|
WM4SG SHACK
Click On The Thunderstorm Above For WM4SG Brag Tape
Before there was a WM4SG, there was NØANQ.
For pictures from 1980, Click Here!
In early 2001, we did some remodeling at home on the mountain. One of the benefits of a new addition on the house was a new shack with lots more room than the old 8' x 6' room.
This is a long view of the operating desk, which doubles as my home office. The room is large enough to serve as a family room and/or spare bedroom with a fold-out couch.
Most hams have a focus of sorts. Some like to "rag-chew", others chase DX. I guess I qualify as a full-fledged paper chaser.
On the corner wall opposite the operating desk is a collection of certificates (wallpaper for hams) including 3905 Century Club certificates, OMISS, 10-10, 7240 Club, Collins Radio Association membership and an ARRL A-1 Operator Club Certificate.
Seriously, the paper is taking over as this is the overflow area with more certificates.
The majority of these certificates are 3905 Century Club, of which I have been active since 1979.
The top certificates are what are considered "membership" or 100 point certificates which I have on all bands and modes that the Century Club operates - with the exception of any of our CW nets
on 80 and 160 meters.
Meanwhile, back at the operating desk, the
rig on the lower right is a Yaesu FT-1000 Field which is used exclusively for RTTY and CW.
Directly above the FT-1000 is a Yaesu FT-990 which is used for both PSK-31 and QRP operation.
Toward the center of the operating desk is
a Kenwood TS-950SD which is used for SSB operation. Below the TS-950 is an Ameritron ATR-30 Antenna Tuner
and a Vectronics Tuner.
Above the TS-950 is a Yamaha A-28 Stereo Amplifier with equalizer. The audio from the Yaesu and Kenwood HF rigs are all fed into the stereo for station audio. Two Yamaha speakers provide an excellent range of audio.
One of the best Amplifiers I have ever owned, if not the best, is this QRO HF-2500DX. It puts out the full legal limit with only 35 watts of drive.
Above the amplifier is a
set of Coax Switches used to switch between rigs from the two remote antenna
feeds.
After years of crawling under operating desks I decided it was time to make life easier during the remodeling.
There is a closet behind the operating desk which allows access to the back of all the equipment.
The closet has three separate 117VAC circuits and two 220VAC circuits. One of the 117VAC circuits operates on a battery back-up UPS.
While an 80 foot tower would be nice, living on top of even a small mountain makes for a lively place during a thunderstorm.
I settled for a 20 foot Glenn Martin mini-tower that sits on one end of the North deck. With a 10 foot mast, it gives me a total height of 40 feet above the ground for my 5 band
Yagi - well below the tree tops.
Lots of very tall trees make for great antenna supports. Here is the crossing point of 40 meter and 80 meter dipoles.
While it hard to tell, the 80 meter dipole is about 10 feet higher at 90 feet than the 40 meter dipole. There is another 80 meter dipole at right angles to the one shown, about 15 feet to the east.
Off further in the trees, hard to spot, is the 160 meter dipole running Northeast to Southwest. Well below these levels is a 540 foot Beverage antenna, averaging 10 feet above ground level, running to the west.
This was the first snowfall in the
mountains during winter of early 2001 (ended up a total of 8 inches).
Beautiful to look at, but.....
While they are hard to spot, there are antennas in all the snow and ice you see.
RETURN HOME
|