Ham Radio Page

Pictures to follow

I have rather a small shack by some standards but then I don't need a lot of space. The shack contains my HF and VHF Gear, Electronics Lab and Computing equipment. My HF gear is a Yaesu FT757. This is getting on a bit now but still performs very well. I run it 'barefoot' on most Bands and recently (Autumn 2000) 10 metres has been open. I would be hard pressed to improve on the 757 and very happy with it. The speech processor works well and certainly makes it stand out in a crowd. Previously, I had the Yaesu FT707 which was the forerunner of the 757. The 757 has a minor TX problem on 15M other than that, its an undervalued HF Rig probably for no other reason than its Yaesu!

My other - well used Rig is the "tiny" Yaesu VX-5R. I make no apologies for now being exclusively Yaesu, but when I went for some VHF gear after parting with my FT290 / FT790 and other VHF commercial gear, Yaesu came out on Top. I originally went for the VX-1R but Martin (at Martin Lynch and Sons) had just received a shipment of VX-5's in. After handling and trying it for 10 Minutes, my Wife suggested I would be better off with the VX-5R. (All Wives should be like that!) Bit more money, but well worth it. I have never regretted the purchase ( or my Wife's sensible advice!).

The VX-5R is a wonderful rig with a full 5Watts on 6M and 2M and 4Watts on 70CM. It transmits on NFM for the mentioned bands but the RX covers from 500Khz to 999Mhz with only a small gap in the SW Band. The RX can operate on AM/FM and NFM. It has Tone and Digital calling for RX/TX. It covers Split RX/TX or offset RX/TX or just preset repeater splits. My 'Files' area carries a program to connect the VX-5 to a PC and also Clone one VX-5 from another. Its Lithium Iron battery really is the tops and supplies full power at 7.2V. The RX scan modes include a search facility for tone squelch along with a full featured memory and scan facility. Beware - the program supplied in my file area can make the VX-5R transmit outside the Amateur bands and therefore make illegal transmissions. Please be cautious with its operation.

I have my old faithful 500Mhz Frequency Counter which I built in the 70's along with my own designed Modulation Meter. "Besel Zero rules - OK!". I did have a VHF/UHF signal generator, but when I gave up PMR service and repair, this has long since gone.

I have made many extra's for Ham Radio with the aid of my Electronics Development system. More on that in another Web area.

(Pictures to follow).