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 Hello World

James here, recntly re-licensed after a 25 year "QRT" due to life taking it's own path. So, half a lifetime and two kids later, I found myself drawn back to the airwaves after stumbling across Drake Twins while looking for something on eBay. Those are the radios I began with way back in 1985 so I had to have them. Well, we all know that once they were in the house I had to get a license so I could use them. That was in the middle of May, '16. Since then I've accumulated a sizeable collection of Drake equipment as well as an assortment of other old pieces that all work well. 

I enjoy following the DX as much simply shooting the breeze with friends I've met locally. The fun is just being able to do it.

The active station is comprised of the following

Drake T-4XC / R-4XC with an L-4B amplifier (x2), Drake TR7 with L7 amplifier, Drake TR-6 & TR-4 with L-4 amplifier , Kenwood TS-940SAT with TL-922A amplifier and SM-220 station monitor, Johnson Viking II / National 303 receiver for heavy duty AM operations. Of course, there are many accessories for the "7" station but I won't list them all. And, there is also a Swan 350, a Yaesu FT-901DM with FL-2100B amplifier and an FT-890 for portable use.

The antennas are switched via one LMR 400 line into an Ameritron RCS-8V remote swithing relay that grounds all when shut down. With the height (180 ft + above sea level, and the proximity to the ocean) lightening is a major concern. 

The rooftop farm consists of: A Hy-Gain Penetrator 10 / 20 Meter 5/8 wave vertical ground plane, a Zero-Five 6 band tunable vertical ground plane (10 through 80 meters), an Off Center Fed wire dipole for 6 through 160 meters, a three element yagi for 12 & 17 meters and a 3 element yagi for 10, 15, 20 & 40 meters. Those last two are turned by a Yaesu G-1000DXA rotator