Station

Transcievers

I am currently using a Yaesu FT100D for 144Mhz and HF operation:

So far I am happy with the radio. The DSP has proved useful, even on FM but there have been a few minor issues:

• On two occasions the radio has had to be reset to factory settings because LSB mode has become unavailable on 7MHz.
• The inbuilt speaker is very poor. Plugging in a very basic extension speaker has greatly improved intelligibility.

Antennas

On 144MHz I am using a Watson W50 vertical. This has allowed communcation back to my home town of Stirling (33 miles from my QTH) at 25 watts output.

On HF I am using a temporary long wire antenna 30m long with an SGC SG-239 automatic antenna tuner. This is the "module" version, just a PCB with some screening which meant it was a lot cheaper than the fully waterproofed versions.
It is a truly amazing piece of equipment and can be used for feeding doublets, dipoles and all sorts of antennas. I am sure I will be using this for many more antenna projects.

Keys

I am currently using a Swedish straight key and a McElroy speed key (mechanical bug key). Click Here for pictures and information.

Future Projects

I am probably going to opt for a Windom antenna. I have had great success with these in the past but using a balun to feed them into coaxial cable. This time I will try open wire feeder into the SGC auto tuner.