Licensed since 1992, I am currently operating / living in the panhandle of Florida. I got involved with Ham Radio as a kid when a few hams came and visited us at my Boy Scout Troop. I caught the 'bug' and got licensed as a 'Tech Plus' (needed CW back then) at the ripe old age of 12. Eventually I upgraded to General, luckily I kept my license active throughout these years. I was really active as a kid. College, work, and marriage kept me inactive for awhile, but I got back in and remembered how much I love it. Something about fond memories from my childhood, and the sight and smell of old tube radios listening to far away voices makes the hobby really enjoyable for me.

I have always used tube radios. Dad (KB2OUQ) had a big Heathkit collection, and I have great memories of listening and talking around the world with old Heathkit SB-100s, SB-300/400s, the old HW & DX series rigs, and the Mohawk / Apache sets. Dad also had what we called the 'Dissection desk'. He would put the non-functional rigs there, and I would take them apart with a soldering iron and a screw driver learning about circuits trying to 'fix' them. In truth I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun 'working' on radios with my Dad.

My Station (so far) consists of:

• Heathkit SB-101 (Great memories on this rig as a kid) [Completely restored, aligned, cleaned, repainted, and all NOS tubes were installed ... took me awhile but it was worth it!]
• Yaesu 897D [Use this for Digital modes mostly and as a backup AM rig.  Works great, but not a tube radio!]
• Barker & Williamson 5100 (Having a blast operating AM!) [Beautiful transmitter, works fantastic!]
• Hammarlund HQ-129X [Electronically restored, surprisingly sensitive receiver]
• Hammarlund SP-600 [Smooth, neat receiver, working on it now]
• Collins 75A-4 Receiver [Beautiful receiver, but needs some work]
• Heathkit SB-200 [Restored, all Harbach modifications done]
• Heathkit 2060 Tuner
• Heathkit SB-600 Speaker / Power Supply [Restored, modernized power supply]
• Bunch of Heathkit diagnostic / repair gear

Current Antennas:

- 135' Wire, OCF configuration

- 100' Sloping from 40' high down to 15' high

- 35' Vertical

- Fed at the center with OWL

My favorite part of the hobby is building my own antennas. So far I have built a bunch of Dipoles, Loops, Longwires, Beverages, 'Normal' Verticals, Wire Verticals, and Wire beams. I've made a few mistakes and learned a lot along the way. I love cooking up an idea in my head, running some numbers, stringing up some wire and seeing how it works.

My favorite (and most labor-intensive!) project so far has been a 'Sky-Wire' horizontal loop. I have been wanting to get on 160m, but not with a 'Cloud Warmer' The original plan was for an inverted L for 160m, but then I stumbled on a few discussions of multi-wavelength horizontal loops. The multiple wavelengths of a loop begin to cancel out the high angles of radiation inherent with the (relatively) low height of a 160m antenna. So, construction began on a 2Wavelength + Skywire for 160m, at an average height of 60' (Pine Trees), fed with home brew balanced feed line to a Heathkit 2060 tuner.

• 12 Guage Insulated, Stranded Copper Wire
• Total Length: 1369'
• Average height: 60'
• Feedline: Homebrew 600ohm balanced feed line (14guage stranded copper)

Hope to hear you on the air!

73,

Jesse

Station 4.0 is complete! Dedicated revieve antennas can be shared by 2 receivers at once.  Expanded the shelves, improved the operating position and made sense of the cable-nightmare that has grown up around the back of the radios.  Also found a cheap used monitor and built an RF pickup to monitor my transmitted signal through the scope.  Fine tuned the dedicated station ground, fed through a dedicated entrance panel, lightning arrestors / static discharge, and a single point ground for all equipment. Installed underground coax to a distribution box where all antennas will feed to (much more lawnmower friendly!) 

In order to restore the radios, first I had to restore the diagnostic gear that I would use to restore the radios.  Which came first, the tube tester or the transceiver?

Operating at night . . . that is why I love tube radios!