My Ham History
I was originally licensed as N9JPU back in the mists of time when I was living in IL because, at that time, my ex and I were planning on doing some blue water sailing (which never happened, unfortunately). Upgraded to extra and got my current callsign which I hated until a friend came up with some interesting phonetics for it: "Witch Vikki's 9 Kisses (or kurses :-). It is somewhat of a problem on CW, but changing it might net me a worse one.
I got involved with disaster communications and joined up with Navy/Marine Corps MARS and SATERN and had a good time with it all and hopefully did some good. Would like to get involved with MARS again, but with the industrial park right next door with a S9 noise level most of the time, it doesn't look promising here.
I only have three areas of Amateur Radio that particularly fascinate me. VHF/UHF++, QRP on the "DC bands" and digital communications.
I've been working as a computer programmer in one form or another most of my life and really like it a lot. I started out operating mainframes and moved into programming on everything down to microcontrollers. Microcontrollers / embedded applications is the place where I found a home :-), I find it much more fun, challenging and rewarding to do something that DOES something rather than doing another system/report for the bean counters.
My computers are all Linux (Gentoo distribution) as after decades of working with micro$oft crap, I just do not want to do that to myself anymore unless there is just no other choice (and most of the time there is!).
Due to circumstances I have been inactive for far too long and only recently have I been able to dig the goodies out of boxes and start slowly building a pile that I will eventually have to sort out :-) here in the corner of the bedroom.
Most everything stood up to being stored and moved around a lot. Only problems are with the Yaesu FT-747GX seems to have lost the ability to generate a CAT out signal, the MFJ SWR Analyzers frequency counter function no longer works and the desk mic for the TR-751 got broken a bit. Not bad everything considered!
My Station
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Mostly Home brew computers:
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Main machine: AMD XP3200+, 1.5G PC3200 RAM, 200G HD, Nvidia 6600gt/128M AGP Video, Rosewill 19" LCD monitor. All desktop machines tied together with A 4 port KVM switch. HP 3400C Scanner, Saitek X52 and CH pro pedals for the flight simming. Old Envision 910 tube monitor hanging off the other video port.
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Development Machine: AMD Thunderbird 1100, 512M RAM, 40 and 30G HD, Voodoo 3000+/16M video.
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Server / Firewall machine: AMD XPM2800, 512m PC3200 RAM, dual 80G HD (working and mirror), onboard video. HP Laserjet 6P under CUPS providing print services to the network.
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Wireless: Linksys WRT54GS running openwrt. Currently unused.
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Notebook machine: Ancient IBM Thinkpad, 4M RAM, 200M HD. Winditz 95 :-).
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Laptop machine: Rat Shack Model 100. Sometimes still handy, 4 AA cells will last all day.
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HF: Yaesu FT-474GX, MFJ-949D Versa Tuner II (works on 6m too), CMOS Super KeyerII (shared with VHF), tri-band trap dipole (40m,20m,10m) running across the living room and down the hall (also shared with 6m) and a rat shack DSP-40 with audio amp mod).
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6 Meters: Ten-Tec 1209 2 meter to 6 meter transverter (built the kit!) being driven by the TR-751A. Diamond SX-400 SWR/POWER meter. Antenna is currently the tri-band HF dipole through the MFJ Tuner.
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2 Meters: Kenwood TR-751A, Diamond SX-400 SWR/Power meter and a dipole tacked to the wall.
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70cm: Newly acquired Kenwood TR-851A - still in process of setting this up. Got another SWR bridge that should suffice and will have at least a dipole for it soon. Has the usual volume control problem and I am trying to remember where I got the replacement for the 751, in the process I have a 10k trim pot run out the side which is getting me by until I do find that replacement. If anyone knows where to find this Please let me know.
[Update - 03/12/06 - Found and ordered it at Pacific Parts! Looks like parts for the TR-751/851A are getting scarce :-( ].
[Update - 03/16/06 - Control arrived and I replaced the temporary kluge. Nice! ]
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Miscellaneous: AEA PK-232MBX, 33AH Gel Cell power supply and AC charger, MFJ-249 HF/VHF SWR Analyzer cabled in to set tuner without having to do it on the air, Kent paddle for CW (love it).
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Test Gear / workbench: Tektronix 60 MHz 2213 scope, dual bench supply, collection of meters and VOMs, rat shack 22-305 frequency counter. Pile of tools and parts, but rarely the needed parts :-). Weller WTCPS soldering station. Circuit Specialist CSI-906 SMT rework station.
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Added a NorCal QRP Club FCC-1 Frequency Counter Kit by Bob Okas - W3CD to the bench. Fantastic tool! Easy and fun to build and many nice features. I plan on working up a prescaler for it since I am rather a VHF/UHF QRPer :-). Considering getting a second for use in a home brew radio. Took me not much over an hour to put the kit together and basically calibrate it, a pleasure! [Added: 03/25/06].
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Also adding a American QRP Club DDS-60 VFO Kit. Another fantastic kit. I plan on using this one for a standard signal source. A second one for a VFO for a homebrew rig would also be great! Building this will be a challenge as A first serious SMT attempt.
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SWL: Sony Yacht Boy 400. Rat shack DX-375 (Thrift store $3, amazing what you find in those places!).
More to follow!
Last Update: 04/16/2007
