73, and see you on the bands...
K2PMC
Hi and welcome to my shack at the NY QTH. My primary operating modes are CW and digital, with some SSB once in a while. I got my ticket in 1955 as KN2PMC. About 6 months later I dropped the "N" and have held the same call ever since. I am an active member in our local radio club, the South Towns Amateur Radio Society (STARS), call sign WB2ELW. We have about 100 members and our club house is located on an old Nike Missle base in the town of Hamburg, NY.
I replaced my K3 with a Flex 5000A. I had the K3 for 4 years and it was a great radio. However when I saw the Flex in operation at Dayton in 2012 I knew I had to have one. I'm not saying the Flex is a better radio than the K3. However, in my opinion, it is as good as the K3 and when you add in all the neat features the Flex has to offer, I was sold. When you buy the Flex 5000, there is very little extra you have to add to this great rig. No spending big $$ for roofing filters, or pan adapters, it's all in there. When I compared the Flex to the K3, it was no contest. I know this sounds like heresy to all the K3 guys out there, but the Flex 5000 filled the bill for me.
I've got several manual and automatic tuners. The Versa Tuner V handles the high power of the Ameritron AL-572, in addition to having a compact footprint that fits well into my station design. I only use the tuner when running QRO. Otherwise, the autotuners in the Flex and the ICOM rigs do an excellent job of matching my antennas across all the bands.
On top is the ICOM V8000, 2 meter only rig. I don't do a lot of operating on 2 meters. The V8000 is nothing fancy but does the job for me. I bought the ICOM IC-703 primarily for day trips to local parks to have a little fun in the sun. Not only did I have fun but in the process I got hooked on QRP. I use this little rig quite a bit here in the shack. While I'm primarily a CW OP, I've worked Europe on 40 meter SSB with good reports running 8 watts PEP.
Here is the AEA MM3 Morse Machine (The finest electronic keyer ever made). This keyer not only sends error free code, it also provides a serial port interface, an ASCII to Morse converter and several other features. I've written a CW sending program which drives the MM3. The MM3 has 8K of internal memory so buffer overrun is never a consideration. The MM3 command language is very robust. Anything that can be done via the knobs and buttons can also be done via software. Not bad for a keyer that has been out of production for about 20 years now. It was clearly a keyer well ahead of its time. What probably did it in was its price tag which was well in excess of $200 back in the early 90s. I keep a Vibroplex Iambic paddle and a K4VIZ 90 degree Vizkey in parallel with the MM3.
Here are the latest additions to the shack. The YouKits HB1B aka TenTec R4040 is a really cool QRP rig. It has a lot of nice features in a very small package. The variable crystal filter really knocks down the QRM. The built in keyer runs well at 35 WPM. The QSK is not the greatest, but I am not a QSK fanatic anyways. Some guys have complained about the CW sidetone, but as far as I'm concerned that's nitpicking. IMHO the Elecraft T1 low power(20 watts max) autotuner is the best in its class, bar none.
Ham Radio Deluxe
In my opinion, Ham Radio Deluxe is the finest suite of programs ever developed for Amateur Radio. I not only use DM780 for digital transmissions, the HRD Control Program is my main source of station control. I have interfaced my IC-7000 and the IC-703 to HRD and they work very nicely. I have also integrated my homebrewed software with HRD via Dynamic Data Exhange (DDE). I've got an assortment of homebrewed software that I've written over the years.
In my opinion, Ham Radio Deluxe is the finest suite of programs ever developed for Amateur Radio. I not only use DM780 for digital transmissions, the HRD Control Program is my main source of station control. I have interfaced my IC-7000 and the IC-703 to HRD and they work very nicely. I have also integrated my homebrewed software with HRD via Dynamic Data Exhange (DDE). I've got an assortment of homebrewed software that I've written over the years.
K2PMC Logging System
Pictured in the lower left corner is the AEA MM3 CW Sending program. This is the program that interfaces with the AEA MM3 Morse Machine. This program controls all of the functions of the MM3 via the computer. It also has a robust Macro capability built into it to facilitate the exchange of information.
My automated Logging System is displayed in the right hand portion of the picture. The MM3 program and the Logging System transfer data between each other. Information such as Name, QTH, RST etc. that is entered into the MM3 program is automatically sent to the Logging System and vice versa. I started out with Version 1 of the Logging System
Pictured in the lower left corner is the AEA MM3 CW Sending program. This is the program that interfaces with the AEA MM3 Morse Machine. This program controls all of the functions of the MM3 via the computer. It also has a robust Macro capability built into it to facilitate the exchange of information.
My automated Logging System is displayed in the right hand portion of the picture. The MM3 program and the Logging System transfer data between each other. Information such as Name, QTH, RST etc. that is entered into the MM3 program is automatically sent to the Logging System and vice versa. I started out with Version 1 of the Logging System
many years ago. It has undergone many upgrades since then and I continue to improve its functionality whenever I see the need. The Logging System also communicates with Ham Radio Deluxe from which it retrieves data such as Frequency, Mode, etc.
I'm in Citrus Springs Florida from November until May. Click on the picture to see my Florida shack.
in Derby NY
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