K9RQ's Virtual Hamshack

This is the virtual ham shack of Dan Vanderplough, K9RQ.  I live in La Porte County, Indiana (near the southern tip of Lake Michigan.)  My grid square is EN61po and I have been a ham since 1968.  I am also trustee for the Michigan City Amateur Radio Club repeaters, W9LY. (146.970 MHz and 441.950 MHz)

For information on the MCARC repeaters, click here.

Have I really been playing around with this hobby for so long?

I have held the following calls: WN9ZRA (novice in 1968, age 14) WA9ZRA (general class in 1969) KD9GF (advanced in 1983) NA9N (extra class in 1984) and my current "vanity call" K9RQ in October 1997.   In 2005, through 2007, I was licensed as V31RQ and operated while on vacations on Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) Belize.

I started in ham radio in ‘68 as a 14-year-old novice, running a Heath DX 40 crystal controlled transmitter and an old Army BC 342 surplus receiver left over from WWII. This was fed to a 75’ wire strung from the peak of my parent’s house to a tree out in the yard. My ham career was off and running! Current ham radio interests include DX’ing and chatting, mostly on CW these days. Nothing beats listening to well sent cw on a good receiver! You’ll find me cruising the waters below 7.100 MHz on 40 meters most of the time, or chasing some dx station on the low end of 20.

Here’s the Base Station Rundown – Mostly Kenwood Stuff !

Kenwood TS-940S for HF (this 20 year old classic is a recent addition to the arsenal)

Kenwood TS-2000 for HF – UHF (probably the best rig for the money on the market today)

Kenwood TS-430S for HF (another classic from the 80’s)

Yaesu FT-817 QRP for HF – UHF (used mostly for portable work)

Kenwood TH-F6A (handie-talkie for use on the local repeaters)

For a picture of the shack, click here.

For a video of the shack chick here.

Antennas- Sometimes I think that simpler just might be better !!

HF: Hy-Gain TH2 MK3 2-element tribander.  20/15/10 Meters.

HF:  Quarter wave sloper for 40 Meters.

HF: Inverted ‘L’ for 80 and 30 Meters.

VHF/UHF: Comet GP-15.  50, 146, 440 MHz Tri-Band Vertical.

Click here to see my base station antennas.

Mobile Setup

Yaesu FT-90 dual bander 146, and 440 MHz FM.

Larsen NMO 2/70 antenna.

Click here to see pictures of my mobile setup.

One of my other hobbies is music and home recording. Here is a link if you want to check out some of my songs.

http://www.jamwave.com/acousticgenerations

My self-released album is available here:

http://stores.lulu.com/davander