Active on 50MHz/ 6 metres some of the time and HF occasionally - dating back as far as 1967 ! Starting to do a bit on 144MHz / 2 metres SSB plus some FSK441 for meteor scatter work, some PSK31 on HF, who knows what next ???? 23cm ? ( Already have some SSB gear running on 70cm / 432 SSB )

Early in 2007, I ran 5 Foundation Licence Coaching Courses under our business name, OzGear, from our shop's premises and in support of amateur radio in Australia. I had anticipated doing this after I retired from the work force but it appeared AR needed that resource before that. Very few clubs in the Brisbane area are running courses so are not providing ready venues for newcomers to enter the AR hobby or to attempt assessments.
File Note : ALL of my 'students' over 5 courses held early to mid-2007 passed their assessments.

I currently hold WIA-accredited assessor status and hold papers for most amateur licence grades locally. I also have a practical asessment kit packed and ready to go at short notice so could (at least theoretically) provide examinations without undue delays.
(Note that there must essentially be 2 WIA assessors present (or an assessor plus a Learning Facilitator) for any theory, regs or practical assessment.).
If you are in the Brisbane south, south-west or near Brisbane areas, via the Feedback Form with details of your assessment requirements.

Search WIA List for approved assessors for all classes of licence assessments.
(Assessors are listed for all Australian states and the list is current data based on Silvertrain's list - and Silvertrain are 'the' registered training organisation for the WIA. { The Wireless Institute of Australia} The published list contains email addresses, phone numbers, localities etc..)

2009 : A bit of "field day- related" activities this year ( eg. Summer Field Day, John Moyle FD - see individual pages on the main menu...) , some bench work in the shack and/or the dirty workshop, plus all the things necessary to keep the XYL happy ! Doing a few trips in the camper-trailer, mainly to seaside locations for a few days at a time.
Late '09 : started a job doing some casual hours at one of the hardware store chains, mainly to keep up social contacts and add a few more dollars to the kitty...

A side issue from operating in the 2009 John Moyle Field Day was the fact that some operators - particularly home stations - did not know their (maidenhead) grid squares. To make it easier for any future field days, I wrote GridLocW / GridLocWM - Grid Locator (for) Windows. That way, provided they can give me a latitude and longtitude, I can calculate it for them via software loaded on the logging PC - and then tell them as well - as using it in the log itself. Of course, it has a side benefit for any field day operators in that it has internal GPS support that can tell them exactly what grid square they are in - all they need to do is connect a suitable GPS to the PC via a serial port -and run GridLocW ! Best of all, it''s free !

Next project was getting some gear going on 1296 MHz / 23cm SSB. Not going to be a black box solution so that left a homebrew transverter to work up. It needs to be solid-state so it can go on field days so that changes the complexion a bit from stand-alone at home use.

2010 : The technical aspects of this year started with the building of a new 70cm transverter, VHF PLL synthesiser development, info on creating positive resist based PCBs.
Operationally, a few of the more exotic 6 metre contacts have been added to the logbook plus being active in the 2010 Summer Field Day.
The casual job with the hardware chain is continuing a couple of days a week (of my choosing) and that is helping to do things like fund buying in more surface mount components to use in my projects, hardware etc.

The Icom IC-7400 is a lovely radio and works well as it comes out of the box. With the DSP design, no optional crystal filters are needed and the high stability crystal oscillator and the voice synthesiser are the only options available - and I haven't seen the need for them. The filter in CW mode goes down to 50Hz and I tried separating a couple of close CW stations with it set at that - and it works really well....

When I need just that bit more power than the 100W from the barefoot IC-7400 will provide, I power on the old Yaesu FL-2100B HF linear... Only good for the non-WARC bands ..

I still have an old Icom IC-720A that I power up on occasion - just to keep it functioning !

To get going on 70cm / 432 SSB, I have repaired/renovated an old Microwave Modules MMT432/28 transverter and am using an Icom IC-718 to drive it at 28 MHz. I also put together a MRF646 linear amp that will take the 8-10W PEP up to around 30-40W PEP - and that box also has a low-noise 70cm receive preamplifier now built into it. As a result, higher transmit power coupled with better receiver sensitivity.

That transverter / linear is still in the shack but has largely been replaced by a new SMD-style homebrew transverter whick basically puts out the same power as the previous combination and has a lower receive noise figure - all in one diecast box. It is still driven by the IC-718 - for now !

The 23cm transverter project has me up and running on 1296, but mainly for field days. It isn't that I can't operate it in the shack, I just don't have any real need to.

Base Antennas :
HF -
. Wilson System 2 triband yagi for 14 / 21 / 28 MHz
. Diamond W-8010 multiband trap dipole set up as an Inverted V for 3.5/7/14/21/28 MHz
PLUS (as of Nov/Dec '07) an add-on trap dipole assembly for the WARC bands at 10, 18 and 24 MHz to make the W-8010 an 8-band antenna !
. A "short" longwire fed via a loading coil to make it possible to achieve an acceptable SWR on top band/160. Very inefficient and rarely used as I am not really interested in 160 metres.

VHF -
. 6 metres - homebrew 6 element yagi ( coax feeder changed to LDF4-50 heliax early in Dec 08 )
plus a J-pole on the 6m monitoring gear for omni-directional operation
. 2 metres - sidemount dipole for 6m liason channel (145.650MHz in the Brisbane metro area), 11 el 2m horiz yagi for 2m SSB fed via LDF4-50 heliax (March 08)

UHF -
. 24 el 70cm horiz yagi for SSB fed via LDF4-50 heliax (March 08)

Icom AH7000 discone on the top of the tower ( coax feeder changed to LDF4-50 heliax early in Dec 08 )

Portable Antennas:
VHF/UHF - for details see Field Day Ideas 2008/2009
4 el 6 metre / 50 MHz yagi
8 el 2 metre / 144-148 MHz yagi, change-able from horizontal to vertical polarisation
11 element 70cm / 432 MHz yagi, change-able from horizontal to vertical polarisation
plus an 'extra' vertically polarised 11 element just for 439 FM
2 metre 5/8 wave vertical whip - which actually works on the 50, 146 and 439 MHz bands
26 el 1296 MHz / 23cm yagi

HF - for details see HF Field Day Antenna Ideas
CE-5SS HF trap vertical covering 3.5 / 7 / 14 / 21 / 28 and now 52 MHz
OCF dipole with commercial 4:1 balun, approx 50 metres long. { built and tested but will not normally be used }

Mobile station: ( / 4WD)
Icom IC-706 (MK1) covering 160-6m at 100W PEP, 2m at 10W PEP { no 70cm coverage in the Mk1 version }
HF helical whips for 3.5 / 7 / 10 / 14 / 21 / 28 MHz - Mobile One M-10, M-15, M-20 series etc...

Yaesu FT-1802M 2 metre FM mobile - 50 watts
RFI CD28-70 stainless steel 3dB whip for 146 MHz

Includes 50MHz QSOs, HF contests and general contacts.

Note : Replaces earlier full listings of the general plus contest logs

Mouse over images for larger view.

The tower top is readily visible standing out amongst the houses in my suburban estate.
The top picture was taken in late 2000 after tower and antenna repairs.

The middle picture with clearer skies was taken March 2002. The multi-frequency wire dipole/ inv-V is visible in the lower image, with a balun at the centre and feeder dropping clear of the tower and its cables. By the way, the bird on the boom of the 6 metre beam is a crow, one of many local varieties who make use of the 'bird perch'.
(More often it is kookaburras with maximum number counted on the array of aluminium at any one time : 13)

Oct 2007 : Apart from replacing the inverted-V with the Diamond W-8010 multiband dipole (3.5/7/14/21/28) and the support ropes, nothing much else has changed !

Nov 2007 : Created coaxial traps for 18 & 24 MHz and made the W-8010 into a dipole array that now covers all HF bands: 3.5/7/10/14/18/21/24/28 MHz !

31 Dec 2007 : 10 el 2m "OzGear" yagi (Y10EL144H) added at a height of 8m on a separate mounting pipe.
(Note - the OzGear yagi was originally built by me for sale through our business and was a 'left-over' when we ceased manufacturing antennas at our shopfront premises back in mid 2007.)

29 March 2008 : VHF /UHF yagi antennas updated -

• 2m yagi replaced by a new 11 element version (approx gain: 12.3dBd)
• 24 el for 70cm added (approx gain: 16 dBd)
• both booms approx 5.3m long, based on DL6WU
• T-matched feeds with 1/2 wave coax baluns
• BF988 MESFET masthead preamps added for each band
• 2 x 15m LDF4-50 feeders installed, N female at the top, N male at bottom of the runs.
• Original plans were to feed the preamp supply DC up each coax - until the extra RF losses were measured (about 3dB total), caused by the DC feed RF choke in the amp unit plus the RF choke in the DC power feed at the bottom - no thanks !
• A quick change of plans and a separate multicore power cable was installed and split between the two preamps.
• The "flyleads" are short lengths of low loss RFI 9006 Cellfoil coax with BNC and N connectors on respective ends.
• The aluminium bracing tubes were added to each yagi provide long term mechanical stability.
• The two masthead preamps can be seen in the larger image - with the 2m one above the 70cm one - mounted on the vertical support pipe between the two arrays.
• Raw VSWR of each yagi: 1.05:1 on 144.175 and 1.1:1 on 432.175 (at the yagis, not the bottom end).

Note - the yagi array was being raised on 26th March but the mounting pipe bent where the 32mm upper tube telescoped into the 38mm lower tube as the array was raised to about a 45 degree angle. The result was a damaged 2m yagi boom - which had to be replaced.

A "gin pole" was added to a replacement masting pipe to take the load today (29/3) - and up it went - no worries. When/if it comes down again, the gin pole will have to be re-fitted to avoid the mounting pipe bending. Note that the tubes were/are "galv steel masting pipe" and not water or fencing pipe.

December 2008 :

The Ham-2 rotator head unit on the main telescopic tower was replaced with another second hand unit, RG213 feeders on the 50 MHz yagi and the Icom AH7000 discone replaced with LDF4-50 heliax, flexible flyleads replaced with CNT-400 /(LMR-400) to just below rotator (start of the LDF4-50). All maintenance was done from the basket of a 12 metre cherry picker, hired for a 1/2 day (for $240, Kennards Hire).
Subsequent examination of the old rotator showed that the grooves for the brake wedge in the bell housing had been ground away - allowing the antenna array to rotate/move easily in even a light wind - and never in the desired direction ! Helpers : Roy VK4ZQ, Neil VK4FHYH, son-in-law Brad Gilliam.

Mid-December 2008 : The 2 metre and 70cm yagis were finally re-erected after 6 months of them leaning against the end of the house ! They had been brought down for rotator maintenance on the Thursday before Queen's Birthday weekend (early June 2008) - and were to be re-erected on the Saturday a couple of days later. However family issues on the Saturday, then 4 broken metatarsils in my left foot on the Sunday put everything on hold for about 6 months- while the plaster cast was on as the foot healed and I had to learn to walk again ! This time, when erected, the rotator was at the bottom on a hinged plate and the whole mast tube section now rotates - via a Yaesu GS-050 thrust bearing mounted just below the lower yagi.