This is the station:
someday there will
be a picture here
Yaesu FT-990
Mid-range HF rig. Nice box, works well. Built in power supply, boatload of jacks on the back for every posible kind of connection (of course every connector is different!), has a pre-DSP 'digital' filter that works just as good as most of the DSP's you find built into the radios today, computer control (with the external interface - build it, don't buy it), 100 memories, AM and FM standard, about 125 watts out, silky smooth tuning, built in antenna tuner, just about everything you need. I also have the four filters installed 250 to 2.5. I don't believe Yaesu makes this box anymore, oh well. Built like a tank. If you find a used one, it's a good rig.
Now here is just a modern marvel of electronics miniturization - how are we supposed to tweek something that doesn't even have room for more than one extra filter. 160m to 2m in a box smaller than most TNC's. Nice radio. I'm still a bit miffed at ICOM for not sending me the mod to get my upper freq. band receive fixed. There is also a fan mod for the radio, but I haven't tried this one. Also the full transmit mod - haven't tried it either. I spent a year being mad at this radio because it wouldn't pick up NOAA on 162.55, when my cheapy used Alinco handheld would pick it up without its duck attached. Then of course I found the mod and now everything is fine - but I think ICOM should have told me about the mod, why bother to register a radio if the manufacturer doesn't provide you any support. Especially since some of the newer models of the radio already had the mod done. Have you seen the service manual for this thing? Oh boy, now that was helpful stuff. My Yaesu 990 has a bible for a service manual, the 706 has a comic book - of course, that's ok because you can't work on anything in there anyway. Don't get me wrong, I like the radio - works great, has wonderful features and you can put it anywhere because it's so small, especially with its detachable head. The MKII looks to be even better, taking some of the not so great things about the MKI and fixing them, almost makes me want to trade up.
Dentron Clipperton-L HF amp
Ha! Yea, just try and find a link to this place! (I understand that Omega Electronics bought out what was left of Dentron. Talk to Bill Edwards 919.266.7373) Took me 3 weeks just to get the 10m mod for the thing. This is the latest addition to the shack so I haven't had much experience with it yet. Uses 4 572B's, nice glow. Puts out fine and seems to be fairly well built, some minor scratches on the top of the cabinet but the price was right.
MFJ-969 300w and an MFJ-989C 3kw tuners
Yep, I've got two of these MFJ tuners. The 969 is a 160m to 6m roller inductor tuner that is just perfectly suited to the 706. The 989C is the 160m to 10m 3kw tuner for the 990-Dentron amp. The only thing I can find wrong with these tuners is the annoying switch about halfway up the roller that goes CLUNK when you roll thru it. Other than that, they work fine.
AEA PK-232MBX TNC
The classic workhorse TNC. Running PakRatt for Windows which is very helpful; makes the PK-232 much easier to use although that signal analysis mode is really close to useless. I seem to recall that if you set the date to anything after 2000 it goes nuts, I'll have to double check that.
TEN-TEC 6m to 10m transverter
I got this little gizmo from Ten-Tec and put it together one weekend. This thing is great. If you want to play on 6m and don't want to spend much money to do it, this is the way to go. Fun little guy to build and is mindless to use and it even looks good. That's probably one of the best things about Ten-Tec kits - the cases are so professionally done that once you build it, it looks like showroom equipment. I also have their HF/VHF watt/swr meter which is also very nice.
MFJ-1796 Vertical Antenna
Well, er, ah yea it is a vertical antenna but not really. It is actually a massively shortened 40m to 10m dipole mounted vertically. It also has separate 6m and 2m dipoles as well. The whole thing is about 12 feet tall and needs about a 3 foot square for the footprint. As antennas go this one is a pretty good trade-off between performance and size/stealth, has possibilities for field day. Add a duplexer to split off the 2m and it's the only antenna your 706 needs. I do think it is kind of pricey though.
RadioWorks Carolina Windom 160 Special
This thing is great, probably one of the best wire antennas around. The CW160 special is 132 feet long and needs to be up about 32 feet, it is really just the Carolina Windom 80 with special hardware so you can use it on 160m at <500 watts. It is an off-center fed dipole with a 22' vertical radiator. I have had an 80-10m trap dipole and a 160-20m sloper and the CW outperforms them both. The receive level is about the same as my 80-10m trap dipole but the CW is much more quiet.
Alinco DJ500T HT
I picked this up last year at the Dayton Hamvention. I really wasn't looking for an HT, never had a need for one but this was a reasonable dual bander with decent features at a decent price. I figured it would let me know if I really did need an HT - I don't. I spend more time with it listening to the weather than anything else, but you never know when it might come in handy (at least that's what I tell my wife).
TimeWave DSP-59+
I use this primarily on the 706, since it doesn't have filtering for beans (of course, the MKII has built in DSP). This device really lives up to the hype, you can pull signals right out of noise. Of course, they end up with that hollow type sound but you can hear them. It far surpasses the DSP's I have played with that are built into radios (for the price it should, but they are more reasonable if you can find one used, I did).
Kenwood SM-220 Station Monitor
10mhz run-of-the-mill station monitor. Find them used everywhere, does its job, doubles as an OK o-scope.
Don't Forget!