Ham Radio WB7ELY  
 



1000W High Frequency (HF) Short-wave Digital Amateur Radio Station.  

View layout Block Diagram



Collins 30-L 1000 Watt Amplifier. Note the home-built floor stand aka the Henry kilowatt series of amplifiers were floor standing and always looked low, mean and powerful
 


Here's a close up of the latest station configuration. 

L to R:  Homebrew Station Control box,  Antenna Tuner MFJ 941E, Icom 706 100 W Transceiver, Timewave Digital Signal Processor. Out of sight: An ICOM PCR-100 General Coverage receiver that is controlled via the PC. 
The Station Control is a homebuilt box that handles power for the computer and ham station equipment as well as receiver audio switching and remote antenna switch.

 Build your own Junk Box Integrated Station Control article written for QST Magazine

View earlier WB7ELY Ham Stations

 



HyGain AV-640 Vertical Antenna
More on the AV640 installation



Coaxial Relay hidden in the bushes... allows remote switching between the Horizontal Dipole Antenna and the Vertical Antenna. 

Dave currently runs two antennas, a vertical (Cushcraft R4) 4 Band Vertical (above right) and a dipole (to the right) for comparison tests.  Data  shows surprising difference between the vertical and horizontal antennas. Short waves can arrive at the antenna in either polarization and one usually is better than the other. Contacts in Continental US Japan, South America and Europe have been made in recent months.

 


140 ft Dipole at 30 ft with North-South orientation

 


Amateur UHF Repeater


Home-built PSK 31 Digital Mode Computer Interface. PSK 31 is the latest and hottest digital mode. Using free software, digital communication over the short-wave ham bands is mostly error-free. What a mess under that desk!

 
                                                  
 

Amateur Television (ATV) Video Transmitter


1 Watt UHF Video Transmitter

 

Test setup using surplus PELCO weatherproof auto-iris surveillance camera. 
Note the phase 1 Test UHF Antenna: 1/4 wave resonant whip cut for 426Mhz.

Current antenna config (#3) test is 3 Element Yagi (May 08) 


Surplus Toshiba VHS Time Lapse Recorder and monitor. 
Heads are badly worn. It must have had a hard life at a 7-11 store.
This is a project currently underway. Note the plywood "GO" chassis. Dave purchased this "GE MSTR EXEC II" 50W UHF Repeater in 2005 and has been working on it in his spare time. It is slated for the top of Lookout Rock.   This radio had been previously converted from Law Enforcement use. The GE MASTR II is well regarded as a workhorse radio, robustly built. 


Temporarily located at the new house for testing and range-coverage measurements, Dave has received a certificate of coordination for the Repeater pair assignment ofs 441.400 Mhz/103.5 PL tone from the WWARA.


Here's the repeater stripped down to it's bare essentials for initial range testing at the tree farm


A shot of the repeater taken after purchase in 2005



Public Service

Boy Scouts

Community Repeater

Video Security Equipment Education

 
 

Emergency Preparedness


Here's a shot of the #2 ICOM IC-706 100Watt HF Radio. It's carried in a customized wooden box.  Holds speaker, mike and assoc equipment. Behind is an ICOM AH-4 Automatic Antenna Tuner. All cabling and hookups are bundled for quick use in case of emergency.  View Portable Antenna Setup


More Electronics Projects

Magneto Phone System

Main Gate

Parabolic Microphone

Beaver Detector

Vehicle Detector

 


More antennas! 
L to R Hughes high-speed internet, DirecTV satellite , UHF Base Antenna

Here's Dave

     

Station Call Sign: WB7ELY
Latitude/Longitude: N48.08.33 W122.01.07
Guest operators welcome  
Email Dave WB7ELY
Link to VALHALLA TREE FARM
Link to Daves Cedar Kit House Project

 9-1-09