Ham radio Station

Ham Radio is for me an adventure each time I make a 'CQ , CQ ,any station " type call. ( a general call to anyone, anywhere) You never know who will answer, and you hear the voices coming thru the air like whispers or with power.
My updated Ham Shack in the Garage I don't have a lot of money for my beloved hobby, but thanks to gifts from my Elmer ( now sadly SK ) I was able to get into the hobby at a reduced rate. I would guess that my favorite radio's are the Kenwood TS-830S's that receive and transmit so very well. The 440S always gets great signal reports and it's audio from the D-104 is very crisp and clear. None of my mic's are for broadcast audio, they are radio communication use micrpphones and their audio is for intelligibility and not so much for "pleasing on the ears" audio. Too many hams have tubby or too bassy audio and are hard to understand when conditions are bad. Why so many microphones and radios? I think really it's just the pleasure of using " different horses for different courses"
I use a G5RV up about 35 feet and a homebrew 2-element beam hung facing the SouthWest by means of ropes ( no rotator ).
Thanks for looking and I welcome your commments .KD8EZU

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• transmitters
• Amateur Radio
• microphone
• Antenna's
• Ameritron
• Kenwood TS-830
• Yaesu FT-857D
• Kenwood 440S

[mobay1517]

Clipdan, thanks for looking and taking the time to comment. The wife actually would prefer me INSIDE, but I like the peace and quiet ( although it's cold and hot at times) of the garage. Not the prettiest of shacks but it works for me who's on a limited budget and hopefully one day I do better. I'm enjoying it . Just me the cars and the radios!!

73

Randy

[00MORDRED1]

I'm just learning about PSK and WOW!!!! what an advance that will lead to

bigger and better HAM/sat com usage...

thanks for posting your gear...I am very interested in HAM...but have no license.

cheers!

[mobay1517]

@00MORDRED1 Thanks for commenting. Yes PSK31 is kinda cool. I've used it with just 10 watts to send text messages to my brother ( who is also a ham) located in Jamaica. We could not believe how efficient it is. The Ham license is not terribly hard to get now that the Morse Code requirement was eliminated two years ago. Most of it is basic and antenna theory ( Very basic ) and the laws and regulations of international a US radio. I hope you'll investigate it with a simple Google searh



[mobay1517]

69Furball,

Thanks for looking and commenting.

THe Kenwood TS-830S is a radio destined to be listed as a "legendary" radio. You'd be hard pressed fing a radio that is vast superior to it once it has had the necessary maintenance for a 30 year old radio. And not much is needed either. Replacing all tubes and the relay along with the kits from K4eaa.com maybe ran me $70.00. Inexpensive. The FT-857D is a big radio in a small body. Use it with a MC-50 +40 for mic gain , no PROC and it sounds great

[Bill1960D]

Top notch gear... really like the key

[mobay1517]

@Bill1960D

Bill, thanks for taking the time to look.

The Black Widow key is really a nice product. It is a kit, but very, very easy to make , all pieces are cut already and you are only assembling it which even a caveman can do. Nice and heavy and the ball bearings and tolerances make that action nice. you can adjust it a million ways to suit your skill level and likeing. Best part is that it was $65.00 compared to the others that are 3 to 4 times more expensive.

[clipdan]

Nice setup. I really like it. Is the wife making you use your garage as your shack, instead of a room in the house... If so, man that stinks...

[00MORDRED1]

@00MORDRED1 hey mobay! I've researched a bit...and found a club in my area they actually have classes

every thursday with books and CDs' they give out...i met them today...great bunch a guys,they have a dog in

the shack!! the place has multiple projects going on everywhere...very techy and KOOL. like star trek!!!

taker easy dood!!

[69furball69]

Nice setup. I just got a Kenwood ts-830S and love it.

Been licensed two months today... also have the ft-857D, and like it too. I haven't really done any CQ calling yet although, I started getting the 830 set up for digital modes PSK31 etc. and tried that on the past weekend. Going to finish it up this weekend by making a proper connector from the computer to the mic with a switch and proper resistors to attenuate the signal down to proper mic level.

[mobay1517]

Don, Thanks for looking.

Yeah..., the old stuff was the only way I could have gotten into ham radio. Newest items are the FT-857D , the Ameritron AL-811, and some odds and ends. I'm very happy with my stations performance and have worked the world with the exception of the far East (No India, China, Korea yet , but have gotten to Mongolia!)

Thanks again for looking