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Station Construction
 
After receiving my FCC Amateur Radio General Class
license in July, 2012, I began constructing the KJ6YVT radio station.
The initial intent was to rapidly construct an operational high frequency
station with which to begin my self-education in the mysterious realm of
radio frequency currents, radio wave propagation, and associated arcanea, as
well as make contact with other like-minded radio operators throughout the
world. The photographs above show the first equipment installed at
KJ6YVT.
I chose the iCOM IC-7800 transceiver as the heart of the station, because of
its superior
specifications. Of particular importance was the ability to
implement diversity reception enabled by the IC-7800's dual receivers. Diversity
reception greatly aids in overcoming atmospherically induced signal fading
not possible via any other technology. You may read more about this
transceiver by clicking the
Radios
link below.
Desiring operation on several important high frequency amateur bands, I
chose to construct a parallel, multi-band, half-wave, dipole antenna.
I wanted to learn about antenna tuning, transmission line issues, and
related matters, so I felt that researching and building the first antenna
myself would provide me with some insightful information. Site
restrictions dictated sub-optimal antenna orientation with the broadside of
the dipole facing south south ease and north north west. While this
orientation provides increased gain toward the Pacific, South America, and
South Africa, it has reduced gain in the great-circle direction of Europe to
the north east. You may read more about this and other antennas in use
at the KJ6YVT station by clicking the
Antennas below.
The second contact I made after receiving my FCC license, while operating on
a dipole strung on the carpet on the second floor, was with John
Maguire,
W1CDO. At the time, John was sitting in a tavern in Klamath Falls,
Oregon, sipping a glass of Merlot while operating his radio station located
in Roswell, New Mexico, via his iPhone. John is an interesting person,
and I took a few clues from his sagacious and insightful station
implementations in planning my course of KJ6YVT station construction.
Having a professional background in computer automation, I particularly
found the prospect of constructing a radio station in which all the
equipment was integrated and operable through computer software of interest.
Having the option to operate the KJ6YVT station remotely was icing on the
cake. You can read more about my plans for computer automating on the
Computer Automation page.
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