Updated:
12/08/2023
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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.
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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.
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.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.
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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.
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