When I last left you, all my equipment was destroyed in early 1963.   Since then I have graduated from college, got married, moved to the Jamestown, NY area, started a job and bought a house.  It's now time to get back into amateur radio, although in a modest way.  In January 1967 I was on the air with a Heathkit HW-12A, often referred to as the "Hot Water 12", and a wire dipole.  The HW-12A transceiver only covered the phone portion of 80 meters, LSB only.  In January 1968 I added the HW-32A, which covered the phone portion of 20 meters, USB only. Each transceiver was rated at 200 watts PEP.  They had 14 tubes using a pair of 6GE5's for output.  Go to http://www.qsl.net/kb7rgg/heath/heathkit.html for more information on Heathkit products.  This is a great web site but some photographs are slow coming up.  The photographs below betray two different colors for the equipment.  I don't remember this as being true, nor do I remember which color is more correct.  (I am color blind to a great extent.)

It was around this time that I put up a 40 foot tower with a two element Gem Quad, http://www.gemquad.com/.  The quad worked great on 10/15/20.  This was the first time I had anything other than a dipole or long wire.  The quad was once damaged in a storm.  The aluminum spider came apart at a weld and a fiberglass arm broke when it fell.  I repaired the quad and I used it for several years.

In the late 1960's I upgraded to the Advanced class.

I believe it was 1969 when  I upgraded the station by adding the Heathkit SB-301 receiver and SB-401 transmitter.  This was sure a step up with regard to receive and transmit capabilities.  They could be connected together and operated in a transceiver fashion. The transmitter was rated at 180 watts PEP.

Heathkit came out with the solid state SB-303 in 1970.  I bought the SB-303 in 1972 and sold the SB-300 to the ham that lived next door.  Another significant step upward with regard to receive capability.

Around 1977 I used the SB-303 and SB-401 in a trade for the Yaesu twins, FR-101 receiver and FL-101 transmitter.  The twins where the only receiver/transmitter that I ever bought used.  They came from a local ham that I new well.  I do not remember this equipment being a significant improvement over the Heathkit equipment but I do believe the receiver was somewhat of an improvement.   As with the Heath equipment, they were interconnected to operate in a transceiver like mode.

In 1978 I moved to St. Louis, MO and was off the air for the better part of two years.  Although, I set the rig up in St. Louis using a dipole antenna, I don't believe I ever made a contact from there.  In 1979 I was talked into moving back to the Jamestown area and bought another house.  The location was good for hamming.  I again erected the 40' tower with the Gem quad.  I was back on the air in late 1979.  About this time I built a linear using a pair of 4-400's.  It worked fairly well and certainly made it easier to be heard.  It was a monster with huge components in the power supply.  It ready did take two people to lift the power supply.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the unit.  Around 1982 (perhaps it was later)  I sold (almost gave away) the amplifier and acquired a used SB-220 that had belonged to a deceased local ham who was a friend of mine.  It was a lot easier to move around and was easier to tune.  I was fairly happy with the station at this point as I was just a casual operator.  I traveled a lot and didn't really have that much time available to play radio.   Besides, home computers were starting to be available and I became very involved with them.  I wrote some logging and other programs that seemed great at the time when nothing else existed.  I remember the first Field Day operation (1981?) where we didn't have to use paper to log or check for dupes.  We put a lot of effort into Field Day at that time period and had great fun.  Many of the local hams participated and the comradely was wonderful.

In 1985 I moved again and bought another house in the Jamestown area.  This house was in a terrible location for hamming, a small lot with a bank right up against the back of the house that was taller than the two story house.   Also the area was heavily wooded.  My antenna there consisted of a G5RV at perhaps 30 feet in the air.  I gave the tower and Gem Quad away because I did not have a place where I could erect them or even conveniently store them.   Regardless, I was still able to operate from this location when time permitted.

Around 1990 I traded the Yaesu twins for a new Yaesu FT-1000.  Initially it was the stripped down version but over the next few years it had all the options added making it equivalent to the FT-1000D.  This rig was a real improvement over the twins.

In 1992 we move again.  This time the location was great for amateur radio and I still live there.  The elevation is about 1580 feet above sea level with a big valley to the east and south.  It is a few miles before the land again rises to this elevation.   To the north and west the property is near the highest elevation for several miles.  It is generally a rural setting just outside the city limits of Jamestown, NY.

I immediately installed a new tower, a US Tower model HDX-555, a heavy duty telescoping crank up tower with a maximum height of 55 feet.  It is hinged at the base for tilting.  I also installed a Mosley PRO-95 trap yagi.  This antenna covered all bands from 10 to 20 meters.  With the location and new antenna things were looking up.  Pictures of the tower and antenna, now converted to a PRO-96, are shown on the "CURRENT STATION" page.  On the lower bands I was using inverted V's supported by the tower.

Around 1997 I sold my SB-220 and bought an Alpha 89.  Why?   I like new toys.  The Alpha is fairly bullet proof with a lot of built in protection features.  It runs a pair of 3CX800A7's in the final.

For Christmas 2000 the xyl bought me a new FT-1000MP Mark V.  Amateur Electronic Supply was nice enough to take a trade of the old FT-1000 after the fact at what I thought was a fair price.  In some ways, the new rig was nicer but in some ways it was a step back.  In particular, I am referring to the lack of a second receiver although the Mark V does have a second VFO.  I sold the Mark V to a friend, WA2RKO, in January 2007.

It was not until after I retired in 2002 that I took the time to get my Extra class license.  For personal reasons, I regret not getting my Extra class ticket before the 20 wpm code requirement was eliminated.

This brings me to my current station described on the "CURRENT STATION" page.