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

VHF/UHF/1.3GHz Antennas
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.

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Hustler HF Vertical
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. I also have an 80 meter full wave loop going around my yard that works great on 80 mtrs and with the help of an MFJ IntelliTuner does work well on all other bands including 160 meters (not efficient on 160 but I've worked a few countries).

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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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Portable Military Satellite Setup Click on any image for full sized image

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.

Equipment List

Ham Equipment Yaesu FT-1000 MP Mark V Field (HF) Icom IC-756 Pro III Downeast Microwave 1296 MHz 25 Watt Transverter Yaesu FT-847 (HF, 50MHz, 144MHz, 440MHz) Yaesu FT-857 (HF, 50MHz, 144MHz, 440MHz) Kenwood TM-707G Mobile (144 MHz, 440 MHz) Kenwood TH-F6A HT (rcvr 100KHz-1300MHz, xmit 144MHz, 220MHz, 440MHz) VHF / UHF Receivers Uniden BC780XLT (7 as these are excellent MilAir scanners!) Uniden BC785D (2) Uniden BC250D Radio Shack PRO-2006 Radio Shack PRO-2035 (2) Radio Shack PRO-2045 (2) Radio Shack PRO-2052 Radio Shack PRO-94 Radio Shack PRO-26 Radio Shack PRO-60 NewCommunicationSolutions NCS-3230 for AudioControl (2, one for Ham one for Scanners) Antennas Directive Systems 144 MHz 6 Element Yagi (horizontal) Directive Systems 1296 MHz 25 Element Yagi (horizontal) Cushcraft 432 MHz 11 Element Yagi (horizontal) Hustler 6BTV HF Vertical Ground Mounted w/12 Radials & Tilt base 80 Meter Fullwave Loop Diamond X50 (144/440 MHz) in attic Cushcraft 6 element Yagi (440 MHz) in attic Antenna Warehouse ScanTenna Create Log Periodic in attic 5 Element Yagi cut for 263 MHz - Homemade used for Military Satellite receiving. Nil-Jon Super M Mobile used for Mobile listening ISOTRON 40 Meter (BirdFeeder looking antenna ;) ) Alpha Delta 40-20-15-10 meter Dipole in attic KU4AB Stacked pair of 2 Meter Loops for 2M SSB KU4AB 6 Meter Loop Arrow Antennas 4 ele. 2 meter yagi, 2 stacked for 2 mtr. SSB Stridsberg MCA204 (2) 4 Port Active AntennaMulticoupler Stridsberg MCA208 8 Port Active Antenna Multicoupler

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