The home of...
Amateur Radio Station, N9ZRT
Aka "Zesty Red Tomato"
The shack is open Come on in! Can I get you a cup of
coffee?
David H. Hatch - n9zrt@arrl.net
This is where we
were, air
mobile, on April 28th, 2001 at the Spring PortaVenture.
While you are visiting this site,
don't leave without visiting our...
Kite-Lifted Antenna
Adventure Page!
Pull
Up A Chair. Cream or Sugar?
From the QTH here in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, USA, it seems like we are hanging wires in the trees faster than the
birds can perch on them. But it has not always been that way.
Our love for radio
began at about the age of 10, in the basement of our Cub Scout Master’s house in Ames, Iowa. It was there that
I built my now-old
still-working crystal set. We also listened to Grandpa’s shortwave,
particularly, GMT, "At the tone, the time will be..." Those two
things did it, the fire was lit!
But CW scared this
1955 model would-be operator from getting his ticket. Decades of fun slipped
past. Then, it happened! First licensed in 1995 as a Tech [At the same time as
my then-13 year old son, N9ZUR], and soon a Tech Plus, it took a few more years
to really work up the code speed. Thanks to "Code Quick" and some
determination, we became a General the "old fashioned" way in January
of 2000. Now, we are making up for lost time and "going at radio" as
if it were just discovered.
What a hobby,
bouncing signals off the atmosphere at the speed of light to operators around
the globe! That makes the Internet look like something you would read about in
a faded old newspaper. We
have in our possession one of the finest hobbies in this old world. We have
friendships in the waiting, technical skills in the learning, adventure at
every corner, not to mention the fun of experimentation, all blended with
lessons in geography! How about a tour? Step on in! Oh here’s your coffee. I
almost forgot. J
The
Nickel Tour
At work:
Here is the shack
in our office at work, a Kenwood TS-520S. Along side it there is a nearly
100 year old "Sideswiper" key, see it on top. That only cost me $5 at an
antique shop! Yes, I know I am very fortunate to have a radio at work. It gets
used a lot for Amateur Radio demonstrations with young people. I am a Pastor at
Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
At home:
Here is the shack
at home, down in "The Cave" the radios, the decorations, the PC. Not all those radios are mine.
One belongs to N9ZUR, our son, and some of the others
are just older rigs on display. Our primary radio there is a Yaesu FT-77 that
N9ZUR gave as a gift. It’s our first HF rig.
In the field:
And finally, we
saved the best for last. Here is the portable/mobile shack we operate from, we call her "Brooke". See her at work as we have a
long wire strung out over an unused grass landing strip. She is used for powering our
gear, and she often serves as the counterpoise for the various conventional and
experimental antennas we use. More on that later. Our
primary radio for portable operation is an Icom 706MKIIG, with an SGC Smartuner
[Antenna Coupler], Model 231. We have the coupler mounted in an audiocassette
tape box with suction cups [1] [2]. With the SGC-231 wired into
the Icom 706, we can match 160-6M on our 8.5 ft. stainless whip, mag mounted to our various vehicles. But we’d rather hang a wire
from a tree limb in a portable setup, any day!
We
love to experiment and learn, sometimes suspending an antenna from one of these fun gadgets. Brooke’s cargo bed
often looks something like this during the favorable months.
Ever
Hear Of A "Liquid Antenna"?
"Ionic
Liquid Antenna" [ILA]. Word about this
liquid antenna is spreading fast.
And Finally...
Recently we worked
Air-Mobile,
trailing a 300 foot long wire off of left wing on a Piper Super Cub, and found
that to be a riot. One of our favorite things to do is operate in a
"PortaVenture", a poor man’s version of a DXpedtion.
A PortaVenture [From the "Live-Wire List" J ], is where you simply operate
from a unique location not too far from home, and send a special QSL card to
those stations you work. We have operated from the 45th Parallel and
from the Quincy Mine in Upper Michigan. More PortaVentures are planned. We also
enjoy managing both the Live-Wire and SGC Smartuner’s email lists.
Come and join us!
Time
to run. We will brew another pot of coffee next time, eh?
Contact the editor, David H.
Hatch, N9ZRT - n9zrt@arrl.net
Live-Wire
Group - Marconi
Event - Kite-Antenna
FAQ - SGC Smartuners
- QRZ - ARRL
- N9ZRT - FAA-FCC Rules Page - HamStories