Albuquerque Boat Anchor Net

About Albuquerque Boat Anchor Net

GARY - AD0PE - CENTRAL U.S. CALLER

I started my electronics path as a teenager. My older brother had become a Novice and I was interested in the equipment, not operating it. So I learned a bit of basic electronic theory from a hand me down mail order course. Then started fixing radios retrieved from trash piles. Several years later, I wanted to get involved with space stuff and decided I could get a head start in the Air Force with ballistic missiles. I passed all the requirements for the AF and was accepted. After Basic training, I was switched to Ground Radio Repair. Off to school for that. With prior knowledge, I was accepted to the “fast” course, only 36 weeks. Then on to my first duty station. My introduction to HF SSB was an additional duty, to operate a M.A.R.S. doing phone patches from Vietnam on weekends. More schools and assignments followed with trips to many places. After leaving the AF, I became a certified RCC tech for paging and radio telephone services. Then a short stint with a defense contractor. That was followed by 4 years with a prime contractor to DOE as Spectrum manager and Frequency coordinator. Along the way, I joined the Army Guard as a radio repairman and later transferred into Main Battle Tanks. I stayed with the Army in several MOS slots and retired after 28 years service. Somewhere in there I moved to Missouri and started farming. A friend asked me one day why I wasn’t a ham with all the experience and training I had. Answer was simple. I didn’t know or care about CW. My HF training was all Phone and RTTY. He told me the CW requirement had been dropped. Shortly after, I went to a testing session and passed my Novice and General, and at the next session I passed the Extra. I first operated from Wyoming on a field set-up. I found the net one evening. Months later I finally built a basic station at home and would get on the net. That flowed into becoming an alternate controller where I still am about 9 years later.

Main shack equipment at this time is as follows: a Xiegu X5105 QRP transceiver on the desk top. Rack mounted equipment is an Astron 35 feeding a switched 13.6 VDC to the Icom 718 and also to testing leads on the table top. A Heathkit SB-200, an RF Italy BLA-350, Kenwood TS-520, Palstar AT-4K, MFJ-949, Yaesu rotor controller and a controller (home brew) for the rotor for the 40 M rotatable dipole. Antennas are the rotatable dipole on a 40 ft. Rohn tower, a fan dipole on wooden poles, a three element yagi for 20 M on a 30 foot bolt together tower and a single section Franklin radiator (vertical off center fed dipole). Several RF switches control the radio to antenna selection. The backup equipment in the basement consists of: An Icom 705 QRP rig, Cubic 150A , Kenwood TS-520 and a Gonset GSB-201 linear. House antennas are a fan dipole on wooden poles and another single section Franklin radiator. Operation in winter is from the house station for the A.B.N.

Thanks for Looking - Gary AD0PE

Contributing Editor and Central U.S. Caller