W7DDD

W 7 D D D

2018 - Sixty Years on the Air

My Shack Today

Vintage Shack on the Left - Modern Station to the Right

Vintage Station Modern Station

EQUIPMENT

Hallicrafters S-38E Receiver (1957)
Globe Scout 680A Transmitter (1958)
Hammarlund HQ-100 Receiver (1956)

Swan 500CX Transceiver (1970)
Swan 117XC Power Supply
MFJ 949D Antenna Tuner
Astatic D-130 Silver Eagle Microphone
Shure/Swan 440 Microphone

Kenwood TS-830S Transceiver (1980)
Kenwood AT-230 Antenna Tuner
Kenwood MC-50 Microphone

Goldstar OS-9020G Oscilloscope
Multimeter
Variac
Stereo and CD player
EQUIPMENT

Daiwa SS-330W DC Power Supply
Icom PW-1 Solid State Amplifier - 1 KW
Ameritron AL-80B Amplifier - 1 KW - Sold
LDG AT-1000 Antenna Tuner
SteppIR Antenna Controller

Icom 7700 Transceiver
Heil PR-781 Microphone
Icom 756 Pro 3 Transceiver - Sold
Heil "ICM" Microphone - Sold
Array Solutions PowerMaster Wattmeter
LDG DTS-6 Antenna Selector

Icom MR-40 Marine Radar - Gone

Yaesu FT-857D Transceiver
LDG AT-100 Antenna Tuner
LDG DTS-4 VHF Radio Selector
Realistic Pro-2006 VHF/UHF Scanner
Uniden Oceanus Marine Radio Transceiver
Daiwa CN-101 VHF/UHF SWR & Power Meter

Radar? Why Radar?

Why? Because every Ham should have one!
Actually, I'm on the waterfront with non-stop marine traffic passing in front of my windows. (See here)
It's great at night and in the fog (we get a lot.)
And it works great as a weather radar as well.
Click on my QTH below to see details of my location. (or Click here.)

Sorry - the Icom radar went down and is now non-operational.

I learned the hard way over the years, that a good deal of time is spent BEHIND the equipment! This time I left about 3 feet on the backside to get to all those plugs and connectors.

On the air since 1958..........

First licensed in 1958 as WV2CHI, I maintained an avid interest in radios and electronics throughout my life, with many receivers in the house, and antennas sprouting from my various homes. However, I let my licenses lapse as, like many others, I pursued other things in life, and a career. I was able, however, to lug or place in storage virtually all of my original equipment. These days they're called vintage, and are much in demand; hams call them "boat anchors!" After retirement, I returned to ham radio, dusted off my Morse Code, cleaned and refurbished many of my old pieces of gear, and took and passed 3 of the 4 available exams. Relicensed first as KE7BUL, and now as W7DDD (Whiskey Seven Triple Delta), I returned to the airwaves, with an evolving set of equipment and antennas. In the past few years, I have made well over 3000 contacts with hams in every part of the world, from the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor, to the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, the Galapagos to Siberia, from Japan to Argentina, and literally all places in-between. I've worked all continents (except Antarctica) and all 50 states, most countries in Europe and South America, and had a lot of fun.

I was worried that with cell phones, the internet, satellite TV, and the rest, amateur radio would not be so alluring. I need not have worried - it's still a terrific high when you call some guy in Tokyo, Moscow, or Montevideo, with an old tube radio and a bit of antenna wire, and he answers back. You swap stories and make new friends in faraway places. And, as Hurricane Katrina proved, when the power grid goes down, and the cell phones don't work, Hams always get through!

WV2CHI

My Ham Shack in April 1959

Both of those radios are still in my shack today....and both are operational.

KE7BUL

Sitting for my General class license exam.

Now, on to to Extra! (the highest class)

W7DDD

Bob Bogash W7DDD On the air from my wood shop (not very satisfactory!)

My shack - 2005-2008

Antenna Farm

My antennas are very modest from the perspective of many Hams. No Beams. No Rotator. No Tower. Most of the time they are quite stealthy and hard to see, although I have no actual restrictions (just my own.). I have two unique factors that I have tried to take advantage of - and they have certainly paid off! I have a large metal roof that makes an excellent ground plane. And I have large expanses of salt water spanning one half of the horizon. These have allowed me to install less than optimum antennas with extraordinary results. (See Notes at bottom.)

Left to Right: 20 meter Hamstick (almost impossible to see); SteppIR Vertical; Satellite TV Dish; Diamond D-130J Discone for VHF and UHF; Par Electronics 20 meter end fed dipole (EF20); and a half size (51 foot) G5RV (not in service); Hustler 75m mobile antenna on roof; 40m Dipole cut for 7268.5 Mc.

Since my shack changes literally everyday, as does my antenna farm, this page was constantly out of date. I've decided to divide this site into several components, more easily updated:

Most of he balance of this site is under re-construction

My Shack over time

Rigs

Equipment

Antennas

Hansville QTH

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Revised 8 Dec 2008
Revised 17 Dec 2008
Revised 28 Dec 2008
Revised 3 Jan 2009
Revised 2 Oct 2010
Revised 10 Sep 2021