****KC2UML IS NOW NJ3U AMATEUR EXTRA***

Greetings from New Jersey, land of taxes, worlds best tomato, the NJ Turnpike, Atlantic City and Boost !

I'm recently licensed January 2009 after many years of interest in all things electronic. I was taking apart radios and TV's since the mid 60's but never licensed until now. I'm very glad that I did as I've met a great bunch of folks both via eyeball and on the air.

I run a TenTec Jupiter, Heil Pro4 Headset w/ DX Mic element. My Vertical Antenna is a 3 rd owner (at least ! ) Hustler 4 BTV ground mounted on a DX Engineering radial plate and 500 feet of radial wire. For Beaming I have a Mosley TA33jr TriBander that I'm the second owner on as well.  For 80 meters, I have a SpiRo D52 ( see update below for more info ).

My RF Amp is a Yaesu FL-2100 running two 572B's Grounded Grid, Class B. She's old but works well for that "Xtra Bit" when needed.

I enjoy following the bands and getting my feet wet into DX. It never fails to amaze me that 100 watts of RF can be used to communicate via SSB voice over 8100 Miles. BTW, that's my current distance record for DX contact to ZS2DK

UPDATE the Mosley TA33 JR and HomeBrew Tower is Up and Operational !!!.

My most recent project involves a DIY Roof Tower to mount a Mosely TA33jr Tri Bander. Check out the progress of the project via http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f190/dad250/Mosley%20Beam%20Antenna%20Project/?albumview=slideshow

July 2012 - Update - Latest addition to the shack is a Kenwood FM Dual Bander TM-D710. What a great piece of engineering and excellent workmanship from KWood! The Built in APRS functions great and I've got this up and running in my home QTH using a Copper Cactus JPole in the attic. Next steps are to install it into the F150 as my mobile rig and enjoy the benefits of having 2 mt 440 avail on the road.

December 2012 - Update - I was able to procure and install a SpiRo D52 Trap Wire Dipole.  The feedpoint is attached to the back yard side of the roof tower in an inverted V configuration.  Each of the 52 foot legs head towards the back yard fence and terminate approx 50 feet apart from each other at a height of 15 feet.  It's advertised as 10-80, but actually it is useful in  40&80 meters band.  That is OK by me since I wanted / needed to have 80 meter coverage for the Maine Potato Net, nightly on 3.958 @Zulu 0000.  It's very nice to have the 80 meter band available without needing a tuner!

Email viamycall @ ARRL.NET

Hope to see you down the log.

73

NJ3U (prior call KC2UML)

Rory