JERRY 2U0BGE's Amateur Radio & Weather Pages
Having spent my entire working life in the telecommunication industry, when I took retirement I decided the time had come for me to get my Amateur Radio Licence which I did in 2006. Of course having obtained my Intermediate Licence the problems were only just starting, ranging from getting permission for my antenna mast, to which radio to buy. Eventually permission was obtained for the 36 foot wind up mast and I have become an ICOM stalwart except for one baby Yaesu.
As my interest and knowledge grew, having bought and experienced 50 watts on an Icom 718 it became obvious that my interests lay in the QRP direction. It was then that I bought a Yaesu FT817 which I still find is a wonderful little rig.
Nevertheless in due course the IC 718 was traded for an IC 7000 which now operates as my main rig.
A distant view of the five band GM3VLB Delta with the weather station above.
Closer view of the Delta.
The MKARS 80 QRP tranceiver
Today the shack consists of the ICOM 7000 plus auto tuner, an ICOM 703 as a back up and the little yaesu 817 that I use for GRP and portable when on holiday, with this I use an Elecraft Ti Autotuner with this which is only about the size of a packet of cigarettes but will tune just about anything.
The aerials consist of a five band home made Delta mounted at about 35 feet on a telescopic mast which covers 20- 10 metres and a Sandpiper MV10 vertical which is currently only configured to cover 80-17 metres.
The shack is only a small room with a lot crammed into it, luckily it is electrically very quiet with the QRM being very low which is a huge advantage nowadays.
Ever since my teens I have been interested in building and modding electronic equipment and that still goes on today. Given the oportunity I will have a go at most things. The latest effort was the tiny MKARS 80 QRP tranceiver shown, it gives a good 5 Watts output, covers the entire 80 metre band and has a digital display to show the frequency. This little rig was designed by Steve G6ALU MKARS 80 and if you are interested in a small very reasonably priced QRP tranceiver I suggest that you visit the highlighted site.
