Biography

Ex-Brit (G1VDS) now a Yank, and living the dream.
New Vanity Call Sign - W8BFO (Whiskey Eight Beat Frequency Oscillator)

Radio, computers and hardware designer... geek before geek was really 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 on UHF (G1VDS).

Worked DXCCs:

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 - DX Commander (Testing Now) https://www.m0mcx.co.uk/
Station Antenna 2 - Dual Band J-Pole - VHF / UHF Base Station Antenna.
Station Antenna 3 - 723 Foot Endfed Long wire.
Station Antenna 4 - 188 Foot Zeppelin - Everything and Anything on the tuner.

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.

DX Commander 10 Meter (long) Vertical Dipole hand-built - now being used. DX Commander is a 8 band vertical fan dipole, kits can be purchased in the UK from Callum @ [M0MCX] - https://www.m0mcx.co.uk/store/products/ (Great guy, has an awesome Youtube channel).

Pictures below of the antenna.


ECHOLINK
Station ID: 2E0EVP-L