Ham Radio Station WD5B

1939 Ham Radio Video

wd5b — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:52:35 +0000

Interesting video about ham radio for the 1939’s. View it here.

Radio That Started It All

wd5b — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:38:27 +0000

Many, many and more years ago the family Thanksgiving was at Aunt Mamie’s house. I was 12 or so. In any case, was looking forward to FOOD which was always plenty on holidays. Once we ate and everyone settled down, I saw an AM radio sitting in the corner of the den. I turned it on to listen, but there was a band I was not familiar with — SW (Shortwave). I turned the band switch to SW and spun the dial What was this? Moscow? BBC? Cuba? All up and down the bands I was hearing stations from around the world just as if they were local. I was at that point hooked on shortwave and eventually ham radio. Not only did that experience become my main hobby, it also directed me down the road of communications and broadcasting. All because I was bored on Thanksgiving Day.

Then, just a few weeks ago I spied a 1947 Philco 1230 AM/FM/SW console on craigslist for sale. Just like the one I remembered a long time ago. So, I grabbed it in non-working condition. But, a couple replacement tubes and a few capacitors later…. it is now sitting in my house again spilling audio and memories of days long ago.

K6AUX - International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend

wd5b — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 23:59:21 +0000

K6AUX is a club call obtained by the Channel Islands Auxiliary Radio Club formed by WD5B, KD6HJR, AF6NJ and KG6UPT. Its primary purpose is for fellowship and special event operations like the ILLW Pt Hueneme Lighthouse weekend. K6AUX plans to operate during the ILLW weekend of Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd from 0900 - 1500 local while the lighthouse is open to the public. We are encouraging local hams to come by to visit, learn about the Auxiliary and guest operate the station. I understand that an invitation to the power squadron has been extended. We have not been contacted by anyone at this time.

This weekend coincides with the Pt. Hueneme festival so we are expecting a good crowd to come through. We are manned at those times but could use some extra people and are working on that. In addition, setup of the antenna will be on Friday the 20th of August. This also gives us a chance to promote the USCG Auxiliary.

We will run on emergency power Friday night and will get commercial power from the lighthouse after it opens Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon.

I am planning on operating some the evening of the 20th after setup. Am still looking for operators that evening. In addition, I want to operate the evening of the 21st from 1500 until ???. That all depends on bands and weather conditions. I expect the other lighthouses suffer the same from climate conditions but it can be pretty brutal up here and we will be working in a canopy with tarp sides.

We will have three stations operating anticipating one on 40 meters, one on 17 meters and one on 20-15-10 meters. A 40 meter dipole, 17 meter Buddipole and a HyGain TH3JRS for 20, 15 and 10 meters at approximately 20 feet. Initial published frequencies plus or minus QRM are 7180, 14294, 18145, 21290 and 28495 kHz. A VHF station will be setup and hopefully be able to access not only Yankee Romeo, but other Auxiliary and amateur repeaters in the area.

K6AUX will offer an award to any station that works all three lighthouse being manned by District 11SR Coast Guard Auxiliary which includes K6AUX, K6A, and W6A during the special event period. Certificates require a 9 x 12 or larger SASE or for stations within the US a QSL with $1. The certificate is available for printing so K6A and W6A can offer the same or use whatever requirements they desire. This, of course requires sharing logs which I hope is no problem with all stations.

WD5B Marine Mobile

wd5b — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:53:31 +0000

Just installed an antenna system and wiring to support HF operation on my 30′ Silverton. The ground side has 1/4 wave radials run through the bottom of the boat for 20 - 10 meters. Does tune 40 and 80 without problem but do not know the efficiency. Often think about going out past the 12 mile continental line and operate maritime mobile.

USS Midway Operation

wd5b — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:13:52 +0000

I was given the opportunity to operate NI6IW - USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego on Memorial Day making several contacts. My host, Joe Garza AB6RM was a very gracious host. USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41), the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of World War II. Active in the Vietnam War and in Operation Desert Storm. See Wikipedia.

Operated KH6BB - USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:50:12 +0000

K5JU and myself were given the opportunity to operated from the USS Missouri while in Honolulu. It was a great experience with the high point being working my son, W5CND in Arkansas, from the Missouri. Our first HF contact and from such a great site.

The station was a TS-450S and the antenna a cage antenna on the bow of the ship 90 feet up in the air.

New Addition Collins KWM-2

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:24:22 +0000

I have acquired a KWM-2. Yes, I have Collins but like the KWM-2 although I never had one in the past. It has a great receiver and looking forward to some late night contacts with the radio ‘glowing’….

Channel Islands Dolphins

wd5b — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:04:49 +0000

Cody, Shannon, Ken, Sharon and I went for a boat ride yesterday. We got into a huge pod of dolphins. Pictures, of course. But here an audio of them….

Channel Islands Dolphin Audio

Live Webcam

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:22:16 +0000

Live Channel Islands WebCam

There is currently a webcam positioned to look out the master bedroom window shooting the channel with my zodiac and Silverton boat. You can see streaming video from the link on the homepage.

Watch for boats to go by…

Bertha Cleanup Caps

wd5b — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:57:38 +0000

The old caps are shown and then cleaned with degreaser and contact cleaner.

Can never throw anything away. After cleanup, thinking maybe I can find my old 813 sockets and turn this into a 160 meter amp. Notice the holes! When I built this amp all I had was a large drill big and a ‘nibbler’ tool. So, the large holes took days to chop out.