The station equipment for HF consists of a Kenwood TS-430s transceiver running approx. 100 watts. Dentron GLA-1000B amp. , and a Dentron Super Tuner antenna matching network. I enjoy the older "classic" tube rigs as well, and at present , I own several National transceivers as well as a couple of National receivers. I really enjoy putting those rigs on the air. They are; an NCX-3 ,NCX-5 and NCX-200 , with matching NCX-A pwr supplies. Really classic rigs from the 60's, fun to use and fun to work on ! I have posted pics of these rigs on my "B.A." page, so scroll down to find the link ! Just recently , I purchased a Galaxy 5 with matching speaker / power supply console. It was in sorry shape and needed some TLC. I had to rebuilt the AVC circuit to find a bad disc cap. , it is now working very well. I repainted the cabinets on both the rig and p/s with the orginal black wrinkle paint. They really came out nice and look almost new again ! You may see the Galaxy V on my second "BA" page ! My National receivers consist of an NC-57 and NC-88, both in good working order and all orginal. AM never sounded so good as it does with these receivers ! Also in my arsenal of radios, is a little "QRP" ( low power ) 30 meter, CW transceiver called " The 38 Special ". This rig was available from the " NorCal " QRP club in 1997 as a kit. I have made five contacts across the U.S. and Canada using this radio. View my reviews page for more information regarding this rig.

Telegraph keys consist of: Bencher BY-2 iambic paddle , an old Speed-X straight key, and a Whiterook MK-22 key. I have also built an iambic paddle from a kit put out by the "NorCal QRP club", the " NorCal / K8FF paddle ". You can read my review and assembly tips of this kit on my " Reviews " page, as well as view a pic of it on my " B.A. " page . You will most likely hear me pounding brass on the HF bands late in the evenings. For years and years, I used my trusty "Speed-X" straight key, I got rather good with it too ! But recently I decided that if I was going to send faster code , I needed a paddle and electronic keyer. So I purchased the key of my dreams, the Bencher BY-2 ! I have been very pleased with it. With the help of my " Daiwa DK-210 " electronic keyer, I am able to make musical morse code dance on the ionosphere ! If you've never gotten on the HF bands and "played" one of these fine works of art , you are surely missing out on a very exciting , challenging , and rewarding aspect of our great hobby !

Rtty equipment When I do operate on teletype , I use the following ; IRL FSK-500 TU . Along with my cool, classic "TeleVideo" 8088 computer to send and receive "RTTY" transmissions. This computer has a 9 inch monochrome monitor built in, and dual 5 1/4 inch disk drives ! The manual states that this computer is "portable", at best it is luggable ! But It does a good job for RTTY work, its about all I need.

Phone operation I do enjoy using phone on the HF bands, mainly SSB. So, if you hear me on the air, I am most likely using the following ; Heil BK-10 headset with HC-4 element. This is a great headset to use, especially if you are logging stations on the computer during a contest . Completely hands free operating while using "VOX" or a foot switch. The Heil is lightweight and I have had exellent audio reports while using it with my TS-430s. When I'm using my "classic" NCX-200 , NCX-3 , NCX-5, or the Galaxy 5, you'll hear the clean crisp audio as processed through a classic Astatic D-104 or Shure 444 mic .

VHF/UHF: I'm not much of a VHF / UHF'er, talking with the locals about the weather and traffic conditions is rather boring to me. But I do have a couple of HT's that I find useful from time to time.They'er both Icom's, IC-4SRA on 70cm , and IC-W2A dual band 2m/70cm HT. These are both fine HT's , I like them because I can listen to the police / fire / EMT freq's as well as the ham bands.

The antenna system Since our recent move , I'm only using a ground mounted vertical at the present time. But soon , I'll have the following up ! A rotatable Cushcraft A-3, 3 element yagi, for operation on the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands. I'm probably going to go up 50 or 60 feet with this antenna, using Rohn 25G tower. For the 160,80,40, and WARC bands, I'll be using my dipole antenna's as well as a G5RV. With ten acres of land , I am in ham heaven antenna wise ! I am going to be experminting around with various types of wire antennas over the years. Would love to give a "Rombic" antenna a try , one monster antenna ! I would also like to get into "moonbounce" someday . We have great shots of the moon as it rises out of the east, low on the horizion.

The computer system Packard Bell 4100CD, Intel 75 MHz Pentium processor, 1 gigabyte hd, 16 MB RAM, 14" color monitor, 14.4 bps Fax/Modem, Quad speed CD-ROM and 16-bit SRS 3-D Amphitheater Stereo sound system ( really cool !). The OS is Windows-95. This system is really a step up from my old PC, XT, with dual floppies, no hard drive, 640K RAM ( remember those days ?) and a monochrome monitor !

Operation activities Include, RTTY, CW, and SSB. I enjoy late night CW ragchew's on 160, 80 and the 40 meter bands. As well as, "chasing" DX. I currently have about 125 countries confirmed. I have not been pursuing the DX game as much as I would like during this low in the solor cycle. But things are getting better with band conditions. I have been noticing higher band openings lately, ten meters has been showing signs of life ! Ten meters is one of my favorite bands and I enjoy working stations "QRP" ( low power ) using my converted 11 meter mobile rig. I have recently gotten into "homebrewing" ( building radio gear ) from kits. Check out my "reviews" page and find out more about this fun aspect of amateur radio . I am not an avid contester, but I do enjoy the challenge and the spirit of the "test's". The only contest that I "go all out for " , is the ARRL Ten Meter contest. During the late '80's and early '90's, I scored first place for Idaho in the mixed catagory four years in a row ! I'm planning on getting back into contesting " big time ", as soon as I get some real antenna's up in the air.

Other activities: Snow skiing, motorcycle riding, camping. My wife, Laurie, and I both love to snow ski, Sun Valley is nearby, and we enjoy world class skiing whenever we feel like it ( condx. permitting )! We also enjoy motorcycle riding in the spring and summer, our bikes are Yamaha's, RT-180 and RT-100. The moutains of Southern Idaho provide excellent riding conditions, with miles of open terrain to explore. Camping, we have not been able to go camping very many times these past few years. We bought a 17 foot self contained travel trailer thinking we would go more often. Well it just has not worked out that way ,and I'm a basket case towing that beast behind me ! It's just no fun trying to have a good time when its been a "white knuckle" trip the whole way ! So she's up for sale, wanna buy it ?