I'm at the end of day 17 of thirty-something being on the road right now. Things are very boring, as I have a lot of time to think. Most of the time, I'm thinking about what I plan on doing or adding to the home base rigs, what kind of antenna system I want to put up next, things of that nature.

At current, the station is in a U-desk formation, and there are 6 radios placed at various places around the U. From left to right: the newest ebay purchase, a used Ten Tec OMNI VI w/ DSP Model 563, the TenTec Corsair I which I purchased from Bill KD4BOE last year and the matching power supply beside it. Then in the center section is a Yaesu FT-857D with the LDG analog meter, the laptop Im typing on which leaves the station and goes on the road with me, a flat panel display for dual monitor usage. Then in the right section, we have a Kenwood TS-2000 and finally another collasal sized laptop (21") which never leaves the room because its new and obviously too big to haul about on the road.

Leaving the confines of the shack are two antenna systems in the back yard. The OMNI VI is currently driving a homebrewed Carolina Windom cut for 80 - 10 Meters. Its S+N/N is the best on the lower bands, and gradually decreases as f increases, although I mainly tune it on the phone portion of 20 meters and have talked AU, EU, SA, and some middle east with it with 60-80 watts. It is flown between two trees roughly 60' feet up in a general N-S arrangement with a 3' sag to compensate for the weight of the 4:1 and choke baluns and the ever-constant winds which are 10 mph average, storm gusts of 40-70, inherent in the geography of the Ridgetop of TN.

Beside the windom is a wire 1/4wl GP cut for 40 Meters w/ 3 radials sloped 40 degrees. The base of the vertical portion is about 18 feet tall, and the lowest portion of the antenna is about 8 feet tall. It in my opinion leaves much to be desired. While it has delivered some DX and a decent stateside projection, the S+N/N is far too low for the standards of this station; as they would have passed at the previous QTH in the 2nd story apartment in lower antioch. Its destiny is the scrap pile.

So now with all that established, I have compliled a few ideas to further complete the station, as there are radios that 1) do not have power supplies, and 2) do not have antennas or feed lines.

The OMNI VI will be unpaired from the Windom. Then it will match with a two-segment 20M W8JK facing NW/SE and working a Dentron MT-2000A tuner.

The Corsair will have a phased array made up of two Husterl 6-BTVs. For 80 Meters, it will be 1/4wl apart, 40M = 1/2wl, 20M = 1wl and so on. The feed system will be a welcoming challenge to ensure proper impedence matching between the entire system and both antennas across a series of bands, and it will also feature a simple 180º phase reversal for further pattern distortion. The system will match the TRX through a Drake MN-2000 tuner.

The FT-857D will have a Diamond X-30A for VHF/UHF ragchewing on SMRC (or Portland simplex 146.545), I plan on climbing one of my taller trees as far as the limbs will carry me and installing this little GP ant on it. For the HF portion of the 857, I will utilize the Corsair and the MFJ-934D I've had for a while now.

The TS-2000 has an Arrow Antenna dual band Corner Reflector, which will be mounted atop a 30' Rohn 25G which will not be guyed but will be bracketed to the side of the house nearest the shack room. For HF, it will have the world famous WD8RYC Inv-L attic loop, which the 25G tower will act as the vertical segment of. It's really an amazing antenna system and Im surprised James let me have the dimensions. The auto-tuner at the feedpoint has yet to be determined. Additionally, the TS2K will have a 17M side-fed delta loop rigged off the tree that the 40M GP is currently utilizing.

There is also an Alinco DR-235T and a Yaesu FT-2800M which are not used at the moment. The 235 is a 220Mhz monobander and I intend to buy a Cushcraft ARX220B GP for it. The 2800M will probably become the subject of horrible torture and evil scientist-like experiments which will probably fail. Yea, I don't like that radio much.

Ok, so if you think I'm crazy, wait until you hear about the plans for the mobile stations. Yes, plural. If you read this whole thing from start to end, you probably think I'm wearing the nerdy hat. But in fact, it is you who deserves to wear the geek garb because only a geek would care about what I've got in store for my station. Worry about you own! :)

Well here I am sitting in my Hooch somewhere in Baghdad. It's Thursday night and thinking how the bands are, also thinking about getting on the Thumpers Net 3.810 for the weekend. Man a budweiser sure would taste good and a nice cup of samatra starbucks coffee in the morning. It's the little things you miss when they are not available. Then again those are the things that make one soft. Just wanted to put down a few lines let you guys know that I am still kicking it overe here and will see you guys soon.

Frank

The aviator-toting, harness-wearing, spanset fall arresting, bucket-truck driving, antenna tower removing:

son of a gun.

And Im not sure what Chris is trying to do behind you, maybe there was a sqitter on yer back.