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Related pages:
Contest Station
Antennas at W8JI
Station Wiring
(shows and describes wiring methods used)
My station has
come a long ways
from the early 60’s
when I would drag
old TV sets and
radios home from the
dump and take them
apart to build my
own receivers and
transmitters. We
were a very poor
family and even had
dirt floors in some
rooms of our house.
Ham radio became my
life as I met many
hundreds of very
good friends all
over the world. Some
hams who stick in my
mind as especially
helpful and patient
were:
K8LRJ Junior
Scott (Scotty)
W8IQC Fred
Mahaney
W8JKC Clyde Blair
K8KYB Connie
Morgillo
W8JI, my current
house operating
position
Left to right
top: AL800 six meter
amp, ATR-30 tuners,
rotating tower
controls, audio
controls, scanner
Left to right
middle: AL-1500, TX
antenna switches,
monitor, keyer and
ALS600
Left to right
desktop: Six meter
transverter,
FT1000MP MKV, RX ant
direction, Elecraft
K3, FT-1000D
Lower shelf:
Power supplies
To reduce the
number of wires
running around, I
have many little
bench distribution
feeds like these:
Each feed has
10-20 small control
wires, 12 volts dc,
and 120 volts in
some cases.
This allows me to
wire rotors, 12 volt
powered accessories,
120 v power
accessories, antenna
switches, and many
other things to
small easily movable
blocks that just lay
behind radios and
accessories.
12 volt lines are
fused with
self-resetting 5-amp
current limiting
fuses at the main
13.8 Vdc power
supplies. This
eliminates dozens of
wall warts.
This feed runs my
rotating tower
antenna switches and
my rotor controls
for that tower, as
well as an audio
processor and
scanner on the upper
shelf.
Notice I follow
standard resistor
color codes from
black up through
white.
My receiving
antennas and audio
lines are selected
by the switches
below:
The left two
knobs of this panel
selects clusters of
antennas. From left
to right each of the
two switches picks
rear verticals, rear
beverages, front
beverages, front
Europe beverage,
rear Europe
beverage, front
Europe vertical, and
a dipole located
3,000 feet away.
It also
selects my audio
channels for left
and right ears, and
has my keyer and
headphone jacks. The
balance control
feeds a mono amp for
speaker use.
You can see a
group of audio
transformers between
the little K3 and
FT1000. These
transformers prevent
ground loop hums on
audio lines.
I have seven
basic receiving
antenna systems,
many of which I
developed,
popularized,
improved, or
optimized:
Rear 8-circle
vertical array with
passive elements,
350-foot diameter
circle. Hub 2000
feet southwest of
transmitting
antennas.
Rear beverages
consisting of 350-foot
broadside-spaced 880-foot long beverages
in eight directions.
Hub 2500 feet south
of transmitting
antennas.
Front beverages
consisting of 350-foot
broadside-spaced 880-foot long beverages
in eight directions.
Hub 750 feet south
of transmitting
antennas.
Front Europe
beverage, a single
800-foot beverage
located 500 feet NE
of transmitting
antennas.
Rear Europe
beverage, three
880-foot beverages
spaced 330 feet
apart broadside
located around 3000
feet south of
transmitting
antennas.
Front Europe
verticals, four
passive verticals
spaced 70 feet
endfire and 330 feet
broadside about 300
feet north of
transmitting
antennas.
This is me
January 1, 2010
during the Straight
Key Night operation.
This is a nice
little rally for old
radios and old
manual keys.
I forgot how much
work and how much
fun it is sending
with a straight key!
Boatanchor gear
in use in this
picture includes a
Globe Scout 65A
and a Hammarlund
HQ-120. The HQ-120
includes the factory
crystal filter. It
was manufactured one
month to the day
before the WWII
Pearl Harbor attack.
I
have some old radios
I occasionally like
to use:
My very first commercial rig from 1963
was a used
Globe 65A and VF-1.
Read more in
Boatanchors
Transmitting Antennas
I have various wire and yagi antennas.
Here are my main towers.
Left to right.
320-foot Rohn 65G,
70-foot Rohn 25G,
~200-foot Rohn 45G,
200-foot Rohn 55G
that rotates.
For
a few details
on my transmitting
antennas see
Transmitting
Antennas
Lifting towers
during installation
Lifting 45G for
160 meters:
For more
details on how we
did this see
Lifting Rohn 25G
lifting 45G
You can lift more
than Rohn 45G. Here
we are lifting the first 120 feet
of a 200- foot
tall American 19″ face
tower:
Receiving Antennas
My receiving antennas are in a constant state of change, but are gradually
settling down to a few optimum configurations. The picture below was the very
start of an 8 circle vertical array installed in 1999. My first directional
small vertical arrays were installed in the 1980’s. My first loop array of
phased loop antennas were installed in the 1970’s. I have about 40 years of
receiving antenna work with small loops, beverages, and other arrays.
Above….Eight vertical receiving array
in a rear field.
Below, elements
in my Europe
4-element vertical
array. This array is
spaced about 70 feet
endfire and 330 feet
broadside.
Above….Front vertical array area. Typical element construction.
Receiving antenna details page
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