AM filter for FT-840

I just ordered a YF-112A from an Ebay seller. I've been putting it off for years, because they were fairly expensive and I had other radios I could use for SWL; but then I discovered that these filters had been discontinued and most places seem to no longer have them.
The FT-840 is a wonderful, basic radio with very good performance, but it falls very short in the SWL department because the default filter in the AM position is the factory-supplied 3 KHz SSB filter. It's a decent filter, but it is too narrow for AM; yielding only communications-quality audio. With the optional 6KHz plug-in crystal filter, OTOH, it sounds very good. You can still select the SSB filter in the AM position by simply pressing the AM/N button, if necessary due to crowded band conditions.
Anyone who has one of these great little radios and who has not yet added the AM filter, I recommend you look around for one now. Aftermarket CW filters are on the market, but not so AM filters; and when they're gone you will have to either make your own or pay big bucks for a custom-built filter, if you ever decide you need one. The radio is just to good not to use it for SWL, and if you're not taking advantage of it, you are missing out on a whole new dimension to your rig.

Trail Friendly Radio

What is a TFR? Simply put it is a radio so configured that it is easy to use on the trail, taking into account the lack of conventional furniture we find ourselves in. Most of the time we do not have a table to sit the radio on, and we have no chair to sit on.
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And another article:
"As a youngster, I recall listening with envy on hot summer’s afternoons to people out on hilltops around the country using Liner 2s (perhaps the first generation of commercial 2m SSB equipment). To me it seemed to be the ideal way to operate, out in the countryside on a sunny day. In the 25 years since then I have often thought back to those days and wondered if that idyll was actually achievable. Of course, it’s easy enough to cart a radio with a battery up a hill but I had a rather different idea in mind. I wanted the radio to..." Read more

Wilderness Radio Protocol

The Wilderness Protocol is a suggestion that those outside of repeater range should monitor standard simplex channels at specific times in case others have Emergency or priority calls.

The primary frequency monitored is 146.52 MHz; secondarily or alternatively 52.525, 223.5, 446.0 and 1294.5 MHz respectively. The idea is to allow communications between hams that are hiking or backpacking in uninhabited areas, outside repeater range an alternative opportunity to be heard. Read more

Introduction

Hello, my name is Tracy, KU4FL. This site is about radio beyond the crowds. Primarily ham radio, but with perhaps a scattering of other services thrown in, as they relate to the subject of camping and wandering the hinterlands.
We will also discuss QRP and homebrewing.
Welcome, and feel free to add your comments at the bottom of the posts.