Here's the Shack

Here's the operator position for KCØJEZ/KCØLUA. The lineup includes a Hammarlund HQ-110 that my folks bought me when I was 14 about 1972). Under that is a Heathkit GR-81 regenerative receiver that I built when I was 13 (1971). To the left of the Hammarlund is a Radio Shack HTX-202 2 meter HT that is bolted to the front of the shelf and powered with a power supply. Goes thru a 30 watt Radio Shack brick when needed. Mostly for area repeater work, but I'm setting up to do some packet and FM RTTY. Sitting on the Hammarlund is an old Midland crystal controlled scanner I got for $2 at a hamfest and some of the channels actually pick up our local dispatch, so I leave it plugged in. To the right of the Heathkit mounted under the shelf is a Ranger 5054DX 6 meter all mode rig, and the big black receiver is a Yeasu FRG-7000 that works great for general purpose listening. I use it mostly for receiving various digital modes and general shortwave listening. Above that a Yaesu FT-221 all mode 2 meter rig that runs thru the little Lunar Electronics 80 watt brick amp mounted sideways underneath. Sitting on that is an older Radio Shack VHF receiver that I generally keep tuned to the local weather office. Above that a home made antenna switcher that switches my 100+ random longwire from the various receivers, and next to that the Heathkit VHF power/SWR mter. Cute little Heathkit code oscillator there too, and of course the vintage Allied communications speaker right in the middle of it all, connected to the Hammarlund.

For antennas the Ranger has a choice of a Radio Shack discone tuned to transmit for FM parts of the 6 meter band, or a dipole in the attic for AM/SSB work. Our house is three stories high, and the antennas are mounted 15 feet above the top floor, so around 40 feet above ground. The Yaesu FT-221 goes to a 3 element Cushcraft beam for mostly 2 meter SSB work. The HTX-202 feeds into a Ringo Ranger mounted on top of the mast with the 2 meter beam. The receivers are switch selected to a 120 foot of wire that starts at the switcher in the basement, goes across the basement ceiling up the basement stairs, up thru the second floor stairs, up the attic stairs and make a loop around the attic at about 35 feet above ground level. Seems to be quite effective.

Not in the photo is a Macintosh G3 computer runing Multi-Mode software. For those of you who think Macs don't work in a ham shack you should try out this program. You can download and try it for free, and register if you like it. Kinda spendy to register at $89, BUT you get darn near every digital mode you could ever want including things like weather fax and CW, as well as PSK31, packet, RTTY, SSTV, and lots more. Have a look if you're interested, just now that we Mac users are NOT left out of the ham radio world!

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