The ham shack of K8EIJ is not elaborate but gets the job done. As you can see in the picture I am a firm believer in a good ground system. I guess this comes from the broadcast side of my life and the more surface area there is the better the ground. You will see the 2 inch strap behind the antenna switch but just above the ceiling it changes to 3 inch and goes outside to an 8 foot ground rod driven into the ground where the ground remains fairly wet.
The rig is a Yaesu 107M transceiver and the amplifier is a Heathkit SB1000 with a QSK board. The antennas include a triband beam for 20 through 10, a pair of 5 element beams for two meters and dipoles for 160, 80, 40, 30 and 17 meters. There is also a sloper for 160. The beams are mounted on a 65 foot guyed tower and a second 40 foot tower holds up the apex of the dipole antennas. The computer is used for logging and connection to the local DX packet cluster.
While not part of the requirements when I purchased the house, it turns out that my QTH is located at one of the highest locations in Mahoning county with about an acre and a half of land for antennas.
As for ham radio in general, I was bitten by the bug when in high school. I was licensed as a Novice in 1957 and have held the same call the entire time, with the exception of about 3 years in the early 70's when I held the call W3GJB. (Green Jelly Bean) When I returned to Ohio I was able to get my original call back, for twenty dollars, which I did.
In about 1968 I developed an interest in RTTY and built a TU and picked up a model 19 page printer as well as a TD and strip reader. About 1978 I got my first Apple computer and soon was operating RTTY using the computer.
While living in Pennsylvania and belonging to the Hagerstown, MD club I enjoyed the hidden transmitter hunts which we held every month or two. It was an ideal area, with the mountains and rivers. The mountains were also good for VHF contests and I participated with the "Itchy Coo Park VHF Society". We had a location on the top of Mount Keyrock in Maryland where we could operate 2 meters, and 440 MHz. We operated Voice, CW and ATV.
In the late 80's my interest in ham radio took a back seat to many other things which were going on and I became inactive until about 1994 when I purchased the Yaesu and got back on the low bands again. I soon upgraded to my Extra class license at the MVARA and became a VE.
During the early 60's and again in the late 70's I held the position of Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Wayne County and then for Allen County Ohio. I have always been active in emergency communications for the Red Cross, Skywarn, and some Fire and Rescue departments where I lived.
This is a great hobby and if you have looked at this Web Page you can comment to me at hartzler@wkbn.com
