New shack...

[danbrew60177]

I moved from Illinois to SC over the summer and have been slowly putting together my shack at the new QTH. Of course I am constrained by antennas due to an HOA, yet have a dipole in the attic for the 7700, a discone in the attic for the 8600, and am doing Ethernet stuff on DSTAR with the 9700. I have some mobile rigs that I use with various antennas that are easy enough to setup. I’ve typically used the mobile gear for HF and QRP work when out with the Boy Scouts. I’ll likely participate in Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) next fall and get some Scouts interested in the radio merit badge. Wasn’t able to do it this year due to the move - it’s a chore to move an entire house, that’s for sure. I have a nice wooded area around the QTH that may serve for some stealth antennas - my hope is to put up a nice vertical, although I may have to settle for a flagpole with a bunch of radials. We’ll see.

The 8600 is new and I’ve been playing with that a lot lately, trying to master it. It helps that I’m an Icom geek, but still just scratching the surface of the receiver. If I’m successful in getting some decent antennas up, I’m going to have to research various antenna switches to make it easy to leverage the antennas across the shack.

The Yaesu? Both the 991A and power supply were “free”, so I couldn’t resist. I haven’t done much with them yet, but my first radio was an 817 and I later had a 897D. I still have both, so definitely have some radio overkill. The “free” part? I travel a ton for work and generate an absolutely massive amount of credit card points. I know I can trade them in for trips, hotels, etc., but I ended up trading in some of ‘em for the Yaesu gear. I’ll probably use the 991 and run it off of a 12v marine battery with the Scouts.

The old shack in Illinois...


The new shack in SC...

 

[laidback]

Nice !!!!

 

[TailGator911]

Great shack photos, nice radios! Looks nice and neat as well!

 

[Dann]

Nice looking shack....

 

[TailGator911]

danbrew60177, FYI, the W6LVP magnetic loop is the best thing I ever did for my R8600. Low hassle install - mine is attached to a heavy duty loudspeaker tripod not 10ft from my radio room wall feed, maybe 12-15ft coax lead. It's like I got a new radio. Wow is all I can say.

 

[danbrew60177]

Thanks TG, I’ve been thinking about that one - glad to hear it works well.

 

[radio3353]

Very nice radio complement. I am an Icom geek, too (R75 and R8600.) Does your HOA allow a freestanding flagpole? Mine doesn't. Fortunately I have a good size attic space above the garage.

 

[radio3353]

danbrew60177, FYI, the W6LVP magnetic loop is the best thing I ever did for my R8600. Low hassle install - mine is attached to a heavy duty loudspeaker tripod not 10ft from my radio room wall feed, maybe 12-15ft coax lead. It's like I got a new radio. Wow is all I can say.

Any experience on how well the W6LVP magnetic loop works in an attic? Thanks.

 

[danbrew60177]

Technically, no. Like a lot of HOAs, they stop listening when they hear the word antenna. The covenants are silent on the flagpole issue, yet there are one or two flagpoles in the community. I’m contemplating asking for a flagpole and not disclosing the antenna aspect of it, but have seen a couple examples of super petty behavior... so I’m balancing the fact that this is the retirement home and I’m gonna live here for a long time (God willing...) and I don’t really want to be at odds with them. I have some wooded area where I could probably hide some antennas, yet I’m on a golf course so there’s always the possibility some dude will chip a ball back there and “discover” my antennas. Fortunately I too have a big attic.

 

[TailGator911]

Any experience on how well the W6LVP magnetic loop works in an attic? Thanks.

I do not have hands on experience with installing a loop in an attic but I remember reading a post from someone that it worked very well for them.

 

[03msc]

and not disclosing the antenna aspect of it

You're catching on to the idea of hidden antennas...

 

[Engine104]

That looks great!

No RFI problems using the attic dipole? What modes and power do you typically use? Chances are, we'll be moving to a HOA community in the next few years, so I'd love to hear how it is working out for you.

 

[danbrew60177]

It's a G5RVJr - I typically hunt around on 40m and am easily making eastern europe and the far east. 50-100w for dx voice contacts. I was a little apprehensive about using a dipole in the attic but a. it's a huge attic, and b., I made sure there's nothing coming into contact with the antenna. Would completely suck to have a fire in the attic... My preference would be to have some nice outdoor antennas - but that won't happen here. And I like living here more than I like ham radio. My better half would NOT move to support a ham habit.

 

[Engine104]

I'm running the same antenna outside right now at about the same power as you. I am getting some RFI on 40m and I've been told it was because the rf was interacting with metal in the house, but it sounds like this setup is working well for you, so I'm encouraged that I won't have to give up HF when we move in a few years. Thanks and 73.

 

[danbrew60177]

The G5RVJr is an incredibly robust antenna. I’ve previously used this outside, 10’ Off the ground, connected on one end to a metal gutter and the other end anchored to my kids wooden playhouse. Good Lord, I made contacts all over the world with that crappy setup. With an east/west orientation from Chicago I could routinely talk 59s to folks in Europe, the Far East, all over Asia, and... drum roll, Antarctica. I know a lot of people poo-poo dipoles and there are people that don’t care for the G5RV, but it rocks as far as I am concerned.

 

[kjfswkr]

Any experience on how well the W6LVP magnetic loop works in an attic? Thanks.

Sorry but i would not live in a HOA that would not allow a flagpole!

kevin

 

[kjfswkr]

Great looking shack!

 

[radio3353]

Sorry but i would not live in a HOA that would not allow a flagpole!

kevin

To each his own, but what does that have to do with my question about how well the W6LVP magnetic loop operates in an attic???

 

[danbrew60177]

Sorry but i would not live in a HOA that would not allow a flagpole!

kevin

Yeah, totally get that, I always said that too. Then in the year 2000 I moved from Wisconsin where I could have raised a 300' antenna to typical suburbia in a Chicago suburb and started raising kids. No outdoor antenna was gonna ever grace the skyline of my little cul-de-sac. Then the youngest went off to college and I headed to the beach. I thought long and hard about where we ended up in SC and prioritized it on a couple of things - all of which pointed me towards the HOA communities. And then you have the HOA and ham radio problems - it's a given with any HOA, that's for sure. But I'm also a big motorcycle guy and many of the HOAs in our beach community are anti-motorcycle, literally prohibiting them from the community where guys have to store them offsite. Screw that. So I found one that allowed them. That was really the big thing for me.

I'll figure out the right antenna solution.

 

[danbrew60177]

danbrew60177, FYI, the W6LVP magnetic loop is the best thing I ever did for my R8600. Low hassle install - mine is attached to a heavy duty loudspeaker tripod not 10ft from my radio room wall feed, maybe 12-15ft coax lead. It's like I got a new radio. Wow is all I can say.

Hey TG, my W6KVP showed up today. Won't have a lot of time this week to experiment, but will post a review this weekend. Really looking forward to it.