Primary QTH
My Town
Reading,
Massachusetts is a suburban town of about 24,000 people
located about 12 miles north of Boston.
Grid Locator: FN42km
Latitude: 42.53 N, Longitude: 71.11 W
Antennas
- The green line shows the ten meter dipole fed by RG-6, with coax choke (also 8 turns at 8") at the feedpoint
- Red shows the 100-foot dipole that
also serves as a vertical
for 160 meters. Details on this project are here.
(I must add that this antenna would
not be possible without kind neighbors who let me hang a
one end of the dipole from their tree, after I lost the
tree that held up the eastern end to girdling.)
The 160 meter antenna in its original location during chillier times.
If you look closely you can see the 80 meter dipole / cap top-hat running east/west, which holds up the vertical.
The 10 meter dipole also uses a Budwig connector and coax choke. RG-6 feeds the Radio Shack HTX-10, just waiting for some E-layer activity.
In the shack
The primary rig is an Icom 718, with an HTX-10 used here in
the shack for working FM repeaters, and sometimes as a
mobile Under the clock on the right is an MFJ Versa
Tuner II, and directly under the rig is a Heathkit HD1410
keyer, which is next to the only straight key I've ever
owned. The laptop is running Ham Radio
Deluxe/Digital Master 780 which I use for logging and
operating digital modes (HRD, originally authored by Simon
Brown and a team of volunteers was sold in 2011 to a
for-profit company, which claims that free versions of the
current platform will always be available.) A SignalLink USB
(to the left of the rig) from Tigertronics
interfaces the IC-718 to the PC. The second screen
displays DX spots (from DM780) and I am usually either on the
terrific K3UK
Spotter for both SKCC and LOTW or VK3AMA's Hamspots site.
Behind the second monitor is what's left of my workbench, for
repairs and construction jobs.
My QSL card
I prefer e-qsl and LOTW, but will respond with paper when sent one. The picture is of Scollay Square, Boston's former entertainment district that was torn down in the 1960s. You can learn more about Scollay Square at this web site.