My antenna system is finally complete! To reduce interaction, I turned the 40 meter rotatable dipole parallel to the booms of the 6 meter yagi and the log periodic. I used 3 sections of fiberglass rod in each top guy wire for RF transparency. I had interaction problems with my 30/60 meter antenna when mounted as an inverted-V centered on the tower, so I physically moved the antenna to between the tower and a tree.

The tower is located at the corner of my father's former farm shop that has a 50x80 feet metal roof. The metal roof serves as the primary groundplane for a tilted 80 meter quarter wave vertical and an inverted-L for 160 meters, both fed from the same feedpoint. I used carbon fiber arrows for spreaders that I shoot from my compound hunting bow. A local archery shop glued string nocks on both ends of the arrows that clip tightly over the wires. I added some electrical tape just as a precaution for high winds.

I run Internet Remote, usually from my home which is 4.14 statute miles from the tower location.

My radio equipment consists mainly of a Kenwood TS-480SAT,a Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5Kfx amplifier that I normally only run at 300 watts output, and a Tokyo Hy-Power HC-1.5KAT automatic antenna tuner. I use the Remote Rig system to facilitate the internet remote base functionality. The Remote Rig system allows me to use the control head of the TS-480 at my home, or anywhere else I have access to the internet, in exactly the same way as if the control head was connected directly to the body of the radio with a cable.

I utilize a combination of the automatic band and antenna switching in the radio, the amplifier, and the antenna tuner to automatically switch antennas as I switch bands on the radio. The 40, 80, and 160 meter antennas are tuned to 1:1 VSWR within each band, but I use the automatic antenna tuner to cover the complete band.

I ran separate feedlines to each antenna through I.C.E. 330N lightning arrestors. I ran 7/8" Heliax to the top of the tower to both the 6 meter yagi and the 10-20 log periodic. The combination of the low loss associated with 7/8" Heliax, having resonant antennas with VSWR near 1:1, and the fact that the radio equipment is within 2 feet of the base of the tower, results in minimum feedline losses.

I run the rotator functionality of Ham Radio Deluxe to control a Yaesu G-2800DXA rotor with an Idiom Press RS-232 board installed for control over the internet through one of the virtual serial ports of the Remote Rig system.

I have a Microbit 1216H Webswitch that I use to remotely control power to the HC-1.5KAT and also to trigger a Deltrol DPDT 240 volt relay to control power to the HL-1.5Kfx over the internet. I utilize a Vivotek IP7133 camera to monitor the front panels of the amplifier and antenna tuner over the internet.

When I decided to get back into Amateur Radio after being inactive for several years, I discovered that my callsign had expired beyond our 2 year grace period. I had to retest to get back on the air. My current callsign was obtained through the vanity callsign process.

I had planned to utilize the 180 feet Rohn 25 tower shown below that I had initially erected for a business repeater system. Since the tower was located 4.14 miles from my home, I decided to setup an internet remote base for access to the tower. I had not used the business repeater system for several years and had hoped to use the 180 feet tower to concentrate on 2 meter and 6 meter SSB. But, as luck would have it, a tree trimming service got a Bobcat loader hung in a bottom guy wire and jerked the tower off its base and caused it to fall.

Since I was already so far into the internet remote operation when the 180 feet tower fell, I decided to install 108 feet of Rohn 45 at the same location and concentrate more on the HF bands. The tower location is on Crowley's Ridge, which is a relatively narrow ridge running north/south through the otherwise flat farm country. The base of the tower is 110 feet higher than my home. The following picture is a view from the top of the new tower toward my home. Even though the extra height gained from the relatively high location on Crowley's Ridge doesn't make as much difference on HF,it still doesn't hurt to have a clear view of the sky.

I installed an extensive ground system for the 180 feet tower that I now use for my amateur radio station that includes a copper entrance panel mounted just inside the shop wall. The copper entrance panel is connected by two 6 inch copper straps to the designated single-point-ground rod that is within 2 feet of the copper entrance panel that all the lightning protection devices and radio equipment are connected to. I was also able to connect the AC power ground to my ground system near the base of the tower. This extensive ground system also aids in providing extra groundplane for the 80/160 meter antennas, especially since the ground system is located directly under the near horizontal portion of the 160 meter inverted-L.

To make the ground system effective, I took a backhoe and dug 3 shallow trenches in 3 different directions from the tower base and drove thirty one 8 feet ground rods into the ground spaced 16 feet apart and connected by 2 inch copper strap. To take some of the manual labor out of driving 31 ground rods, I used a diesel powered portable air compressor to run a jack hammer with a ground rod attachment. I also installed 3 ground rods at the base of each set of guy wires.

I have way more hobbies than I have time or money. I would like to have more time and money to fly airplanes, scuba dive, ride motorcycles, hunt, travel, take pictures, and operate amateur radio, of course. I am a radio nut and usually find a way to integrate radios into most of my hobbies.

The previous owner of a 1979 Piper Archer II that I owned in the late 90's had removed the ADF wire from the top of the plane and installed a belly mount antenna for the ADF receiver. Since the hardware was still on the plane, I had the ADF wire reinstalled and cut it for 1/4λ on 17 meters. I used an Icom 706 and MFJ antenna tuner to work airplane mobile. I had the avionics shop connect the Icom 706 through the audio panel as COM3 so that I keyed the mic on the yoke and talked/listened through my aviation headset. I also had a 1/4λ whip installed for 2 meters. I could make contacts on the ground on 17 meters. What initially suprised me though was that HF signals would increase for about the first 200 feet above the ground and then not improve through 10,000 feet!

My second airplane was a 1988 M-7-235 Maule. I had a certified aircraft business band antenna installed on the top wing of the Maule for use with my business repeater system. I could easily hit my repeater at over 200 miles at altitudes above 5,000 feet.

My current airplane is a 2001 Mooney Bravo. I have considered having a certified aircraft antenna (bent whip) installed on the belly of the Mooney for 2 meters. Since the Mooney has built-in oxygen and I frequently fly it above 10,000 feet on trips, the groundwave range should be excellent!

In 2001, I took my wife with me to purchase a Hayabusa. Wrong, never take your wife with you to buy a Hayabusa, because you will come home with a Gold Wing! In 2005, I sold the Gold Wing and finally bought a Hayabusa. After about a year, my wife was threatening divorce if I did not "sell the Hayabusa and grow up". I never did understand what she meant by "grow up", but maybe it had something to do with riding the Busa on the back wheel at over 100 mph?

In 2006, I compromised and bought a Yamaha FJR-1300 Sport Tourer. The FJR did not come from the factory with an intercom so I installed one with a few extras. The radar detector would announce "KA band" through the intercom and the Garmin GPS would play MP3 music and announce turn-by-turn directions through the intercom. The cellphone was also connected through the intercom, as was a Yaesu VX-6R. The thumb operated microphone key for the VX-6R is the red button just below the left handlebar grip. The problem was that, at times, everything would start talking through the intercom at once resulting in total "information overload".

I love to hunt whitetail deer with a bow and predators with suppressed weapons. I enjoy reloading for all my firearms. In 2011, my son Adam, daughter Ashley, and I all shot Pope and Young class whitetail deer with our compound bows!

I collect topographical survey data with RTK (centimeter accurate) GPS equipment for agricultural use, mainly for irrigation land leveling. Maybe I should mount a Hamstick behind the GPS receiver?