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After getting my general license, I bought a used Yaesu FT-101EEE
to work HF. A fellow ham sold me his almost new Icom 751a and
used Daiwa cnw-318 tuner (pictured above). I got a new Icom
IC-32at handheld, Bencher keyer, new 38 foot Rohn tower and
Hygain Tailtwister Rotor.
I like operating 2 and 6 meter tropospheric ducting
and E skip
here on Cape Cod. I also operate on the 80, 40, 30, 20, 15 and 10 meter
bands with
an ICOM 735 tranceiver. 6 and 2 meters on the ICOM 706mkii mobile
tranceiver. All 80 thru 10 meter QSO's are on a
40 meter dipole antenna. 6 meters on a tuned dipole and 2 meters with a
6 element yagi connected to a MIRAGE 160 watt RF amplifier
My wife and I remodeled our basement. We added 3 new rooms including a 11'x17'
radio
room. Before
installing the drywall, I
wired six 50 foot
lengths of 9913 and 8213 coax, two 8 conductor rotor cables,
all from
the back wall of the house to the shack, three RJ-45 cables connect the
DAVIS weather stations throughout the house, six Cat 5 cables from each
room to a central routing location in the shack for the DSL ethernet
laptops. The electrician wired most AC outlets to disconnect power to
save electricity and isolate any lightning strikes.
I plan on buying a 55
foot Aluma Aluminum Crankup Tower and install a 13B2 and 17B2 Cushcraft 2 meter
yagis
(one verical and one horizontal) to work FM and sideband and an A505S 6
element 6 meter sideband yagi. The Channel Master FM Stereo
Probe 9 (a super high gain FM DX Antenna). The Channel Master 3708 FM Stereo
Probe 9 antenna will be on it's own 30' mast. The tower and antenna
installations are on the Antenna
page.
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| 6
and 2 Meter Antennas |
Coaxial
Grounding Junction Box |
I made two antennas, 6 meter and
40 meter dipoles and they work great. The 6 meter dipole has a
flat 1:1 S.W.R. from 50-51 MHz. No tuner is required. I also
use a new Cushcraft A505S 6 element Yagi on 6 meters for extra
gain. I use the Icom 706mkII both on 6
and 2 meters. The Icom 735, Vectronics antenna tuner are both
connected to the 40 meter dipole. It works great from 80-10
meters. I can get a low SWR on 160, but my signal is poor. I'll put a random wire
up this fall. On
6 meters, my farthest contacts were during a June 2010 VHF contest.
I talked to VO1KVT, grid GN29 in Newfoundland, Canada, W9RVG, grid EM57 in
Illinois and the farthest, N5RZ, grid DM91 in Texas. I
use eQSL.cc. It's much faster and less time consuming. I've collected
QSL's for 20 years back to the peak of sunspot cycle 22.
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I have been an amateur radio operator since
1990 originally from Central New York State, I have a general class
license and reside on beautiful Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I've had an interest in radio and
meteorology since I was around ten years of age. I've been a avid AM, FM
and TV dx'er for many years, even before i was an amateur radio
operator. I've received many dx stations via sporadic
Es, meteor, aurora and lightning scatter. I like collecting antique radios, 1960s-80s
radio airchecks, storm chasing, reporting severe weather as a SKYWARN
spotter to the National Weather Service. During the 1990 Sunspot Cycle, I listened
to 10 meter FM repeaters from the Virgin Islands and Dallas, Texas
on my Bearcat 800XLT scanner. I wanted to be apart of the QSO's so I
studied the theory and cw practice so I could pass my novice and general
class test. I've been a member of The East Coast Amateur Radio
Service since 1991. My first field day contest was back in 1990 with the Liverpool (NY)
Amateur Radio Club on an old SWAN 350. The next year I operated 24 hours mobile from Lake
Ontario with a new ICOM 751A tranceiver. I made 350 voice and 67 code
contacts.
