Welcome to my radio shack! That’s Charlie the Cat at the operating position. We have moved from Topanga, California to Nambé, New Mexico. My main HF radio is an Elecraft K4D loading up a multi-band doublet that is resonate on 80m. It is up about 40 feet in the cottonwood trees around the 100 year old adobe casita. For the digital modes I run Digital Master 780 and WSJT-X on a Geekom A6 mini computer running Windows 11. That’s an Icom IC-9700 for UHF/VHF driving a Comet CX-333.
The SOTA station incorporates an Elecraft KX2 with a Bioenno 3AH external battery. My main SOTA antenna is a home brew 20 AWG zip cord doublet that is resonate on 40m. I also carry a PackTenna end-fed random wire antenna for quick deployment in tough conditions. For 2m and 70cm I use a Kenwood TH-F6a and a roll-up Slim Jim. Recently I’ve added a Yaesu FT5DR and APRS capability. The antennas are supported with a Goture 20′ carbon fiber fishing pole, a Jackite 30′ and a Jackite 20′ fiberglass masts. Also pictured is the first radio I ever owned after I got my license in 2002 — an ICOM IC-T7H. I used this radio exclusively on my first few activations
I gave up pencil and paper logging in favor of an iPad and external keyboard. It’s a bit more awkward for me to use in the field, but, man, it is so much easier when I get home to upload.
Lastly I use a Garmin InReach Mini for safety and posting spots when the mobile phone and APRS fail. Plus KG6MZR likes to see where I am when I am wandering about in the hinterlands.
Latest Posts
August 29, 1986
Craig holds up his soggy pants after days of rain. Photo by Dave Jones “The rain let up and the sun poked through. I got up and put my wet boots, socks and pants on and proceeded to find 1 and 1/2 cup of over-ripe blueberries… Craig and I played a couple of games of…
August 28, 1987
NOTE: If anybody has pictures from Aug 25th – Aug 29 I’d love to get them in here. “I just finished my book. Now I am in trouble. The cloud ceiling is low, although we occasionally have patches of sun…” We are all tent bound. The Beaver float plane that was to pick us up…
August 27, 1986
Tony, Mark, the author and Craig. I am holding the blue journal book from which these accounts are taken. “It was raining with a low ceiling when we woke. Tony had joined us during the night and now Mark and Sharon. We all read and Tony had… a beer for breakfast. All we had was…
August 26, 1986
The hike out from the hot springs camp to our rendezvous on Circle Lake was a soggy one. …and yes that is a trash bag on my pack (Big Bertha). Photo by Dave Jones “A cold morn with watery sun. The ring around the sun is ominous…[I got up] and picked my usual pan of…
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