Primary and Auxiliary Station
- Yaesu FT 950 Transceiver
- SPE Expert 1K-FA Amplifier
- ICE 419B six position bandpass transceiving filter for HF
- Yaesu FT 897 Transceiver
- Ameritron ALS-600 Amplifier
- MFJ 989B Versa Tuner V
- ICE 4753 AC Line-Filter 25A, 2-Wire, 3 Outlet, 120 Vac 50/60Hz (now Morgan Manufacturing)
Audio
- Heil PK781 Microphone (shared)
- W2IHY 8 Band Audio Equalizer (shared)
- NCS Multi-RX™ "Receive Console"
Software
- MacLogger DX
- DX ToolBox OSX Radio Propagation
- 3D Weather Globe and Weather Deluxe
- Seasonality Core (Weather)
- xQuake (Seismic, Volcano, Tornado)
- Blue Planet (Screen Saver with Grey Line)
- Google Earth (DXCC and Log Plots)
- Tweetings
- Signal Scope (Audio)
Portable
- Elecraft KX3
- See "Go Kit"
Antenna Systems
- HEX Beam (5 HF Band)
- DX Blaster Cage Inverted Vee (75 meters)
- Long Wire (80 - 10 meters)
- ICE, Ltd. Ground Blocks with Coaxial and Open Wire lightning arrestors
- ICE 300U Lightning Arrestor is a .1-50MHz 1kWPEP/500DC with UHF
- ICE 304U 30-500MHz Arrestor 3kWPEP/1.5kWDC UHF Connectors
- ICE 350 Grounding Bulkhead Panel (12" x 12")
- Comprehensive ground system (Four 3' ground rods located at physical ground point of antennas and two 9' rods coupled together)
- Cobra Ultralite multiband wire - retired
Auxiliary Power
- Solar Generator Kit (beta)
- PowerSafe SBS 170F (retired)
- Miscellaneous rechargeable barriers and solar panels
- No fuel systems
Main Pulley System (5 Band HEX)
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5 HF Band HEX Beam, suspended 45' from tree limb |
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| HEX Beam rotates manually |
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| This antenna has been replaced by a DX Blaster Cage |
Secondary Pulley System (Cage, Long Wire)
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| Second pulley system at 50' |
Closer Look at the 80 Meter Cage Antenna
DX Blaster Cage Antenna for 75/80 Meters
I spent a few minutes working on the 75 Meter cage antenna this noon hour. It was a bring, sunny afternoon. Definitely a pleasant time for antenna work!
Reviews of the DX Blaster Cage Antenna on eHam offer favorable comments about this antenna. And they're all generally observations with which I concur.
No empirical tests have been conducted at my station, yet the following subjective comparisons were made (conducted at the same time between the Cage and an inverted vee for the same band):
- Lower noise floor and fewer static "crashes,"
- An improvement of up to two "S" units in reception (which includes the ability to "hear" stations on the Cage that are concurrently less-than "weak readable" on the dipole),
- Improved reception reports when testing between antennas, and
- Wide band coverage with low SWR.
This antenna is a keeper ... and I'm considering a 40M version as well. Yes, the aesthetic isn't the best, but the antenna is "hidden" fairly well among the spring buds and greenery. In any case, I protected one of the insulators this afternoon using "Rescue Tape" (self-adhering silicon tape).
Universal Station Ground System
ICE 300U Lightning Arrestor is a .1-50MHz 1kWPEP/500DC with UHF Connector
DX Blaster Cage Antenna for 75/80 Meters
I spent a few minutes working on the 75 Meter cage antenna this noon hour. It was a bring, sunny afternoon. Definitely a pleasant time for antenna work!
Reviews of the DX Blaster Cage Antenna on eHam offer favorable comments about this antenna. And they're all generally observations with which I concur.
No empirical tests have been conducted at my station, yet the following subjective comparisons were made (conducted at the same time between the Cage and an inverted vee for the same band):
- Lower noise floor and fewer static "crashes,"
- An improvement of up to two "S" units in reception (which includes the ability to "hear" stations on the Cage that are concurrently less-than "weak readable" on the dipole),
- Improved reception reports when testing between antennas, and
- Wide band coverage with low SWR.
This antenna is a keeper ... and I'm considering a 40M version as well. Yes, the aesthetic isn't the best, but the antenna is "hidden" fairly well among the spring buds and greenery. In any case, I protected one of the insulators this afternoon using "Rescue Tape" (self-adhering silicon tape).
Universal Station Ground System
DX Blaster Cage Antenna for 75/80 Meters
I spent a few minutes working on the 75 Meter cage antenna this noon hour. It was a bring, sunny afternoon. Definitely a pleasant time for antenna work!
Reviews of the DX Blaster Cage Antenna on eHam offer favorable comments about this antenna. And they're all generally observations with which I concur.
No empirical tests have been conducted at my station, yet the following subjective comparisons were made (conducted at the same time between the Cage and an inverted vee for the same band):
