Amateur radio anyone

[fishy68]

I already know of a few other hams on this board. Just curious who is very active and what your into.
I got my ticket 20 yrs. ago next month. Nice relaxing easy hobby that you can do while it's too cold or if your between jobs on the car. I built a 6 element beam for 6M in 2001 and then a 13 ele for 2M ssb the next year and have been a vhf/uhf junkie ever since. Have made contacts all over the world on 20 and 17 and just recently tried FT8. What a blast. In 10 minutes I worked a guy in Argentina, a guy in Japan, and a guy in south Africa all on 25 watts and a basic dipole. Made quite a few state side contacts too. Would love to try EME someday but right now the money isn't there to support it

My equip consists of

Kenwood TS-2000 with a Heil Goldline mic. Used on HF, 6, 2 and 432
Yaesu FT-2900 for 2M fm
Radio Shack HTX-100 with a 222 transverter (have yet to get antenna up but it's in the works)
SingalLink for digital modes
Dentron GLA-2000B that I retrofitted a Russian GI7B tube in for HF
MFJ-962D ant tuner
Hygain Tailtwister and Ham4 rotators
Mirage C1012G for 222
RF Concepts 4-310 for 432

Antenna are:

All band dipole fed with ladder line for HF
6 element homebrew beam for 6M
13 element homebrew beam for 2M SSB
9 element homebrew beam for 2M FM
Cushcraft 729B for 432

Projects in the works are:
1. homebrew HF amp using 2 GI7BT tubes that'll cover 160-6 and be good for 700 watts
2. 70' of Rohn 45 to get the VHF/UHF beams up higher and fed with 7/8" heliax
3. 15 element antenna for 222 mhz
4. Butternut HF5B for 10-20
5. Telrex 1528 for 2M SSB

Here's a pic of my "little" corner of the world

73 from S. Central IL, Tracy (call-sign withheld due to privacy. PM me and I will share it)

 

[67Dart273]

I do very little anymore. Mostly some friends on 160. Since I'm getting old, and 'the estate' did not produce quite what was expected, and I'm getting quite "lame" LOL, it turns out I won't be moving "out to the country." The upshot of that is that the local "QTH" is VERY noisy and not one thing can I do about that. (Actually I'm considering building another small tunable receiving loop) You may have seen the thread I took most of the tower apart. I'm actually sorry, now, that I did all that, in some ways. But the noise level here is quite high, nearly S9 at times on some lower freq. bands.

The OTHER issue is the lack of real enjoyment. Seems like the only time things get "jumping" much is contest weekends. I want no part of them. Plus, there's been a few years now, the sunspot cycle has simply not "opened" as it once did.

I've had a few projects. Once had a homebrew 4-1000 that a BLIND GUY built, I still have a homebrew desktop 8877, and one of the best "bang for buck" was an old Hallicrafters HT-41 that I got nearly for free.......photo stolen off the internet......

This used some oddball tubes that were really a bored-out sweep tube. The tubes were bad, the choke was open. I replaced the choke with an 813 filament transformer. The 813 sockets used the same mount spacing as the original tubes, and I had to carefully recess them for height clearance. Used a big "medical" cap for a cap only filter, which boosted the plate voltage. A pair of 813's would put out at least 700W on 40, 'it's best band." Unfortunately it suffered smoke damage in a house fire, and I may never get it restored.

Another VERY interesting project amp was built/ designed by a broadcast engineer who wrote lots of stuff for the Bill Orr (W6SAI) handbook series. This was a welded aluminum cabinet using a 4cx-1000. "All I got" was the basic empty cabinet of the RF deck. it would make a GREAT layout for another 8877. Like the Halliscrathers, it is smoke damaged.

yet ANOTHER cool little amp I own is a Delcon T210, built for the military. Uses 3 4CX-250Bs, grid driven across a 50 ohm load. Has vacuum cap tuning and loading
Another photo off the internet:

 

[67Dart273]

The irony is, LOL I wanted a small compact and 120V amp for the locals on 160 and last spring scored an Ameritron AL811. Three tuber, it sits out here by the chair, easy to move, and doesn't use much power. I also have an AL-80B which I converted to vacuum relays

The radio I use "out here" in the living room is an aging IC-735 which I paid 250 for at a ham fest LOL I also have a yaesu "field"

 

[fishy68]

I do remember your thread on taking the towers down. Was sorry to see you have to do that. Also sorry to hear about the noise. Sounds like a good RX loop might be a big help. I have some noise here too but not terrible. Pretty luck in that area. That story about the amp the blind guy built is amazing. I love rebuilding old boat anchor equip. Kinda like our old cars. Simple yet effective if done right

 

[67Dart273]

Jerry the sightless guy lives in Yakima, WA. He once related a story, that he was up his tower at night doing some work. The neighbors got concerned and called the police, concerned for his safety. Jerry of course explained that "it didn't matter to him that he was up the tower, light OR dark" but the cops convinced him, to pacifiy the neighborhood, to only climb in the daytime LOL

He was made blind by a car accident, so had memories up through young adulthood. I've never understood how he could solder at all, much less decent. He burned his fingers a lot, he told me

 

[fishy68]

lol... I was thinking the same thing about soldering