A view of the home office. There are a few computers and servers, all
doing their thing. All machines run Kubuntu Linux except for the Macbook I use for
work.
This computer and two others in the house have virtual machines that do protein folding simulations for
Standford University's Folding@Home distributed computing project.
The project studies how proteins misfold and how that leads to diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer.
This is the main PC for the house. It's a file server, VM host, and daily driver. The computer, HF radios,
tuner, and power supplies are all connected via 1/2" braid to a 1/2" copper pipe which is soldered to a 1 ga.
cable leading to a ground rod outside the window. It's amazing what a good ground can do!
At left is part of my G5RV Jr. antenna which I use on 10 - 40m. Although it's
not very high up, the performance is very good. I have it hanging
between two trees and used a slingshot and rope to get it there.
My method was to use a large nut for a weight, tied to a strong string. Large fishing
weights work just as well. It took a lot of
tries but I finally got it over a branch. I then had to climb up a ladder with my skyrake
to grab the nut hanging out of reach. I tied the string to a strong rope and pulled
it all the way until I could cut off the string and I had a rope hanging over the branch
about 20 feet up. I repeated the process on the other end of the antenna, attached the
wires to the ropes, and started pulling the ropes. Next thing you know, it's up in the clear. I weighted each end down with a gallon of water. This allows for the
rope to have some give and move up or down slightly, as in a storm. That gives it strength and flexibility.
I like to use clothesline rope from Ace Hardware. It's strong, fairly smooth (for going over
branches) and stands up under harsh weather.
There were some times I got a rope stuck in a
tree or needed to grab the weight on the rope with something longer than I can reach so I
duct-taped this rake to the end of a 10' section of conduit. On a ladder, I was able to
clear most snags. When larger branches got in the way, I cut them down with a saw. I call this
contraption the "skyrake" (pictured below with my dog Rocky).
Below is my small antenna farm on the roof. To the left is a dual-band
Comet GP-6 for 2m/70cm. It's 10 ft. long but very lightweight, sitting atop a 10 ft. mast.
It has 6.6 dBi gain on VHF and 9 dBi on UHF. To the far right is a Comet
KP-20 for 33cm, 8 ft. long, a 12-element colinear, 9.2 dBi gain. It sits atop a 20 ft. mast. The j-pole in the middle is
no longer there. I replaced it with a slim jim made from ladder line and it hangs in a tree in the front yard. If you look
closely, you'll also see my 6-meter dipole strung between a tree and the roof. I'm currently thinking about replacing that
one with a horizontal loop or square just below the dual-band antenna on the chimney. That mast will also soon be holding two
dish antennas for 2.4 GHz. They're ready to go but I'm not. I had back surgery recently so I'll mount them once I'm able to climb again.
A close-up of the radios. Icom IC-706 MKIIG for HF, IC-706 MKII connected to my 6-meter
dipole, Icom IC-207 for V/UHF, two Mototola XPR 4350s for V/UHF analog
and DMR, and a Motorola XPR 4380 for 33cm.
There are a few 900 MHz repeaters in town but almost no one on them.
I've made it a personal crusade to get more people on 900. It's a fun band! It's
very much like 70cm in terms of propagation. You won't find ham gear for 900 except for
some old Icoms and Alincos but good luck finding them. Most of us use commercial radios
made by Motorola and Kenwood. Some of them, like the old Spectras, require hardware mods
in addition to software hacking. Thankfully, no hacking is required with the right versions
of the MTX-4350 2m/70cm radios, the Mototrbo CPS is happy to take amateur frequencies. The
900 MHz verion, the XPR 4380, requires in-memory hex-editing (aka "bit-banging") to set
amateur frequencies.
I knew there were some HTs around here somewhere. Two Icom T7H
dual band units (because they're the best and aren't made anymore) and a Motorola MTX 9250
for 900 MHz. These radios are durable, can really take a beating. I miss my Kenwood
D-72A with all its bells and whistles but the case on it breaks too easily so I sold it.
My newest radio is the Motorola XPR 7550 for 70cm DMR. I got a great deal on it at a local
hamfest. I found a
Raspberry Pi-based hotspot there as well. The hotspot is fun to play with and I can see how
useful it can be. The reliance on an internet connection is a little troublesome for the "purist"
in me. So while the Pi-Star may not be very useful in a disaster situation, it sure is fun
to play with. It's kind of like having echolink in my HT. The XPR 7550 is probably the best handheld radio I've ever owned and I typically only buy
dual-band radios.
Behind the radio in the bottom pic is the MFJ-259B antenna/feedline analyzer. I never set up a
new antenna without it!
It spends most of its time right here for when I need to adjust antenna tuner settings. Behind that
you can almost make out the "Hamclock" software I'm running on the computer. That sucker is one
of the most useful tools in my belt. It shows propagation conditions with predictions, current space weather stats,
worldwide latitude/longitude lookup, all kinds of cool gadgets.
