QTH: Norton, Massachusetts in Bristol County approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Boston.
Grid Square:  FN41jw       CQ Zone: 5          ITU Zone: 8

2017 WWFF Parks On The Air activations (and QSO’s)

KFF-2420 Borderland State Park July 06 (30)
KFF-2430 Dighton Rock State Park July 05 (32)
KFF-2440 Hopkinton State Park Aug. 11 (46)
KFF-2446 Massasoit State Park Aug. 06 (27), Aug. 13 (33)
KFF-2460 Watson Pond State Park July 15 (29), July 16 (32)

2016 ARRL National Parks On The Air
7 Activations of WR32 Taunton National Wild and Scenic River (KFF-0891)
at Dighton Rock State Park (KFF-2430) in Berkley, Massachusetts 736 QSO's

June 27th (107), June 30th (89), July 6th (100), Sept. 17th (79), Nov. 2nd (180), Nov. 27th (114), Dec. 30th (67)

While operating portable on 20m and 40m SSB with my Yaesu FT-450D at 50 to 100W from a 15Ahr LiFePO4 battery and a Buddistick antenna, I’ve worked 48 states plus Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain.

I passed the Technician exam in June of 2014 then upgraded to General Class in February 2015.

For HF, I use a Yaesu FT-450D (100W) with a G5RV multi-band dipole antenna between two oak trees oriented NE to SW.  The best height I could manage for now is about 30 feet on the ends and maybe 25 feet in the middle.  With the G5RV I use an MFJ-929 auto-tuner.  Given the less than optimal height of the antenna, I'm quite surprised and pleased at some of the QSO's I've been able to log!  It performs well on 20m and 40m but I’ve also worked many stations on 80m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m.

My station also includes a 2m/70cm Yaesu FT-7900R with a Diamond X300A dual band antenna.  Both the FT-450D and the FT-7900R are powered by an Alinco DM-330MV power supply.

Although I still have memories of transistor radios I had in the late 1960's and early 70's, I really got hooked on radio at 15 years old when first hearing shortwave broadcasts in 1977 through a Science Fair Globe Patrol kit with a hunk of wire for an antenna.  I remember listening to the Voice of America and thought hearing the BBC and Radio Moscow was fascinating since they were so “far away”.  That year, I also operated on the Citizens Band with several friends.  Licenses for CB radio were being issued then and I was KALE 2997.  For years after that,  I enjoyed AM DXing at night with whatever radio I had at the time.

I bought my first decent shortwave radio in 1989, a Sony ICF-2010.  I sent out a few reception reports to shortwave broadcasting stations in several countries and to my surprise recieved some nice QSL material back.  This radio still works well today.  In 2004, I began fixing up old tube radios.  My collection includes many wooden and bakelite table radios from the 1940's and 50's and a few floor consoles from the 1930's and 40's, all standard broadcast, some with additional shortwave bands.  Listening to authentic 40's big band music or old time radio programs on these, broadcast from a computer through an SSTran AM transmitter, brings these old radios to life and is like stepping back in time.  I also have the popular Hallicrafters S-38C, an S-107 and an S-108.  For portables, I have three Zenith Transoceanics (see below):  a 1953 H500 and a 1959 B600 which are both tube models that can operate from line voltage or battery power as they were originally intended using homemade 9V/90V A-B batteries.  My third TO is a 1960 1000D, the first transistor model introduced by Zenith which I found at a yard sale for $5.

Finally the transition to Amateur Radio arrived, so thanks for the QSO!

73,

Gary

my Zenith Trans-Oceanics (from L to R):  1953 H500, 1960 1000D, 1959 B600