I’m rebuilding my station in Haverhill, MA now. I sold everything back in 2014 when work, travel and family commitments were overwhelming. Now, I’ve got some basic equipment and have begun the rebuild. My focus will be investing in antennas, feedlines and amplifiers.
I have another station at a cabin in Washington, NH I will be using this station in the fall for ARRL Sweepstakes and the 160 contests.
Current Haverhill Station:
Radio & Amplifier:
Alinco DX-SR8/T – super basic but functional. I’ll be upgrading to something nicer for the Fall 2020 contests and the Alinco will go in reserve.
RM Italy HLA-305V – I bought this to have a simple amp for digital modes, like RTTY, that I could drive with less than 10 watts. Requires a very beefy power supply.
Antennas:
43′ Vertical
DX-LB 160-80-40 Dipole as Inverted V
20m Delta Loop
15m 3e Yagi homemade
Peripherals
Tigertronics SignaLink (for FT8)
Alinco DM-330MVT PowerSupply
Washington, NH
Yaesu FT-857d
Cushcraft MA160V (destroyed – sometime in the winter of 2019)
40m Delta Loop
20m Delta Loop
Updates in Haverhill, MA
April 23, 2020
Some more radial work. Had some issues today with a loose coax connection going to the antenna switch, was relieved it was easily fixed.
April 16, 2020
Added another 300′ of radials under the 43′ vertical
April 15, 2020
Added WinKeyer between N1MM and radio. Gave it a shakedown in CWT. CWT is a challenging contest for me. The speeds are high, the Alinco has a not-so-great CW filter and receiver and my signals are week.
April 13, 2020
Added Dunestar Audio Mixer into the station to mix audio between radios and televisions.
April 12, 2020
Continued adding radials to the 43′
April 11, 2020
Continued adding radials to the 43′.
April 10, 2020
Fixed shorty 160-80-40 DX-LB trapped dipole. This antenna had a tree fall on it years ago. The coax was destroyed. But otherwise everything was working. Fed with new 50′ of LMR-400 to RCS-4 control switch. Sealed the antenna connection with copious amounts of #33 scotch electric tape and cold sealing tape
Ran new 150′ of RG-213 made in America for Amateur Radio Supplies from the RCS-4 switch back to the shack.
April 9, 2020:
Added additional ground rod to 43′ foot vertical
April 8, 2020
Added new ground radials to 43′ foot vertical.
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