THE SHACK - Past and Present ...
It is hard for me to believe that I have been a ham radio operator for 30 years now! Good Grief ! Luckily, the fun and excitement of amateur radio has kept me occupied with many interesting things to work on with electronics. And I hope the next 30 years will be just as exciting!
Well, I became interested in ham radio back in 1993. And I received my FCC Technician Class license after a friend of mine Dan - N8WKM encouraged me to get on the air and get busy with 2 meter packet radio. After passing the Technician exam, I began to acquire the needed electronics and testing gear for my first amateur radio station.
During the mid 1990's I enjoyed operating VHF/ UHF packet radio and I had assembled enough gear to manage my own VHF/UHF packet radio station completely dedicated to run both TELNET and APRS packet both from the mobile and from the shack location. I enjoyed connecting into the World Wide Conference bridge and to making keyboard to keyboard QSO's with hams from around the world. This really sparked my interest in geography and learning about other cultures.
My transceivers could operate both phone and digital modes; And at times, I would use my transceiver set up for ground station monitoring of the Russian Mir space station, the DOVE packet satellite, and the NASA Space Shuttles when in orbit. Even though MIR, DOVE, and the Shuttles operations are no longer active, I still find lots of new and interesting things to monitor from space including the International Space Station (ISS) .
My first 2 meter antenna was a home brew J-pole that was constructed from a copper water pipe. My friend Walt , N8ZUZ and I constructed them on a Saturday afternoon. The J-pole does indeed make for a great starter antenna on 2 meters and I highly recommend it.
Looking back, I can remember there were a least a dozen of us hams in Grand Rapids, Michigan that would run mobile VHF / UHF packet using the old Zenith mini-sport lap tops running with bay com TNC packet modems. Working DX on the Zenith mini-sport was great fun!
KB8QAP logs into a local packet BBS using his HAM VHF station back in 1993!
By the late 1990's, I became a big fan of International Shortwave broadcasting. I had a growing collection of World Band receivers here in the shack and I would spend a few hours every night listening to the foreign broadcasts from around the world. I sure enjoyed listening to BBC live from England and hearing Radio Netherlands.
My collection of World band radios even helped to inspire me to get active on the amateur HF bands and to upgrade my amateur license for exciting HF spectrum!
While I still enjoy listening to my portable World Band receivers; I will admit that I greatly miss the scores of fine broadcasters and quality programs that went off the air because of the slash and burn budget cuts or those that chose to offer pod casting only alternatives.
My collection of World Band portable receivers by Grundig..
I was really excited to get on the HF bands and study for my General Class ticket. I figured with enough patience and practice, I could improve my code sending and receive ability to pass the required 5 wpm Morse Code exam. It was definately a fun challenge and I was ready to put the effort into it and give it try.
My code speed slowly improved and l finally felt ready to take the exam. I pased the General Class written exam with the 5 wpm code requirements in February of 2005.
For my efforts in achieving the rank of General Class and gaining speed to copy and send CW.. I purchased my first HF transceiver by ordering a brand new YAESU FT-857D All Mode transceiver and a matching YAESU ATAS-120 screw driver antenna! With this amazing combination, I could now carry on HF global communications practically anywhere. Things was getting pretty exciting!
After a year of operating with my new General Class ticket and having fun, I was challenged by a few elmers to try out for my Extra exam. Luckily that same year, the Holland Amateur Radio Club ( about 15 miles away) was hosting a training class for those wanting to pass that big extra exam. I signed up for the classes! And the rest they say is history! As I was able to pass the Amateur Extra Class exam in flying colors. I wish to thank elmers of W8EL, K8TB, AK8A, and KC8KE for answering my many questions I had during this time. Thanks guys! k
Clean and efficient! Global HF communications with minimal set up!
STATION UPGRADES:
2009, Two Collins roofing filters were purchased for use with CW. Also added a new LDG Z-100Plus autotuner. Acquired complete NOAA APT LEO satellite ground station for weather decoding.
2010, Added new Buddistick Deluxe 40 thru 6 meter HF vertical antenna for portable field operations. Acquired Signalink USB soundcard. And acquired new Honda EU-1000i emergency power generator.
2011, Added a new 30 Amp switching power supply by Jet stream. Acquired a new solid brass P2-JR Iambic cw paddle made by K8RA for portable cw work. Super nice!
2015, Added a new solid state HF 500 Watt amplifer and new LDG 600 WATT PRO II autotuner. Added 200 Watt Solar Array and OFF GRID power station for the shack allowing for full operation using off grid solar power. Super nice!
2017, Acquired new CT-599 iambic CW paddles and new fast shack computer.
2018, Additional training acquired on 3D CAD/CAM design and 3D printing. Now working with my own designs and 3D printing various items and projects.
2022 Being rather cautious with COVID19 is keeping me away from meeting up with many folks and visiting the club meetings. But I still enjoy HF contesting and will continue to do so in the years ahead!
2023 Installed new! Echolink 2 Meter Simplex Node in the Shack. Operates as KB8QAP-L using Yaesu FT-7800 and netbook computer with SignaLink USB. I can work DX from Hand Held now.. Nice!
2024 Acquired a brand new Yaesu FT710 HF SDR transceiver, Installed DX COMMANDER Classic 10M Vertical Mast Antenna system and strung a new 130' long wire end fed HF antenna system for working 80 thru 15 meters. Software upgrades included latest install versions for JTDX and obtained other ham related programs.
Best 73! And thanks for reading!
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