Biography

PASSED MY GENERAL 4/27/2016.

NEW VANITY CALL SIGN ISSUED BY FCC 5/17/2019 = W8BFO


Ex-Brit (G1VDS) now a Yank.

Radio, computers and hardware designer... geek before geek was a word.

First to build a Personal Computer (Triton) 8086 CPU circa 1986 - first home computer in my small English town, first to go active and get licensed (G1VDS).

Recently moved from Maryland to West Virginia - my G5RV is not operational yet - set up the long wire simply as I have more room to run 120 - 150 foot long wires. G5RV is still my best antenna - just no trees around to hang this bad boy up... :(

Currently System Architect for Gov.

Equipment

Yaesu FTDX1200 http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ftdx1200.htm
Yaesu FT991A http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft991a.htm
Yaesu SCU-17 Optically Isolated Serial Communications Module
Icom ID 5100A http://www.rigpix.com/icom/id5100.htm
Home Brew 36 Amp Power Supply - with active LCD screen.
New Ameritron - AL811 HF Amplifier http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=AL-811
Ameritron - ATR-20 Antenna Tuner http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=ATR-20
MFJ 998 Automatic Antenna Tuner (Full Legal Limit). http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-998

Station Antenna 1 - 188 Foot Zeppelin - Everything and Anything on the tuner.
Station Antenna 2 - Hygain AV-18vs - for HF work on 20 Meters
Station Antenna 3 - Cushcraft 50-A3 for DX work on 6 Meters.
Station Antenna 4 - Dual Band J-Pole - VHF / UHF Base Station Antenna.
Station Antenna 5 - 723 Foot long wire.
Station Antenna 6 - G5RV 102 foot, inverted V for 40 meters.

Stand Alone Software
WSJT - For FT8 and JT65A
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/wsjt/2594/tree/branches/wsjtx/jt8.txt

VHF/UHF
Baofeng 6R - V01
iCOM IC5100 - DV/FM
Yaesu FT991A
Yaesu FT2DR C4FM 144/430 MHz Dual Band Digital https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&encProdID=4A66D869E574453F343581B53E9FAB40&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

General Coverage VHF / UHF
Realistic PRO 2096 Scanner
AOR 1000 Scanner

Active
20 Meters and 40 Meters when conditions allow.


JT65 MODE - Started in June 2016 active on 50.276MHZ 20 WATTS
Had some excellent contacts in the first month, hoping to do well in 2017.

D-STAR (ICOM) Shack Equipped, running mobile rig in a stationary location
Now able to connect the iCom to HRD after some experimentation of the settings and modifications of a standard 3.5mm Stereo Jack.

THOR 8 - on 10 Meters for more information on this digital communications mode
check out this wiki link with demo screens - http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/THOR
What are Digital modes and what do they look like - check out this excellent ham who took photos to help reference the types and formats and put them on this web site to help us understand what each one looks like and also sounds like via sound samples. http://hfradio.org.uk/html/digital_modes.html

ECHOLINK
Station ID: 2E0EVP-L