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Updated: 12/08/2023


My Amateur Radio bio ... and Station

    

My original HF Novice Station (top) and my current station

In the late 1970's I was into CB radio.  I wanted to expand my interest in radio and realized that CB was a dead end.  I worked for a local ambulance company/funeral home.  This is another story but it got me started in my emergency medicine path, EMT/Firefighter volunteering, EMT on an ambulance, working dispatch for ambulance, air ambulance, work as a tech in a local ED, and my current medical IT career.  One of the morticians was a ham.  He helped me prep for my test and Morse code requirement.  I tested at Mann Hall here in Spokane.  This was still when the FCC did the testing.  I passed and got my novice ticket in 1980.  I started out with some old Heathkit equipment, pictured above, HX-20 transmitter and a HR-10 receiver.  Many CW contacts were made with this old equipment. I eventually upgraded to the SB-102. I was further influenced by another ham I worked with as a partner on the ambulance, Jim, WA7WDL.  He got me interested into VHF and digital modes.  I took my technician test about 1982.  Got into VHF FM with a Icom 2AT in 1982 after getting my technician ticket.  Purchased a Commodore 64 and PK-64 and this was my start in packet radio.  Another ham that influenced me in ham radio is Gary, K7PG.  I was grandfathered in to a general class in the 90's with the license changes.  I have primarily worked VHF/UHF FM, Packet, SSB satellites for several years with the AO-10, AO-13 and AO-40 satellites.  Have been active in our local ARES group over the years and the Inland Empire VHF Club running their packet BBS for many years and the KBARA group.  I still work VHF/UHF FM, play with APRS/Packet and very active on the FM and SSB Satellites.  Shortwave and scanner listening have also been part of my hobby as well.  I have added weather satellite reception to my list.  

 

Icom IC-7300,, IC-9700 allmode, Icom SM-8 desk mic.. The racks are make by Novexcomm in Torrence, CA.  The callsign and clock panel is a nice extra item to spruce up the shack.  

Handhelds consist of a Icom ID-52A D-Star Dualband, Icom ID-31 D-Star UHF handheld, Yaesu FT-70D for Fusion, Anytone 686 for DMR, Kenwood D72A for portable satellite and APRS, Baofeng GM-15 Pro for GMRS and several others.

My Satellite Array consists of the Hy-gain Satellite antennas model 70-30 for UHF with 14 db of gain and 216 for VHF with 10 db of gain and a Yaesu G-5400B Az/El rotor. 

.

.Rotor/Radio Stand Alone Interface

S.A.T. (Self-contained Antenna Tracker by CSN Technolologies
This interface works with either the Yaesu G5500 or G5400 Rotor Controllers

After struggling to get a Chinese knock off Yaesu GS-232B to work this interface works great. 

Setup is a breeze.  One issue I had was when trying to do the auto calibrate for the rotor it wanted to flip my rotor over.  I did the manual calibration and that worked great. The unit comes with the interface, cable to rotor, micro-usb power cable, cable for CI-V control for the radio.  Control of the radio is a little different than I was used to on the IC-9700.  I was used to using satellite mode and manually tracking the frequencies.  This interface uses VFO mode and transmit/receive VFO's are flipped from satellite mode.  This causes an issue with audio out of the USB data port on the IC-9700.  In satellite mode I could decode Funcube data without an issue.  With receive VFO flipped I am having issues with the audio not working correctly from the 9700.  Still working on this issue.

I had a small tablet stand and this worked great for mounting the interface on top of the rotor controller box.

Mobile Station in my Ford F-150
Icom IC-5100A and Homepatrol-1 Scanner

Icom IC-R20, IC-R6, IC-RX7, Uniden Home Patrol-1, BCD436HP and BCD536HP Receivers/Scanners

       

 

Acquired this little jewel on eBay from Bob Grove of Grove Enterprises.  Very nice SDR receiver.  Originally sold to raise funds for the Funcube-1 satellite campaign.  Finally used it for what it was intended, receiving and decoding data from Funcube-1 (AO-73) satellite.  Works flawless on my Surface Pro 2 with Windows 10 using SDR Console software and the Funcube Dashboard.  The SDR Console Software is the only program I can get to work with the dongle on my tablet.  I have tried SDR# and HDSDR.  Could not get either one to work.   This is much better than the RTL SDR dongles that I have experimented with.  Most RTL SDR dongles won't work with Windows 10.  The Funcube Dongle works hand in hand with the Funcube Dashboard Software for capturing data from AO-73 and UKube-1.  Also works great for capturing data from the Fox Satellites.

Funcube Dongle Site      SDR Console

Local Club Affiliations

                           


Radios I own or have owned (green indicates currently own)):
 

Amateur Radio
Icom Base Radios: 211, 720A, 251A, 451A, 271A, 471A, 729/AT-160, 820H, 275H, 475H, 7300, 9700
Icom Mobiles: 215, 280A,  28A, 228A, 228H, 22U, 3200A, 3210A, 3230H, 281H, 481H, V8000,  703,
706 MkII,
706 MKIIGx2, 7100, 5100, 705.
Icom Handhelds:  2AT, 4AT, 32AT, u2AT, u4AT, P2AT, 24AT, W32A, Q7A, P7A, Z1A,
T90A
, 91AD, T81A, ID-31A,
ID-51A, IC-52A.
Icom Receivers:  R1, R2, R5, R6, R70, R20, RX7, R7000.  
Yaesu: FT1DR, FT-70.
Radio Shack: HTX-200, HTX-400.
Scanner: Uniden Bearcat BC895XLT, Uniden BCD436HP, BCD536HP, Home Patrol-1.
Heathkit: HX-20, HR-10, SB-102.
Baofeng: UV-5R, UV-5X3, UV-3R+, UV-3R, UV-17Pro.

Anytone: AT-D868UV
Kenwood: TH-D72
Lanchonlh: HG-UV98 APRS HT
Talkpod: A36P

GMRS
Radioditty: GM-30x2.
Baofeng: GM-15Pro.
Midland: MXT115.