My first radio purchased second hand when I first got my license was a Yaesu FT-480R. It’s a multimode 144 MHz transceiver outputting 10W. I love this radio and as much as I know it was still working last time I turned it on. On one occasion I was also able to purchase the FT-780R it’s 70cm brother, a few years back. Both of those radios are almost 40 years old now. It used that FT480 a lot for packet radio as well together with a home built BayCom modem. Those were the days !

As I got hooked into packet radio, together with a small group we wanted to get into 9600 bauds on 70cm and we got different type of equipment dedicated to packet radio : First using ( i believe) Teck 1000 transceiver imported from the US and later assembling half a dozen T7F 70cm transceiver from DF2FQ ( I was fortunate to have an internship in Munich Germany, and Holger was so kind to align them personally !). We also had to upgrade our game on the modem side since the BayCom was only 1200 bds so we got a few Baycom USCC>4 cards that could take up to 4 modems and had to be installed in an ISA port on your PC ! The Linux 2.0 kernel had native support for those !

The first radio I could afford to buy new was when I got my first job in the US and that was an IC-706MKG2 with it’s AT-180. I loved that radio and used it a lot both on HF and on VHF / UHF after I finally got access to HF privilege in the early 2000 and was among the last ones to take a CW test in France.

As time passed I spent more and more time working CW and the IC-706MKG2 wasn’t cutting it anymore. I sold it and got an Elecraft K2 together with most accessories, 100W PA and 100W AT. It built the 100W PA and AT into a separate enclosure so that I could either use the K2 as a QRP transceiver on the road or as a 100W one when at the shack. I remember spending about 150 hours putting together this transceiver and seeing it’s still sold today I would recommend it to anyone. It’s a fantastic kit and a terrific radio.

The very last HF radio I bought and which continues to serve me to this date is the Elecraft K3. It was the radio I had with me when leaving in 9V and I worked thousands of DX qsos with it, most of them in CW. Due to the regulation in place in HS I could unfortunately not import it when I last relocated so it’s now back in F ( you can basically not import any modern transceiver if it has 6m and even if you get to import your transceiver you must have it checked wich will set you down by 30k THB or about 1000 USD …)

The K3 was actually not the latest HF transceiver : When leaving in 9V I got myself an FT-817ND as it was more convenient when traveling back to Europe during summer holidays. I love this little transceiver especially with the CW filter but it doesn’t has the charm of the K2. The plan has always been to use it as an IF for a 23cm transverter or eventually a QO-100 station.

A decade ago I also built a 23cm station dedicated exclusively for contesting. It’s fully mast mounted around a DB6NT 28 > 1296 MHz module outputting about 2w that drives a 7w pre-amplifier who drives a 120W 28V PA. The RX path goes through a G4DDK LNA with about 15 dB amplification and a measured NF of just 0.3 dB. The whole transverter in a weatherproof enclosure is mounted during contests using about 5 feets of coax right behind a 2m large dish at 15 feet. I have often worked over 600 km with that station.

I have spoken much about antennas. Since I have relocated so many times, I have always been renting and never had the luxury of putting up massive towers and huge yagis. I have as a rule to always keep it very simple and usually focus on very simple mono band designs. I have extensively used vertical dipoles and moxon antennas. I have a dipole for every band from 40-10m and built wire moxons from 17m to 10m using bamboo rods in 9V ! None of those very simple designs cost more than 10 dollars to build and they serve me very well !

What about you ?

I’m running a Yaesu FT-450D into a 40m OCFD. I have a 10m dipole which I’m currently using as a receive antenna for my MFJ-1026 signal enhancer (electronically phased array). I also have a Heathkit HW-101 which I’ve yet to get hooked up because I need more desk space. I have an EQplus by W2IHY to get some compression on to my audio. I have a MFJ-969 for an external tuner.

Soon, I hope to get a Comet vertical up. I’m trying to figure out the best way to get it in the air. I have a LoG (loop on ground) receive antenna as well but it has limited potential.

Favorite mode? That’s a tougher one. Lately, I’ve been using SSB more but I use digital modes as well.