K0RQ

It’s been a few months since my last station update, and quite a bit has changed since then!

Shorty after the last update, I decided a dedicated VHF Packet and GMRS antenna could be handy. So I added a Comet GP1 mounted to the side of my deck. The white fiberglass blends in with the deck railing, so unless you’re looking for it you won’t see it. This is exactly what I wanted as already have too many visible antennas, so anything new needed to blend in. (I thought I had a picture of the install, but I don’t, and it’s cold outside, so you’ll just have to take my word for it)

That brings me to updates in the shack. First, I built a radio shelf for my desk. My desk is made out of edge glued pine, so I simply picked up another piece of pine and added some 7 inch legs.

Attached to the underside of the shelf are two new (old) radios, my Yaesu FTM-100, which is connected to a Raspberry Pi running PAT Winlink for Packet use. To the right of that is a Motorola CM300 programmed for GMRS (yes I have a license, WRKF231). Those two antennas share the aforementioned Comet GP1 utilizing a two port antenna switch mounted to the underside of the desk.

The other major change is a new HF Rig. I was not in the market for a new radio, but at a club event last summer a fellow club member brought is Yaesu FTDX10 for show and tell. After playing with it for about 15 minutes, I wanted one. The receiver is far superior to that of my IC-7300, and the digital noise reduction simply cannot be beat. I’m hearing stations that the 7300 could only have dreamed of pulling in. So far I am very happy with my purchase.

This will be far from the last station update this year. I have a few more upgrades planned for the shack, including a permanent coax run into the shack. Right now I’m utilizing window jumpers, which gets the job done, but they’re not great (and they’re lossy). These will be replaced this year with actual coax runs coming out the side of the house and run back to the antennas. But first I need the temperature to come up a few degrees. Or fifty.

More goodness to come!

After having had my HF setup completely fail sometime in 2021, being swamped with work in 2022, and then moving in 2023, I’m happy to report in 2024 I’m finally back on the air at home!

Besides my then-neighborhood becoming sketchy and me outgrowing my 920sqft condo, one of the reasons for moving in 2023 was to finally have a backyard where I can string up some real antennas. My balcony mount hamstick setup, which served me very well for almost a decade, just wasn’t cutting the mustard anymore. I’m pleased to report after having been in the house almost a year now, my new station setup is complete.

When picking out new antennas for my house, I had to be careful. My new far-less-sketchy neighborhood does have covenants against antennas. However, they are quite vague. The neighborhood is also supposed to have an HOA, but the vast majority of homeowners in the neighborhood don’t want one. Thus, said covenants are not enforced. So the goal was to do what would work best for my needs, not break the bank, and have an element of disguise. My antennas didn’t need to be super stealthy, but they couldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. A tower with directional beam was straight out of the picture, but a wire antenna would work.

Attached to the back fascia of the house are two Comet GP3’s. The one on the left is for TV/FM receive, and is tied into the CATV wiring in my house. The other one is used for VHF/UHF base use. In this configuration, they are not super visible from the road. I had concerns about them being symmetrical, but for the most part they do blend in.

In between the two whips is a Ultimax 100 80m-6m EFHW 66′ antenna. I have it setup as an inverted V, with the transformer mounted to the left, being stretched on the side of the house and under the soffit, and then jumping off and running over to the side of the shed. It works stellar on 20m/40m. It’s a little noisy on 80m (as expected due to the proximity to the ground, it should really be higher), but should allow me to start checking into the regional 80m nets.

In the shack, not much has changed from a few years ago. Still rocking the IC-7300 with an LDG Autotuner. I did purchase a new desk when I moved, which I love, except I’ve discovered the operating position is a bit far from the computer for logging purposes. I will probably add a third monitor closer to the radio for that task

Overall, I’m very pleased with how everything has turned out, save for how long it took me to get this point. Looking forward to playing a lot of radio with this setup for many years to come.