One of the reasons I got my Icom 7000 about 4 years ago was because I was looking for a radio with better IMD performance than the IC706IIG it replaced. Under normal circumstances these rigs work OK, but when you put them on a large antenna and a busy band, receiver overload can occur and stray out of band signals get into the mixer and create false signals. Today 20m was so full of strong signals that the 7000s receiver went crazy and started giving me S9 QRM over most of the band. I found a quiet spot on 14.232 and managed to make a couple of QSOs before the inevitable happened..... an SSTV cop plonked himself down on top of us.

So to 17m I went, and glad I did because it meant I was able to make a great QSO with my old friend Kevin Mair, MM6KCM, from Lanark. Check out the youtube video of part of the conversation here . Not bad at all, 10w and mobile to mobile! Kevin and I have known each other since our early teens but lost touch until a couple of years ago when we met up again through Facebook, and our mutual friend Bruce, ZL1AAO / GM1KNP. One of these days we'll make a 3 way contact between Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand, and remember the good old days!