www.WH6FQE.com

WH6FQE  &  WRAE542

Station Setup

 

 

Radio Equipment:

 

ICOM IC-7300  HF Plus 50MHz 100-watt Transceiver for Winlink RMS Gateway and DTN emergency and routine message traffic handling. Equipped with Heil Pro Set Elite-iC Communications Boom Microphone Headset and DX Engineering DXE-FS-001 Footswitch.

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ICOM IC-705  160 meter through 70 centimeter All-Band, All-Mode QRP D-Star Transceiver with built-in battery and sound card for EmComm use in the field. This radio transmitsa at 5-watts on its built-in battery and 10-watts when connected to an outside power source.

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Xiegu X-5105  HF 5-watt QRP Transceiver with built-in battery for Backup EmComm use in the field.

 

Kenwood TM-V71A  VHF/UHF Transceiver dedicated for the VHF Winlink Packet Radio Gateway

 

Kenwood TM-V71A  VHF/UHF Transceiver dedicated for the VHF APRS Digipeater & IGate

 

Yaesu FT-857D  HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver for backup VHF/UHF Packet Radio and as a backup HF radio. This radio is also the radio that I use when I am the NCS for the Emergency Amateur Radio Club Net on Saturday evenings. Equipped with Heil Pro Set Elite-6 Communications Boom Microphone Headset and DX Engineering DXE-FS-001 Footswitch.

 

BTech UV-50X2 VHF/UHF 50-watt Transceiver for 2-meter and 70-cm bands. This is my preferred dual-band radio for monitoring because it allows me to monitor 4 VHF/UHF frequencies at the same time with its Quad Watch function.

 

Alinco DR-235 MKIII transceiver for the 1.25-meter band. (5W, 10W, 25W)

 

Inrico MT-7  Network Radio operating Zello, IRN, Echolink and APRS.

 

Ailunce HD-1 Dual-band DMR HT radio as my main DMR comms.

 

Radioddity RD-5R Dual Band DMR HT radio as a backup for DMR comms.

 

Midland MXT115 Micro mobile 15-watt GMRS radio with Weather Alert

 

Galaxy DX959b 40 channel AM/SSB CB Radio

 

Uniden BCD536HP Base digital trunking scanner with P25 decoding

 

Uniden BCD436HP HT digital trunking scanner with P25 decoding

 

 

 

 

Other Equipment:

 

DDF2020T with GPS Doppler Radio Direction Finding unit

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Xiegu XPA125B   100 watt power Amplifier and Auto Antenna Tuner for portable field use.

 

SCS P4 Dragon DR-7800  PACTOR 4 High Performance HF-Radio Modem for Winlink, and digital long-haul message traffic transfer for Radio Relay International.

 

Kantronics KAMPlus TNC for VHF APRS Digipeater & IGate.

 

SCS Tracker TNC for Winlink VHF Packet Radio Gateway.

 

SignaLink USB soundcard backup for VHF Packet Radio and backup for other HF digital modes.

 

Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage VUE wireless weather station monitoring temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, dew point, wind speed & direction, and rainfall.

 

Flightradar24 ADS-B Air traffic transponder receiver.

 

MFJ-422D Electronic Keyer Paddle combination

 

LDG YT-100 Automatic Antenna Tuner

 

LDG AT-200Pro II Autotuner Automatic Antenna Tuner for Winlink & DTN scanning frequencies

 

MFJ-969 Deluxe Versa Tuner II Antenna Tuner

 

MacPro Tower with dual 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processors for a total 12-core with 64GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM memory and 4 1TB internal Hard Drives and 8 1TB external Hard Drives connected to triple 27" Widescreen HD LED monitors for monitoring air traffic, weather radar, live traffic cams, logging, etc. Protected with an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA Model BR1500G surge protector and backup power source.

 

HP Z400 Workstation with a 3.06 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor with 32GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM memory and a 1TB internal Hard Drive using Windows 10 Professional connected to dual 23" Widescreen HD LED monitors. This system is dedicated to RRI Digital Traffic Network message handling and running the BPQ32 mail and BBS system and the Winlink RMS Gateway and Winlink RMS Packet Radio Gateway. Protected with an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA Model BR1500G surge protector and backup power source.

 

Dell Inspiron 5570 15" Touchscreen laptop using Windows 10 Professional as a backup computer for digital modes and HT/DMR radio programming. This computer also contains a complete copy of the BPQ32 Mail & BBS system and can be deployed in an emergency as a backup to get the Winlink RMS Gateway and Winlink RMS Packet Radio Gateway back up and running quickly in a grid-down situation. Protected with an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA Model BR1500G surge protector and backup power source.

 

MacBook Pro 15" laptop used as a backup computer for logging, monitoring weather station, etc. Protected with an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA Model BR1500G surge protector and backup power source.

 

(2) SHARK RF OpenSpot 2 self-contained digital hotspot with wi-fi supporting DMR, Dstar, P25 and System Fusion communications.

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SHARK RF OpenSpot 3 self-contained digital hotspot with wi-fi and built-in battery supporting DMR, Dstar, P25 and System Fusion communications.

 

(2) Jumbo Spot RTQ self-contained digital hotspot supporting DMR, Dstar, P25 and System Fusion communications as a backup DMR gateway device.  

 

AT&T Unite 4G LTE Backup & mobile WiFi Hotspot for DMR comms and internet access for computers.  

 

Hamshack Hotline (Extension 4395) free digital VoIP phone service for amateur radio operators to communicate with other amateur radio operators and EOCs anywhere in the world.

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Panasonic ToughBook GPS CF-19 i5 2.66GHz 2in1 Windows 10, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD laptop used for digital modes and EmComms in the field.

 

All Powers (2) 140-Watt Folding Portable Solar Panels for off-grid power production in the field and chartging solar generator batteries.

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Custom Built 40Ah Solar Generator containing a 40Ah Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, MPPT Solar Charge Controller, dual solar panel input, multiple Power Pole connector outputs, as well as USB connectors and binding posts for charging various electronic devices in the field. Alkso has a built-in LED work light with strobe for setting up in the dark.

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Custom Built 20Ah Solar Generator containing a 20Ah Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, MPPT Solar Charge Controller, single solar panel input, multiple Power Pole connector outputs, as well as USB connectors and binding posts for charging various electronic devices in the field.

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Eurmax USA 10'x10' Pop-Up Canopy with 4 removable zippered sidewalls and extended awning for portable radio work and EmComms in the field to protect equipment from the weather.

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Antennas:

 

"Fat Spectrum" 13-Band Vertical Antenna (Covers 160m - 6m) mounted to a recommended 3-foot mast above the ground fed by 100 feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax.

 

G5RV Jr. Wire Antenna 51 feet long, (Covers 40m - 6m) configured as an inverted "V" with the center at 16' and the ends at 8' creating a modified NVIS antenna which is able to do local statewide as well as DX. Fed by 100 feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax.

I have worked stations as far away as South Africa (11,535 miles) and as close as my neighborhood 1 mile away with this Modified NVIS antenna setup and I do believe it to be the best choice for an "all around" HF communications antenna.

 

Chameleon MPAS 2.0  (Covers 160m - 6m) HF Modular Portable Antenna System.

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Chameleon EMCOMM-III-P  (Covers 160m - 10m) Portable HF End-Fed Wire Antenna.

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"DX Commander" Vertical Antenna (Covers 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m ) mounted on the ground and fed by 100 feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax. This antenna acts as a multi-band fan dipole except that it is a 33 foot tall vertical instead of being horizontal.

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"DX Commander Expedition" Vertical Antenna (Covers 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m ) This antenna is a more compact version of the original DX Commander and acts as a vertical multi-band fan dipole.

 

Super Antenna MP1DXMAX Portable Vertical Antenna (Covers 80m - 2m) fed by 50 feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax as a backup antenna.

 

Diamond X50A Antenna mounted on a 10-foot mast mounted to the front eave of my 2nd story roof and fed by 50-feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax.

 

Diamond X50A Antenna mounted on a 10-foot mast mounted to the back eave of my 2nd story roof and fed by 100-feet of Ultra Low Loss LMR400 coax.

 

Hustler G7-220 1.25m 7dB Collinear Vertical Antenna mounted on a 10-foot mast bungee corded to my second-floor lanai railing using 50-feet of RG8X coax.

 

Harvest BC200 450-470Mhz 6.5dBi 200W pre-tuned GMRS UHF base antenna.

 

Solarcon A-99CK 17' omni-directional fiberglass base station CB antenna and ground plane kit.

 

Procomm SPIDER Base Station Scanner Antenna

 

Flightradar24  ADS-B  Air Traffic Transponder Receiving Antenna