K5DH home station


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STATION LOCATION:
CityLake Dallas, Texas
CountyDenton County
Latitude33 deg, 7 min, 9 sec, North
Longitude97 deg, 1 min, 17 sec, West
Grid squareEM13LC

HF RADIO EQUIPMENT:
Elecraft K-Line station:
K3 transceiver, P3 panadaptor, KPA500 amplifier, KAT500 tuner.
Elecraft KX3 station:
KX3 transceiver with all options except 2m transverter.
Drake 2B receiver
with 2BQ speaker/Q-multiplier, and 2AC crystal calibrator
Drake R-4B receiver
Wells-Gardner BC-348-Q HF receiver
with dynamotor, shockmount tray, and power connector.
NN1G Mark I 20m QRP c.w. transceiver, built from a kit.
40m direct-conversion c.w. & s.s.b. receiver  - copy of a Ten-Tec "TKit" receiver
40m c.w. transmitter, single 6AQ5  - Schematic and parts list now available!
40m c.w. transmitter, 6C4 oscillator, 5763 amplifier  - design is from 1971 ARRL Handbook.
40m c.w. transmitter, 6AG7 oscillator, 6L6 amplifier  - Schematic and parts list now available!
80/40m c.w. transmitter, 6AG7 oscillator, 807 amplifier  - Schematic and parts list now available!
80/40m c.w. transmitter, 6AG7 oscillator, 6146 amplifier  - Based on article in March 1964 "QST" Magazine.

VHF/UHF RADIO EQUIPMENT:
Icom IC-208H 2m/70cm FM transceiver.
Yaesu FT-60R 2m/70cm FM handheld transceiver and a bunch of accessories.
Alinco DJ-F1T 2m FM handheld transceiver and a bunch of accessories.

SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS:
Realistic PRO-95 handheld 100 channel trunking scanner.
Hallicrafters S-107 Mark II, same model as my first SW receiver.
Raytheon CM-12, very scarce, 1961 model, covers 0.55 to 13.5 MHz a-m & c.w. in three bands. Yes, I have the owner's manual!
Zenith Trans-Oceanic B-600, bought new by my grandfather in 1957. I have all of the original docs to go with it.
Sony SW-100S shirt-pocket digital portable, really tiny (the size of a deck of playing cards!), perfect for traveling.
Tandberg Solvsuper 8-31, an 8-tube AM/FM/SW table radio, manufactured in Norway from 1962 through 1964, "homeland" model with all markings in Norwegian, beautiful red teak cabinet, still has all of its original Tandberg-brand tubes! By the way, the name means "Silver Super".

ANTENNAS:
Alpha-Delta model DX-EE parallel dipole for 40-20-15-10m.
Comet GP-15 vertical for 6m, 2m, and 70 cm.
Homebrew 1/4 wave ground plane for 2m (indoors for storm operation).
SuperAntennas MP-1 for portable QRP use on 80m through 10m.

STATION ACCESSORIES:
Astron RS-35M power supply (a real workhorse that I've owned since 1983!)
Astron LS-18A power supply, 28 VDC @ 18 A, used to power WW2 military radios (I added the banana jacks on the front, and I've added an ammeter since the photo was taken)
Kenwood SW-2000 VSWR/wattmeter with SW-1, SW-2, and SW-3 remote sensors. No, I don't want to sell the meter or the sensors!
Idiom Press CMOS Super Keyer II memory keyer. I built it from a kit in 1990.
Heathkit SA-2060A 3KW roller-inductor transmatch. This ol' bruiser will load a wet noodle!
Drake DL-1000 air-cooled dummy load.
Nye-Viking 2 KW low-pass filter.
MFJ dual-time-zone LCD desk clock.
Homebuilt T/R switchbox, with antenna switching and receiver muting contacts, and W1FB-designed adjustable semi-breakin delay circuit.
Heathkit HP-23A power supply, updated with a WB8VGE board (this is a VERY worthwhile update!).
Homebuilt clone of Heathkit HP-23A power supply. Uses an original Heath transformer.
A whole bunch of crystals for 80m and 40m CW frequencies, along with some crystal socket adaptors.

TELEGRAPH KEYS, BUGS, PADDLES:
Nye Viking "Speed-X", standard black oval base, nickel-plated hardware, with shorting lever, Christmas gift from my parents in 1977.
Nye Viking "Master", really NICE key, Christmas gift from my wife in 1988.
24K GOLD PLATED Nye Viking "Speed-X", standard oval base key on a solid oak base, apparently intended as a promo item for some telecom company but not taken up. I bought it off eBay in early 2005. The nice wood base was included. This is a fully functional key, although I'll never actually use it!
Speed-X with black base and Navy-style knob, modern issue, made by William Nye Company.
Speed-X with chrome base. Age and manufacturer unknown. Definitely not made by William Nye. Could be an E.F. Johnson product. If you know anything about this one, please fill me in!
US Army Signal Corps J-5-A, a "flame proof" key made by L.S. Brach.
US Army Signal Corps J-37 training key, commonly referred to as the "Mae West J-37" due to its curvy shape. Manufacturer unknown.
US Army Signal Corps J-37, a "plain Jane" key from an unknown manufacturer.
US Army Signal Corps J-38, made by Lionel (yes, the famous maker of model trains). These are the most common J-38. Lionel made countless thousands of them.
US Army Signal Corps J-44, a J-37 key mounted on a flat Bakelite base with Voice/Teleg switch which closes the key circuit, manufactured by E.F. Johnson.
US Army Signal Corps J-47, a J-37 key mounted on a flat Bakelite base, manufactured by Winslow.
US Army Signal Corps J-48-A, a J-37 mounted on an aluminum base with removable aluminum cover. I've heard people refer to these as a "tank key", but they were actually part of the BC-654 portable field radio set. Key manufacturer is unknown.
US Navy K4101 / TS-2112, a J-37 mounted on a phenolic base with removable bakelite cover. Appears to have been part of a test set of some kind. Manufacturer is unknown, but the J-37 has a contract number ink-stamped on the side of the key base, and on the underside the J-37 has the common red US Navy "anchor" ink-stamp.
US Navy type 26012, made by Lundquist Tool Company. This is a NOS key with its original box. The bakelite base has a receptacle to connect a bug wedge.
US Navy type 26003 flameproof, made by Moulded Insulator Company. This type of key was originally used in WW2, and they are still in use aboard some Navy ships, as well as aircraft such as the P-3 Orion anti-submarine patrol bomber. This style was made by a number of manufacturers, and they're very, very common, not the least bit rare.
Signal Electric railroad key, rescued in the 1960s from an old railroad telegraph office. Given to me by a generous ham in New York State (Thanks, Jeff!).
Czech Army key from the Cold War era, very small size (only about 3 inches long) with a nice smooth feel. Base has been modified from original. This is my favorite key for portable operation.
Soviet Army key from the Cold War era, very small size (just over 3 inches long) with a great feel.
Upside-down straight key, apparently made to be mounted in some sort of table top. The shorting switch closes the key contact circuit. Manufacturer and actual usage are unknown. Nicely built with mostly brass parts. The key actually has a nice feel to it.
Miniature brass key from a portable Western Electric telephone test set. This is NOT a "spy" key, no matter what the "experts" on eBay might try to tell you! It's from a telephone line test set.
US Army Signal Corps J-36, made by Lionel. This one was pieced together from the remains of two junkers. It's really ugly, but it works perfectly. The double weights are needed to bring the speed down so that I can actually send on it.
Speed-X model 140-520, manufactured by E.F. Johnson. Appears to be late 1940s to early 1950s, but that's a guess on my part.
Brown Bros. model UTL. These paddles were sold without a base, with the idea that owners would incorporate them into home-built electronic keyers, or make their own bases. For my base, I used a flat block of brass that I hand-polished to a satin finish.
Bencher BY-1 iambic paddles, black base, Christmas gift from my parents in 1978.
Palm Radio Mini-Paddles
Homebrew miniature iambic paddles, built by me in 1995.

TEST EQUIPMENT:
Tektronix 2430 two channel digital oscilloscope.
Agilent 3478A benchtop digital multimeter.
RCA WV-98C "Senior VoltOhmyst" vacuum tube voltmeter.
Fluke 87V handheld digital multimeter.
Optoelectronics Opto-8000 600 MHz digital frequency counter.
Leader Instruments LSG-17 solid-state 150 MHz RF signal generator.
RCA WA-44C audio signal generator (tube-type).
Vectronics 584B antenna analyzer (same as MFJ 259B).
B&K Precision 830 digital capacitance meter.
AADE L/C Meter IIB digital capacitance/inductance meter.
Sencore Continental MU-150 dynamic tube tester.


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