Licensed in the Spring of 2004 after many years of wanting to get the license but just not doing it. Got my start in radios in highschool in 1976. I wanted to listen to Air Traffic Control and the multiband radio I bought at the time also covered the SW bands. After hearing many foreign stations I was fascinated about radio and wanted to learn more.
For many years I was a heavy SWL, HF Military and UHF Military listener and still am today. I run a website dedicated to MilAir activities: http://www.MilAirComms.com. In my shack you’ll see many scanners, 16+ scanners dedicated to nothing but UHF Military and NASA frequencies. Living in Florida is like being in heaven when it comes to NASA & MilAir listening. Everyday I get to listen to bombing runs at one of 2 large bombing ranges within listening distance, get to hear Air-Air combat training taking place over the Atlantic Ocean and several times a year we’re treated to an entire US Navy Battle group parking ships off our coast conducting 24/7 training. Its better than watching war movies on TV!
My ham radio interests are HF CW (yes CW) ragchewing, CW Dxing, VHF/UHF weaksignal (CW/SSB) work, Satellites (and yes I’ve worked CW on Oscar 29). Oh, did I mention I love CW? In the first 18 months of being a ham I’ve log nearly 2000 QSO’s on HF, over 1800 were CW!. My confortable speed is 20 WPM, in a pinch I can do a little more. Born in 1965 I'm one of the youngest hams I hear on CW...
I enjoy working SSB/CW on 2 meter, 70 cm, and just starting to setup a station for 1296 MHz SSB/CW. In my area I nearly as much if not more activity on 2 mtr SSB than on FM. VHF/UHF-SSB/CW is a very rewarding aspect of the hobby. Many people think you only can communicate 30-40 miles on these bands. I have worked the Bahamas on 2 mtr CW and have worked as far as West Texas on 2 mtrs (1300 miles being my longest 2 mtrs SSB QSO) and Central Texas on 432 MHz SSB (1060 Miles being my longest!). I have 13 states worked on 2 and 7 states worked on 432, most just in the past year.
Equipment includes an FT-1000 MkV for HF & the IF rig which I use with my 25Watt 1296MHz transverter, Icom 756 PRO 3 is coming soon, FT-847 used for 6m CW/SSB and as back up on 2m & 70cm, 150 Watt amp for 2 meter, Icom 910H for 2m & 70 cm & Satellite, Heathkit HW-16 which I have fun with, always wanted one of those as a kid! And an assortment of HT’s, dual band mobiles, and an FT-857 which I use mostly for 2 meter SSB in the mobile.
Ants include an 80 meter fullwave loop used on all HF bands as well as a Hustler 6BTV Vertical with 12 radials (in my opinion this is the best HF Vertical you can buy and only costs $170!) Directive System hsorizontal 6 element yagi for 2 mtr SSB/CW, an 11 element yagi for 432MHz SSB/CW and a 24 element loop yagi for 1296 MHz SSB/CW.
If you’re in the Daytona Beach area give me a call on the 147.150 repeater (no tone). Or I can be reached on IRLP node 4053 or ECHOLINK node 40531.
Other interests include Saltwater Fishing and Flying (private pilot for 16 years). Until 2001 I lived in PA so if you’re from PA give me a call.....
73’s George
This is a 2006 photo but still neat!.
Remember to click on each image for full size detailed photo.
Tokyo Hy-Power 2mtr Amp (350 Watts) used for SSB/CW (NO FM!!!), Heath HW-16 it works!
The antenna on the bottom is the 3 element tri-band Mosley Mini-33A (20, 15, 10 meters). The top antenna is a 6 element Directive Systms 2 meter yagi (an outstanding antenna!) which is use for 2mtr SSB, CW, EME, and Meteor Scatter. I do not do FM!!!!! The rotor is the Yaesu G-450A.
The lowest antenna is a KU4AB 6 meter Loop being feed with RG-8 Coax. The antenna just above the rotor is the Directive Systems 2 meter, 6 element yagi being feed with LMR-400 coax. The next antenna is a Cushcraft 11 element 432MHz antenna also fead with LMR-400 coax. The top antenna is the Directive Systems 1296 MHz (23 cm) 25 element loop yagi being feed with 1/2" HardLine.
This antenna is painted flat black inorder to better blend in with the tree line. This is a 6 band vertical and works excellent 40, 30, 20, 15, and 10 meters. It is advertised to work on 80 meters and it does but just not great. For 160 meters I use a 160 meter Inverted L that shares the same radial system used by the Hustler Vertical. The radial system is about 1000' of radials of various lengths. Being located only 1500 feet from the Atlantic Ocean the ground system works pretty well (only 12' above sea level).
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This is a 440 MHz 8 element Log Perodic made by Elk Antenna. I use this for Ham Sats, works great for receiving the FO-29, AO-27, SO-50 and SO-51 Sats. I use a standard 2 meter vertical for the uplink and the Log P. for Downlink. The antenna is fixed at a 45 degree elevation but direction is controled by the Channel Master Rotor. With this setup I can make a Sat Contact nearly anypass which the sat is greater than 15 deg. over the horizon.
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For portable military satellite monitoring I use an Uniden BC 250D handheld programmed with all the FLEET-SATCOM, LEASAT and UFO Satellite downlink frequencies. Attached to the BC 250D you'll see a 5 element Yagi. This antenna is cut for 263.000 MHz, which is about the center of the MilSat frequencies. The antenna is then fed into a Stridsburg High Pass filter. This filter provides 60dB attenuation to all frequencies below 225 MHz. I used this filter in an attempt to reduce or any out of band interference before it arrives at the GRE wide band preamp. As you can see the filter is directly attached to a GRE wide band preamp which provides about 20 dB gain between 100 - 1000 MHz. The preamp is then directly attached to the BC 250D. This setup will provide nearly full scale signal strengths from digital, encrypted voice, and non-encrypted voice signals coming from several different Military birds which I can receive from my area. Also with thanks to the filter I have yet to receive any out of band intermode or overload type interference. |
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