hello eric, if you purchase a talking vom from nfb you can tell the 
plus and minus leads of the power supply.  and with the same vom you 
could tell which is the plus and minus leads of the radio.  you could 
be more independent and require less assistance.  have you contacted 
any of the radio clubs?  there is several clubs in 
sacramento.  remember greg mason and lynn he had no problem getting 
assistance from the local clubs.  you should join one of the clubs 
and i think you will find all the assistance.  you will ever 
need.  merry christmas and happy new year to you.  take care, c u 73 mike w6quv



At 03:46 PM 12/14/2011, you wrote:
>Hello listers,
>
>Here is my rant for the year.
>
>I find sighted ham radio operators here in the Sacramento area totally
>unhelpful.
>
>I have four portable antennas that I'd like help assembling. The smaller and
>larger Alexloop magnetic loop antennas. The Buddistick antenna and the
>Ventenna, HFP antenna.
>
>I'd love to get a Kenwood TMV-71A but I have no sighted help hooking up the
>power supply to the rig. I have a 50% chance of hooking it up backwards and
>blowing up the rig as I did with an Astron 2 meter rig many years ago.
>
>The same goes for my Icom IC703 Plus. When I was on a trip recently to
>Harrisburg, PA the stupid people from the TSA at the airport closed my power
>cord that goes to the Astron power supply in the suitcase cutting completely
>one side of the fused power cord. I bought a new cord from Universal Radio
>but the same as above in the Kenwood applies. No sighted help to hook the
>cord to the Astron power supply.
>
>Since the Pacigficon convention my Yaesu FT817ND has gone nuts.
>
>It will not take some frequencies that I send it with the Radio Mate keypad.
>
>I don't know if the radio needs a complete reset or there is some sort of
>fault in the keypad itself.
>
>I'd also like some help ssetting up the menus on the Icom IC703 Plus. For
>instance I can't speed up the speech board or set it to a higher volume.
>
>I'm tempted to try the millennium qsyer on the Yaesu but am reluctant to do
>so because I might not be able to set it up to operate with the IC703 Plus
>again .
>
>So I have all this qrp junk that's barely operable.
>
>The only rig I have with some hope is a Kenwood TS480SAT. I have two high
>power shortened dipoles for 20 meters on my balcony which have high swr.
>
>Again no help with anyone with an antenna analyzer.
>
>I have yet to make a contact with this rig on any band.
>
>In summary, I'm disappointed in general with the Sacramento ham community.
>It would probably gtake an hour of someone's time to come over and fix my
>problems adjust radio menus and get me properly on the air.
>
>The ARRL is nothing but a stupid self-serving non-helpful organization. Why
>did I join as a life member?
>
>I hope this is not the case for all parts of the country for general ham
>radio helpfulness.
>
>If it is, our hobby is truly in trouble.
>
>I would welcome suggestions.
>
>Merry Crhistmas from a browned off ham radio operator.
>
>73,
>
>Eric
>
>KU3I
>
>
>
>