KR1S Home Station

Amateur Radio Station KR1S

I operate mostly CW. My station consists of a Kenwood TS-450S transceiver and an Ameritron AL-80B amplifier (the photo is out of date). My antennas are an inverted vee for 40 meters and an inverted L for 80 meters. Because I live in a condo, I can only put up the antennas after dark. Fortunately I have access to two pine trees that are well positioned as antenna supports.

near tree far tree

The tree on the left is near the back door and carries one end of the support rope for my 80-meter inverted L. You can see the trunk of this tree on the left of the photo on the right, which also shows the farther tree. That tree carries the other end of the 80-meter antenna support rope, and the 40-meter inverted vee. As soon as I can run some power on 160 I'll experiment with antennas for that band, probably kite- or balloon-supported.

lowband receiving loop W7IUV preamp

I use a 17-foot (5.2-meter) circumference loop made of semirigid coax on a PVC pipe frame for receiving. It drives a homebrew 20-dB preamplifier designed by W7IUV. (Alternate link for schematic.) To help reduce occasional line noise, a common problem in Florida, I use an MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller that uses the transmitting antenna as a noise antenna.

Homebrew t-match antenna tuner

For casual daytime operating I use a homebrew t-match tuner to load up the gutters. Doesn't sound very optimal, but I worked YB1A on 40 CW longpath with it!


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