My shack
In the past I used to operate QRO only from my home. Some time ago, after careful consideration on the roots of why I decided to enter the ham radio community, I came to the conclusion that my operational mode was simply wrong. Then I decided to shift portable and QRP seeking maximum antenna efficiency and better energy management.
This is how I do radio now:
Software
Rig control:
- SDR-Control for macOS [Website] [Mac App Store]
- SDR-Control for iPad [Website] [iPad App Store]
- SDR++ [Website][GitHub]
- CubicSDR [Website] [GitHub]
- WFView [Website]
Logbook:
Other tools:
Antennas
- Fixed (root top)
- Hustler 6-BTV + 17m + 12m mod –> 9 Band Vertical (6/10/12/15/17/20/30/40/80m)
- Portable (POTA, SOTA, IOTA, RaDAR and ILLW)
- Chameleon vertical kit –> 80m to 6m with SS25 vertical whip, 40m coil, blank adapter, isolator and puck hub; complemented with a tripod, several counterpoise cables and an EMF blanket
- JPC-12 or PAC 12 –> 80m to 6m (modified by me, see this article)
- Dually kit antenna 49:1 + 9:1 –> 80m to 10m
- Home-brewed 64:1 End Fed (EFHW) –> 80m to 10m (mainly for 80m and 40m)
Antenna tuner (ATU)
- ANTUNER AT100M Pro –> Tunes 1.8 MHz to 30 MHz (max 100W)
- EMTECH ZM-2
Main rig
Base operations:
- Icom IC-7300 –> HF / 50 / 70 MHz All Mode Transceiver (QRO)
Portable activities:
- Icom IC-705 –> HF / 50 / 144 / 430 MHz All Mode Portable Transceiver (QRP)
Secondary rig(s)
- AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR –> 0.5 kHz to 2 GHz (RX only) with 768 kHz span
- SDRPlay RSPduo SDR -> 1 kHz to 2 GHz continuous reception (RX only) with 10 MHz span
- ZackTeck WSPR transmitter –> a standalone multi-band WSPR transmitter
Micro PA
- Micro PA50+ –> PA for up to 50W (typically 20W to 30W) with SWR and LPF
Headset
- KOSS SB-45 [Read about configuration and adaptation to transceiver] –> lightweight electret mic capsule headset designed for computer use
- My headset adapter to any radio –> provides phyiscal adaptation, levels, power and audio tonality for typical computer electret capsule headsets
- AD1-IHT –> Icom adapter with PTT
Vectorial Network Analyzer
Handy (walkie-talkie)
Analogue:
- Kenwood TH-F7E
- Quansheng UV-5K
- Radtel RT-860
DMR:
