Howdy, KE0TCF here.

I am an Extra class amateur radio operator in Kearney, Nebraska.

Originally licensed in 2018, I wasn't particularly active in radio until I moved to Kearney about a year later. I got my General and Extra upgrades about a year after that, in late 2020. My primary HF antenna is my home-built Off-Center Fed Dipole, good from 80m up to around 10m. I enjoy digital modes, phone, and I'm working on learning morse code! My goal with this hobby is to try to sample as much of it as I can, trying as many things as possible before settling so that I know what all is out there!

You can learn more about me and what I get up to outside of amateur radio, and see my other projects at my personal website!

I am currently a ham with a very limited budget. This makes tricky a lot of the time, but it also results in me having to be thrifty and find affordable ways to get new equipment, often making it myself! My shack lives in a detached garage, which is my workshop for all my hobbies. It houses my 3D printer, and my general electronics/computer workbench. My ham shack lives in the back along one wall where all my gear is set up. The garage is insulated and drywalled, and has a heater and window AC unit, so I can keep the temperature fairly comfortable year round!

Rigs

All of my HF operations from the shack occur on an ICOM IC-7100. This is a true "shack-in-a-box" radio, capable of all-band and all-mode operation, and even includes VHF/UHF capabilities, plus D-STAR! The IC-7100 is built a PA-108 "fat 50" ammo can. I designed and built the entire interior myself using a combination of 3D printed and off-the-shelf parts. It also includes an ATU-100 auto-tuner, and I have future plans to add a battery pack as well! For local nets and repeater rag chews on 2m, I have an IC-2100 on the bench as well. This is a 2m only rig, but eventually I hope to replace it with a dual-band option. This is all powered by an MFJ 4230MV MightyLite 30A power supply, which while not the frilliest model available, is very adequate for my setup.

Computer

A laptop acts as my station computer, resting off to the side, and connecting to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It also connects via USB to the IC-7100 for digital control of the rig. Most of the time, I use Windows 10, but the laptop is configured to dual-boot with Andy's Ham Radio Linux, from KB1OIQ, which I also use sometimes. I would like to switch to linux full time for radio, but unfortunately two of my key softwares rely on .NET framework. I use Win4ICOM Suite for rig control, and Log4OM 2 as my primary logging program, as well as for a few other handy functions. I also have a slew of other ham radio software installed on it for various digital modes, radio programming, antenna design/analysis, etc.

Antennas

My VHF/UHF antenna consists of a home-built quarter-wave ground plane trimmed for 2m, and it also works well on 70cm! This is the third one I have made, the first two eventually succumbing to the weather. This time around, I home-brewed a sort of "weather-boot" to help with this, and so far it has worked well! For HF operations, I built an off-center fed dipole for 80m, putting it at roughly 133' long and fed around 33%/66%. My lot is not particularly large, so finding space to stretch the wire out straight has been a challenge. Right now, the legs are at about 90° right now, which is better than how I previously had it. Both of these antennas are mounted on a 10' mast and tripod mounted to the garage roof, putting the feedpoints somewhere a bit over 20' up. The feedlines snake down the mast, along the roof, and over the gutter. A drip loop is formed before the feed back into the shack through a pass-through hole in the wall.

Mobile/Portable

For mobile operations, I have a modest setup in my 2015 Ford Escape. I have a 38.5" Nagoya whip on an articulated NMO mount, attached to the left side of the rear hatch. This runs to the front of the vehicle to an ICOM ID-800H dual-band transceiver. The main unit is under the drivers seat, the head unit is mounted for easy viewing on the dash, and the handmike comes up next to the drivers seat for easy reach. For portable, I take the IC-7100 in its ammo-can go box. Portable operations is what I built this project for! I primarily use a Wolf River Coils SB-1000 TIA, with some modifications I made.

Workbench

When I'm not on the air, I enjoy working on restoring antique electronics, building kits, and building my own electronic designs. My workbench, pictured here, is where I do that! I have intentionally set it up to feel a bit "old school" with some of my restored vintage test/measurement equipment on display and within easy reach for use. My variac/isolation transformer/dim-bulb power supply is on the right-hand side of the bench, and on the left is my oscilloscope, multimeter(s), signal generator, frequency counter, resistance/capacitance bridge, and more. The wooden cases on the top left shelf contain my tube tester and capacitor tester. The top middle shelf contains a mixture of future restoration projects and just display pieces. The library card catalog drawers on the right are probably close to 100 years old and are filled with tools, vacuum tubes, and other vintage parts.

Coming soon. A bit about my story and how I wound up in ham radio!