The VHF/UHF Station @ WB4IUY/AC4QD

This is a pic of the primary portion of the station equipment here. Most of it has many years of use, but is still good gear. I'm able to work about anything I can hear, and usually cut through most DX pileups with little trouble. The pic on the right is fairly current...if you click on the pic you'll get an older pic of the station that was taken back around 1994.

The main table was built for me back around 1992 by a good friend and ham, Glen Speight KD4BSP. He built this on the spot, from a sheet of 3/4" plywood, some 2x4's, and a sheet of formica covering. It is very sturdy and has been in service in my hamshack ever since! The upper shelving is your typical wall-mounted type from the local Home Depot. Glen is a professional interior trim carpenter, and this hamshack table looks better than anything I could have bought...not to mention that it was custom built to meet my needs.

ICOM IC-211

This is my VHF SSB rig, and is of approximately 1978 vintge. It's fairly stable, and has a decent receiver. Since it only produces about 10 watts, I use it with an old 50 watt amp by Vocom to get a decent signal up the feedline. I've added an old Motorola receive preamp to the Vocom to spice up the IC-211's receive sensitivity. It works pretty good, was VERY inexpensive, and has made contacts from Canada to the Florida Keys on 2m SSB.

ICOM IC-756 on 6 Meters

This is one of the older IC-756's, not a "Pro" model. I use this rig on 6m SSB. It has a 2-stage receive preamplifier, will produce about 100 watts output, and has a number of other features that are nice on 6m. The noise blanker is often an asset on 6m, along with the adjustable receive pass band tuning on both IF's (455 khz & 9mhz).

Azden PCS-7500H

I've had this rig since sometime in the early 1990's, operating it as both a mobile rig and a fixed station rig from time to time. The Azden PCS-7500H is a 6m FM rig, and has 20 memories (10 in each memory 'bank'). It has a very odd method of programming CTCSS tones, requiring the use of a code cross reference list from the owner's manual each time, and one must set the rx & tx tones separately. It produces about 50 watts on transmit, and has a decent receiver. I usually leave it on and monitoring the local repeaters as well as the 52.525 simplex calling frequency.

Radio Skack HTX-252 - DX Cluster

This little rig is a real gem.. There are two of them in the WB4IUY/AC4QD hamshack. This one is used for the DX Packet Cluster Node on 147.07 (see this under the MODES tab at the top of the page) that runs from my location 24/7, and was previously used in the SEDAN node, also running from my shack. It produces about 25 watts output, and has a very selective receiver...an important feature when running on the same tower as several other nodes and various transmitters.

TM-621 - TM-331 - Radio Skack HTX-252

This stack of rigs work pretty hard in voice and packet modes. The rig on the bottom in this pic is a Kenwood TM-621 2m/220 dual bander and is usually operated in voice for the local 220 repeaters, but also runs packet radio on 2m to connect to the local W4RAL packet radio BBS. The rig in the middle of the stack in this pic is a Kenwood TM-331 for connection to the 9600 baud port of the W4RAL Packet BBS. The rig on the top of this stack is a Radio Skack HTX-252 and is used for voice connection to my WB4IUY Repeater on 147.39+ in CLayton, as well as other area repeaters and 2m simplex.

Johnson Commercial Rig (left)

I bought this old rig from Dave Woods W4EJ back sometime in the mid-90's. It is an old commercial rig that had been programmed for the 8 standard 20 khz spaced 2m packet radio frequencies, starting at 144.95 and ending at 145.09. It has been a workhorse, and typically sits parked on 145.01 as a backup node for the W4RAL BBS, in the event of an outtage.

Yaesu Memorizer (right)

This is another oldie but goldie. I originally bought it from a local shop as a project rig...it had a bunch of problems, but was only $10, so I took it on as a project radio. After repairing it's ailments, I connected it to a TNC and set it up to run on APRS. It's been running APRS 24/7 non-stop ever since about 1995.

Motorola Micor UHF

This radio served in the commercial industry as a radio in a NC Forestry Service truck from around 1975 until about 1992. I bought it at a state auction for about $15. It produces about 100 watts at full power, though I operate it at a reduced power level of 10 watts in the shack. I converted and retuned it for the amateur band, installed crystals for several of the local repeaters (including our 442.40 repeater in Zebulon), and bolted it to the bottom side of my primary table. In the photo, you only see the remote head, speaker, and mic. It has been a great rig for the 440 ham band, and has been in operation in my shack since 1992.

Daiwa CN-103 Cross Needle Wattmeter

This Daiwa CN-103 Cross Needle Wattmeter is for watching some of my VHF & UHF transmitters. I bought this piece many years ago at a hamfest, and it had a broken SO-239 connector on the back. I thought it would be an easy chore to replace, but it became a major production. After some drilling of rivets in the RF sensor assembly, cutting and filing on the rear panel connections, and modifications to a standard SO-239... it was finally back in operation.

DC Power Supplies

No shack is complete without some serious DC power. I use a pair of supplies for this task, for additional current and redundancy in my setup. If one blows, I'm still on the air! I use an Astron 35 amp supply (1st pic), and a Pyramid 26 amp supply (2nd pic).

Turning Things...

When I put my tower up back in 1993, I didn't have much money for a rotator. I bought a super-cheapie rotator, thinking that I'd just use it for a short time and replace it with a nice rotator when it burned out (which I was sure it was going to do!). I WAY-overloaded the rotator with a stack of yagi antennas (Cushcraft A3S Tribander, Cushcraft 5 el 6m Yagi, a pair of 17B3 17 element 2m yagi's, and a dual band vertical on top of it all. Well, as of this writing in 2009, it's STILL turning without problems! The rotator is a little Alliance HD-73, and I could NEVER say anything bad about this beast...it's been frozen in ice storms, struck by lightning, ignored for maintenance, etc.