Biography

General Information:

I have been involved with HAM radio since ~2007.

I prefer CW, in order of preference, on 40, 30, 20 and 80 m (95% CW, 5% SSB).

Memberships:

ARRL

SKCC (Straight Key Century Club) - Membership #10137T

QSO Confirmation: Direct by mail if requested (You can send to me by Bureau if you like) or electronic by eQSL.cc, LogBook of The World by ARRL, or QRZ.com.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

At shack: FT-450 Yaesu, or QRP at 5 watts with a homebrew single vacuum tube transmitter on 40m or 80m, or OHR 100A by Oak Hills Research on 40 m, or micro QRP rig Small Wonder Labs (SW 30+) at 1.5 watts on 30 m and Drake 2B receiver.

LDG Z-11 Pro II Auto tuner.

Keys used:

a) Iambic key - Bencher but only use one of the two arms as a horizontal straight key.

b) Straight key - Classic WWII vintage US Navy CMI-26003A

Background on my homemade 5U4G vacuum tube power supply and 6L6 vacuum tube transmitter (~5 Watts):

It took weeks to find all the parts. I went to HAM fests to find the knobs and coil forms. On Ebay I found the variable air capacitors and a Burlington DC Amp Meter. Then about two weeks to build everything. I hand built the power supply metal box from Lowes steel plates. Luckily I had access to a friend's electric metal cutting shear, grinder, drill press and MIG welder. With some careful alignment I put the box together. The steel was thick and difficult to work with. By the time I got to the transmitter I ordered a pre-made metal (steel) from on-line. I used a spray that is called "Hammered Metal" and had a nice antique look. My goal was to have a nice copy of a 1936 style 6L6 transmitter. 6L6 is the designator for a vacuum tube introduced by Radio Corporation of America in July 1936. At the time Philips had already developed and patented power pentode designs, which were fast replacing power triodes due to their greater efficiency. The beam tetrode design of the 6L6 allowed RCA to circumvent Philips' pentode patent.

The credit for the circuit goes to W5DXS.

Power: http://w5dxs.tripod.com/power.htm
Transmitter: http://w5dxs.tripod.com/6L6.htm

Background on the metal box, to the right of the OHR 100A (Bottom shelf), in the picture:

1) 200 HZ band width filter called the "Hi-Per-Mite". Bought the kit for ~$20 on-line. Look up "Hi-Per-Mite" on Google and you will find it. Amazing filter which removes nearby strong QRM and QRN when QSO weak CW stations. I was looking at purchasing expensive rigs and instead realized that the $20 "Hi-Per-Mite" filter gives me most of what I need.

2) NESCAF audio filter: Filter width is adjustable. Look up on Google.com

Antennas:

a) Vertical DX Engineering 43' with 32 radials (For greatly improved vertical antenna 160m & 80m efficiency see http://www.ad5x.com/images/Articles/Match43footerRevA.pdf),

b) 40 m dipole, 40 m dipole, 40 feet above ground,

c) 80 m dipole, NVIS 80 m dipole, 10 feet above ground for better local contacts,

d) 30 m dipole inverted, 35 feet above ground