I've always been interrested in what's inside other Amateur's shacks.
And I don't think we've ever done that here.

So whatchya got?

My Home station is an Icom IC-761. I'm controlling it with a PC
running Ham Radio Deluxe, and DM-780. I have two antennas, one is a
Butternut HF-6V, and the other is a ladder line fed dipole, 96 feet
total, and I'm tuning with a MFJ 993 auto tuner. Key is a Bencher
Paddle.

For VHF, I'm using a Kenwood 241 and pushing the signal out with a J-
pole.

In the Car, I'm running a Kenwood TS480SAT into a homebrew Bug catcher
(except for the coil) For VHF/UHF I use a Kenwood D-700 to a 5/8th
wave antenna. For aprs in the car, I use a laptop running AprsPoint
and MapPoint, and connect the GPS unit through the computer.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

"Mike Coslo" wrote

I have two antennas, one is a
Butternut HF-6V, and the other is a ladder line fed dipole, 96 feet
total, and I'm tuning with a MFJ 993 auto tuner.

Mike, what's the height of your dipole, and what bands do you successfully
work with it? In my new qth I have room for a 90' dipole, and wondered if I
can work 75/80 with it. I may be able to get one end up about 50' or higher,
the other end 31' (if I buy a certain telescoping mast). I know that's
pretty low for 75/80, but what the heck.

Howard N7SO

On Oct 9, 7:42 pm, "Howard Lester" wrote:
"Mike Coslo" wrote

I have two antennas, one is a
Butternut HF-6V, and the other is a ladder line fed dipole, 96 feet
total, and I'm tuning with a MFJ 993 auto tuner.

Mike, what's the height of your dipole, and what bands do you successfull
y
work with it?


Hi Howard,

Right around 50 feet high.
It's almost straight, with just enough droop to keep it in one piece
when the winds blow. I do work 75 and 80 meters with it, actually much
better than I had expected. One year during NAQP, I was working
California stations right after I tuned the setup, After about an
hour, I looked at the SWR meter and saw that I had forgot to increase
the power after tuning. It wasn't just that I was operating QRP, it
was that I didn't notice it. I called, they heard.

It tunes all the bands from 80 to 10 - past 20 meters it is very broad
tuning. I've tuned it on 160 meters, but not had the intestinal
fortitude to operate it there. Probably would work after a fashion,
just not very well.

- 73 de dMike N3LI -

Well, let's see....

The main rig is a homebrew 80/40/20 CW transceiver of my own design,
built in the early 1990s and still going strong. It consists of a 12
tube single conversion receiver, an external 1 tube audio amp for
driving a speaker, a 2 tube transceive adapter that converts the
receiver VFO to the transmit frequency, and a 3 tube transmitter
section that ends up in a pair of 807s. There are two power supplies,
one for the low-level stages (one rectifier, two VR tubes) and one for
the transmitter section (four rectifiers, four VR tubes, one time-
delay relay and three control relays). The receiver has two cascaded 8
pole crystal filters and an LC audio filter, and the VFO is built
around the capacitor from a BC-221. There is also a homebrew Universal
Transmatch which has an internal SWR bridge and permits selection of
different rigs and antennas.

The entire assembly is known as the Southgate Type 7. Only a few
crystals and the solder for it were bought new, everything else was
NOS, used, or recovered from old gear.

The antenna system is a homebrew 80/40 W3DZZ-inspired inverted V which
uses N4UU-style coax-cable-on-PVC traps. Center at about 37 feet, ends
at about 12-15 feet. Fed with RG-8X, no balun. Adjusted for near-unity
SWR on 3540 and 7040, less than 3:1 on 20.

I have five Morse Code keys: four Vibroplex bugs (two Original
Standard, one Lightning Bug, one Champion) and a WW2 J-37.

The clock is a Telechron mechanical digital clock made from the parts
of several junkers. The speaker box, op desk, equipment shelves and
almost all shack/shop furniture are homebrew. The chair was found
alongside a dumpster.

There is currently no shack computer but one is being assembled from
the parts of discarded PCs. It will run Win98SE and be used mostly for
contest logging.

Also have an Elecraft K2 which is hooked up and used occasionally
(built it from a kit in 2001) and a Heath HW-2036 (built from a kit in
1977) a BC-342N used for general coverage ($2 back in the mid-1980s)
and an LM-20 frequency meter.

Several predecessors of the Type 7 are in storage as backups. Others
were dismantled years ago for the parts.

There's also the library, the shop, and the parts inventory, but you
didn't ask about those.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Mike Coslo wrote:

It tunes all the bands from 80 to 10 - past 20 meters it is very broad
tuning. I've tuned it on 160 meters, but not had the intestinal
fortitude to operate it there. Probably would work after a fashion,
just not very well.

I love ladder-fed dipoles. They're dead simple, make the best use of
whatever space you have, and work remarkably well. I had especially
good luck with them when I used to work Field Day.

And yes, you can use them on 160. Not the greatest antenna, but I don't
work 160 enough to justify a separate antenna and "good enough" is fine.

73, Steve KB9X

On Fri, 9 Oct 2009 17:29:21 EDT, Mike Coslo
wrote:

I've always been interrested in what's inside other Amateur's shacks.
And I don't think we've ever done that here.

So whatchya got?

I use an R6000 Vertical and random length wire with a MFJ-949E tuner
for HF with a Kenwood TS450SAT.

For VHF I use a small ground plane with a Kenwood TM-261.
Both are wide open for Mars operations.

CW,USB,LSB,AM,WIN-PSK
Had a tower and tri band beams @ 50' and a 1500 watt amplifier but I'm
to old to climb so I gave them to a young ham.
KG8PM / ***5**

In

Mike Coslo wrote:

I've always been interrested in what's inside other Amateur's shacks.
And I don't think we've ever done that here.

So whatchya got?

I think that the only thing of interest in my shack is my old Heathkit
GC-1005 digital clock, which has been in more-or-less continuous use
since I built it in 1973, when I lived in New Jersey and held the call
W2HIR.

Otherwise, there's a TenTec Omni 7, a Cushcraft R5 on the roof and a 40m
dipole in the back yard.

http://members.iphouse.com/bert/

Top picture; the station is on the right.

--
Bert Hyman W0RSB St. Paul, MN

"Mike Coslo" wrote

Hi Howard,

Right around 50 feet high.
It's almost straight, with just enough droop to keep it in one piece
when the winds blow. I do work 75 and 80 meters with it, actually much
better than I had expected.

----------------------

Thanks Mike - sounds good and encouraging. I need to get one of those push
up fiberglass poles -- either the 43' or 31' version -- to support the other
end of one version of a proposed 90' dipole. Maybe I'll do that next spring.
In the meantime I'm going to try a random wire (about 100' long) with the
far end thrown over as high a branch as I can reach... or find someone with
a bow and arrow to do it. For 80 and 40 it'll complement my little MFJ Hi-Q
Loop I use for 10 - 30 meters. The rig's an IC-735 and an AEA Transmatch.
I'm almost ready to assemble the station now that I've moved back to 2-land.

Howard N7SO

wrote:


CW,USB,LSB,AM,WIN-PSK
Had a tower and tri band beams @ 50' and a 1500 watt amplifier but I'm
to old to climb so I gave them to a young ham.


I didn't know there were any young hams anymore.

73, Dan
(Licensed continuously from age 12, in 1955)

I currently have at home an HF-6V for Low and WARC and 6 meter Bands.
On a 9ft Glenn Martin Roof tower on my 1 story house I have an A-4S. No
VHF/UHF antennas as of yet. My rig is an ICOM 746pro, powered by a
Astron PS-35. I also rig control with my homebuild computer. For digi
modes I have a SIGNALINK USB. Software I use DXKeeper for Logging etc.
MIXW with MIX2DXLabs software for digi modes (the MIX2DX translates
straight to DXKEEPER and logs the QSO when I save it to Mixw's log. On
occasion I use DM780 just to use the superbrowser.

In the truck just a Yeasu FT-1500. Not much repeater activity around
here so it mostly stays quiet.

In my 5th wheel I take the 746pro and use the Icom PS25 power supply I
keep in the trailer. Antenna is either a Pro-Am whip on a ladder mount
or will be a cushcraft 4BTV that I am figuring how to mount.

Not much else. Just having fun for 32 years and counting.


Scott W7PSK