Show and Tell
I have used a lot of equipment of over the last 50 years.
When I get new equipment I usually sell my other stuff to make the purchase otherwise I would have a house full of stuff.
In the table below I highlight the radios and accessories that have helped me to reach out to other hams all over the world. Items in red boldface are currently being used in my shack. This the equipment I have used since I have been licensed in 1971. My recollections may not be in chronological order but the equipment is factual.
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 | Archer Space Patrol Walkie Talkies. 1965 |
 | Archer Walkie-Talkie Base Station. I modded it from 9V with “C” batteries to 12V with 2 lantern batteries in series. 1967 |
 | Polycomm Pro, 23ch TX and tuneable receive. I bought my cousins CB radio. He was getting out, I was getting in. My last CB before getting my Novice ticket in 1971. 1968 |
 | Hallicrafters S-38E One of my Elmers lent this receiver to me to listen Short Wave broadcasts, CB, and Ham radio stations. I was hooked! 1969 |
 | Lionel J-38 Straight Key |
 | KnightKit T-60 transmitter. This is my first Novice transmitter that I picked up at Radio Expo in Grays Lake for $25 and a handful of crystals to put me on 80/40/15m. 1971 |
 | HeathKit GR-54 General Coverage Receiver. Picked this gem up from a friend (WB9EEA/W0EEA for $35. My first Novice SW receiver. You got to start somewhere. Not much on selectivity. The hunt for a suitable receiver was underway. 1971 |
 | Alled A-2516 Tried several receivers. As a Novice you try everything until you find something you like that will help with receiving. This thing was horrible! Microphonics galore! You just tapped lightly on the table and you could hear the rapping with your headphones plugged in. 1972 |
 | Lafayette HA-800 General Coverage receiver. Not much on sensitivity. 1972 |
 | Hallicrafters HT-40 transmitter. 1972 |
 | Hallicrafter HA-5 VFO. 1972 |
 | HeathKit DX-60B 90w transmitter. 1973 |
 | HeathKit HW-16 “transceiver”. Xtal controlled transmitter with built in receiver. Was able to transceive with the HG-10B VFO when Novice were permitted. 1973 |
 | HeathKit HG-10B VFO. 1973 |
 | Drake 2-C receiver. Loved this radio. Wish I purchased it first. Would have saved me a lot of headaches later. 1973 |
 | HeathKit HW-17 By this time I passed my Technican Class license in 1974 so I bought a 2m radio from Mark Kuntz, a member of the EARS club. This was similar to the HW-16 in that it was xtal controlled TX and tuneable receive. This radio had come with a modification that allowed it to transmit FM (via 6 crystals and FM modulator) and with “slope” tuning of the receiver you could listen to people on repeaters and simplex. 1974 |
 | Hammarlund HQ-160 receiver. 1976 |
 | Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitter. AM/SSB/CW When I passed my General in 1976 I bought this transmitter and the HQ-160 receiver. Now I was able to to do some serious DXing! 1976 |
 | Vibroplex Standard My first Vibrolplex Iambic keyer paddle on a pink granite base. |
 | Hallicrafters HT-44 TX. AM/CW/SSB 80-10m. You could transceive with the matching receiver SX-117. 1977 |
 | Hallicrafters SX-117 80-10 receiver This is my favorite combination so far. Fantastic radio but both units and the speaker/PSU took up my entire desk. Back in ’77, 10m was open 24 hrs. 1977 |
 | Hallicrafters PSU/Speaker. 1977 |
 | Radio Shack DX-150B I was off the air for a couple years while I lived the apartment life but at least I was on my own finally. I used this receiver to keep tabs on the bands with a long wire antenna. 1985 |
 | Kenwood TS-180S 160-10m +WARC bands My first real transceiver with great sounding filters. 1984 |
 | Kenwood PS-30 PSU. 1984 |
 | Kenwood AT-180 ATU. 1984 |
 | Kenwood SP-180 speaker. 1984 |
 | Bencher BY-1 Keyer paddle. 1984 |
 | MFJ-422X The TS-180S did not have a built-in keyer so I purchased this combo from MFJ a MFJ-422X combo keyer and BY1 paddle. The keyer slid onto the BY-1 base as 1 complete unit. |
 | The Commodore C-64 computer. 1983 This computer opened up a lot of doors in amateur radio. From sending X.25 Packet, to sending RTTY with the proper interface. Good times. I learned to program is BASIC whit this computer. |
 | AEA Dr DX This was a cartridge for the Commodore 64 made by AEA that let you simulate working a CW DX contest using a hand key or keyer. This was fun back in 1984. |
 | AEA PK-64 the first interface for the C-64 to come from Advanced Electronic Applications. Extremely noisy due to 36 pin flat cable going between the PK-64 and the C-64. 1985 |
 | Kenwood TS-440S/AT After I got my Extra in 1987 I bought this present for me in 1991. |
 | Kenwood SP-23. 1991 |
 | AEA PK-232 I had 2 versions of this. The PK-232 and the PK-232MBX. The MBX version added a packet mail box. 1986 |
 | AEA PK-900 Multi Mode Controller. CW/AMTOR FEC/ASCII/PACTOR/PACKET/RTTY(FSK) You could connect to this on 1 radio and go out on another. 1994 |
 | Kenwood TS-790 My 1st V/UHF All Mode radio. I had it for a few months but wanted more power. 1997 |
 | Swan 1200ZX HF 80-10m amplifier about 800w out. My friend Glenn gave me this amp as he was getting out of the hobby due to him having small children and no time for radio. 1995 |
 | Icom 756PROII My 1st radio with HF and 6m. I am now an official 6m addict! 2002 |
 | Icom 910H My 1st high power V/UHF All Mode radio 2m/100w, 70cm/75w. 2003 |
 | Bencher BY-4 Rare, no longer made. Gold plated Iambic keyer paddle. Still my favorite key. 2003 |
 | Wm. M. Nye Company Master Key. This is different from the J-38 in that the wires are connected to the base and the upper part of the J-38. In the Master Key the upper part actually closes a small microswitch in the base of the key. The feel of the keys knob is great and the base is weighted just right. 2006 |
 | ASTRON 70A PSU 13.8vdc @70A peak/57A continuous 2007 |
 | Elecraft Transverters. I built 3 transverter kits for 144/222/432 and I could see any activity on those bands from the spectrum scope on my Icom IC-756PROII. 2007 |
 | TE Systems 1410G 5-10w in/160-200w out depending on current available. 2007 |
 | TE Systems 2210G Sold this after I was done contesting on the 220 band. 2007 |
 | TE Systems 4310G Used it with my M2 440-18 yagi but now selling it as I don’t use 432 for contesting any more. 2007 |
 | Amp Supply LK500ZC Legal Limit amp. I finally had a friend install a 220v line in my basement radio shack. 2014 |
 | Icom IC-7000. Sold the tranverters and replaced them with a small radio, the Icom 7000 which would do HF/50/144/432. 2010 |
 | IC-9100 My 756PROII got hit by lightning so I had it repaired and then bought an IC-9100. 2013 |
 | IC-7600 HF and 6m radio. Great contesting radio. Love my 7600! 2015 |
 | Elecraft KPA500/KAT500 combo. Made these 2 pieces of equipment as kits! 2016 |
 | Remote Rig RRC-1258MkIIs. Remote control of my radios via hardware. 2015 |
 | IC-7100 My IC-9100 lacked a Voice Message Keyer for contesting so I sold it and got the IC-7100. 2017 |
 | Vibroplex Standard keyer paddle. Bought this at Hamvention in 2018. |
 | Flex Radio Systems bought a previously loved, re-certified 6400M from Flex Radio. I use SmartSDR, SliceMaster6000, and FR Stack software along with Ham Radio Deluxe (my every day logging software), N3FJP Contest s/w, N7YG Digital Engine RTTY decoder, FLDigi July 2020 |
 | FRS FlexControl Used for controlling the VFO and adding 3 programmable function buttons. Used during contests. |