anyway, to no avail alas. But yes, I’ve managed to get couple of 2m CW contacts, with Don @GW0PLP and Mike @G1SCT (408 km away). Heard also @G4DEE, but fairly weak, no QSO there.
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Brilliant! Across the way too! I did get your spot alerts and spotted myself on .050 just in case and tried calling CQ.
Couldn’t hear anything. Tried SSB and FM (who uses FM? 
). Knew by the summit you were on it would be a big ask to make the QSO but worth a shot.
That’s class! Beats any voice PB on 270 for me. 408km on 2m CW is mega.
Delighted you got 2m CW QSO’s and on your first attempt too! Magnificent! How did the 857 perform on 2m CW and what power did you run?
It was good. I’ve nothing to compare with though, but it looked to be ok. I still need to familiarise myself with the rig. I was running 20W into 3 el Yagi. Heard also GB3VHF beacon from JO01EH, that is 480km, quite promising so far.
Here was my setup, I’ve had nothing proper to fit the radio so used a laptop bag “temporarily” 
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144.050 on the display too. Classy! 
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In our present conditions it is great. However the band can do a lot better than that for you, Ian. I’ve just looked at some of my old records, and the best I did with the FT290 barefoot into a 4el yagi on SSB was into north Germany near the Polish border. With the 25w linear my best was into the south of Finland. These were tropo in a strong autumn anticyclone. My best on 2m SSB with the FT817 barefoot into a 5el yagi was into KN22 in LZ, this was in a summer sporadic E opening that lasted all of ten minutes! Later the same year (2004) I had SSB contacts into EA, IM66, 76 and 87 in another sporadic E event. I mention these not to boast, this sort of DX is not difficult except that you just have to be at the rig at the right time, Es signals can be mega, but on 2m are usually very brief. The trick is to find suitable beacons and put them into the 290 memory and check them frequently: tropo DX comes with anticyclones so the weather maps can guide you, Es is not so predictable. I have to warn you, though - 2 metre DXing is addictive!
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I hadn’t thought of that. Great tip. I will read my 290 manual to see how I program them in. When you look more in to the radio features, it seems it was quite feature-packed for 1981/82. No wonder it was (and still is) a popular radio.
Looks like @EI4JY was checking the beacons too. It would be great if there was an RBN for 270 as well so you could check for prop even if you can’t hear a beacon e.g. pointed a different way, offline, or just not audible for whatever reason. There might be an RBN, I’m unsure.
Agreed! I almost always find I get more delight from 2m QSO’s than HF (and 70cm is an even bigger thrill, 433 Alive recently, for example). That said, HF throws up fun surprises too (like the time I got a QSO from a bloke sat in a U Boat in Germany, or the local doctor on Ascention Island who answered my POTA CQ).
Delighted to see another EI HAM has picked up the 270 CW mantle (there are more of us of course, but still great to see). I can’t wait to get some more QSO’s soon and have a SOTA planned, I just need the time to do the one I have in mind. I’ll be wanting a linear amp working though too.
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Just wanted to share a 3D print I made today. It took about 97 different revisions over the weekend, after I thought about it end of last week. Wasted about 432kg of PETG but here it is:
The Yaesu FT-290R Hyperstand Turbo 9000
You can download it here:
https://makerworld.com/en/models/1981747-yaesu-ft-290-hyperstand-turbo-9000
Here are some snaps of it. It works as both a stand (or Gareth Bale, whichever) and a sort-of-but-not-really-100%-trustworthy carry handle.
The (Gareth) bale simply press fits in to place around the lugs where the shoulder strap is supposed to go. Print it in PETG for the extra strength/outdoorsynessness of the whole thing.
I hope this rather simple little design will be of help to fellow FT-290R fanatics.
NOTE: The above snaps were a PoC print when I made the legs too short to swing over the dials for the carry handle capability. It hopefully shows it off enough though for anyone interested. It took about 73,812 megatonnes of filament because the shoulder strap lugs were a pain in the proverbial to line up, then the inside holes needed an extra bit of alignment to give the ‘press fit’ element to it.
Anyways, just a small contribution from a total beginner. Hope it helps. 73.
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we have a group in the Lake District that sporadically (sic.) try and keep 2m non-fm modes going. I love HF but it can be equally addictive.
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There is RBN for 2m: RBN - Reverse Beacon Network
But there only seems to be one RX in Hungary.
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From our contest site in IO74WV, it’s about 480km to GB3VHF. With a 17ele Yagi @10m ASL with a gain of 14.5dBd we can copy GB3VHF normally at 53 +/- QSB. This is to give you something to compare against.
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I was having a look at the CW filter specs of the 290 and apparently there isn’t one (as such). I read there that the 290 is reliant on the SSB filter which is fairly wide for CW use and weaker signals.
It got me thinking if there are any good filters to give the 290 a bit of extra snazz. Maybe a Kanga filter? Any other ideas or is it a waste of time pursuing?
Most cw operators don’t really mind a bit of extra high frequency hiss in the audio when copying cw signals in the region of say, 600-800 hz. An audio filter can cut out everything above that range and there is not going to be a pileup like HF bands, on 2m. I suggest though before doing anything about filtering, get some experience of copying cw signals with the radio as it is.
More recent models all have options for bandwidth, filtering of the audio, so if your promotion of 2m cw is hugely successful and you sometimes get more than one reply to a CQ, there is always that option in the longer term. Eg. the ft817 had an option for a narrow filter but the filters are now rare and expensive as a result. The ftx1 while being even more expensive than a cw filter for the 817, has several bandwidth options. Same comment for other vhf capable models like the Icom 705.
Summary: unless you get a lot of stations in the passband of the radio there is no need for a cw filter. If they are all on the same frequency (within a few hz) even the sharpest filter will let them all through anyway.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2DA
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Fixed for accuracy.
Thanks for the advice though, makes a lot of sense. 
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Loved this thread! I used a FT790R to activate Dunkery Beacon, and in conjunction with the FT290R, worked through a number of satellites.
In the last few days, I’ve received a Howes HC220 (2m to 20m) transverter and an HC280 (2m to 80m) transverter, to use with the 290R. With a bit of wire in the garage roof, as an EFHW on 20m, I’ve already used the gear to make an SSB contact with Norway and a CW contact with Germany. I was also listening to the US contacting Morocco.
Brilliant radios, just wish there was more activity on 2m & 70cm!
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That snap you took, look at that bad boy doing the job it was built for! Absolute CHAMP! Even it’s VFO dial has an air of nobility about it!
FT-290R / FT-790R BEAST RADIOS!
I’m working on a 2m and 70cm event project here in EI, so watch this space in 2026. Also have another iron in the fire but can’t say anything more just yet.
2026 will hopefully be a fun year, particularly for 270 CW (and perhaps other niche stuff like 270 SSTV, FT8 and other fun stuff).
@GM4LLD the EI doctor has repaired both my amps. They were both dead. All sorted now so will hopefully have them any day now.
Also accidentally on purpose bought another amp this week, an MML 144/40. #MMLFanatic 
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