radio gear

 

KM4BA Station & Gear

Over the years I've accumulated a nice shack
  

Kenwood TS-950SDX HF Base

This Kenwood is my primary base station. While there are newer rigs available, I'm not sure I've operated one which has a better receiver. Likewise, I regularly get unsolicited "nice audio" reports in QSO's. I now use it with a Shure 550L. but the stock MC-60 also works well.

In recent years, this radio has developed a very strong following, and having used it for a while, understand why. More info on the eham.net review page (TS-950SDX art). There is also a very active facebook group.

Drake L7

W4JO Jim (SK) owned and used this amp extensively. When he upgraded to autotuning amps we decided it needed to come live at my shack. (Jim always had an easy payment plan). It is one of the smoothest tuning amps I've ever used, and on air reports have been great. 

It uses twin Eimac 3-500Z tubes in the grounded-grid configuration, and Jim had a spare set of tubes as well. Even though it's an older amp, it has everything you'd want in a tube amp, and is still well respected.

LDG AT 200 PC Autotuner

Though my primary HF transceiver has a built in tuner, this external LDG tuner is much more effective. It also can be controlled by serial port and was designed based on N2CKH's requirements for ALE operation. It's a workhorse, not much to look at but just works great!