Simple gear

A reminder of my current station: recently I bought an FT817ND to add to the FT817 I have owned for YEARS. I also bought a Z817 LDG auto-ATU. These are the "workhorses" of my station feeding either the Par 10/20/40m end-fed, the V2000 6m/2m/70cm vertical or the 2m halo. Via the 472kHz transverter they also feed the 15m spaced earth-electrode antenna on 630m MF. The FT817ND and LDG auto-ATU were supplied by Martin Lynch and Sons and they were a pleasure to do business with. I can recommend them for price, speed and good customer relations.

I also own an Elecraft K1 CW transceiver (40, 30, 20, 15m), a Mizuho 200mW pep MX2 2m SSB handheld, tiny Yaesu VX1 and VX2 FM hand portables and an MFJ Cub for 15m CW. These are hardly used, although all have worked some decent DX. My Elecraft T1 ATU is in need of repair as it operates intermittently. The FT817s are used at 500mW to 2.5W maximum and I have been spotted in Australia at 2W or less on 10, 20 and 40m this year. This power is quite enough.

I also have simple beacons for sub-9kHz and 137kHz QRSS3 as well as kit for optical comms to use /P.  I  neither need nor want QRO gear, preferring to work QRP.

To be built is a GPS locked, stand alone (no rigs or PC needed) Ultimate 3 WSPR beacon TX for 10m, but I am waiting until my stroke is somewhat better before starting this as I am still a bit too clumsy and tire very quickly.

The VLF and LF beacons, the 472kHz transverter and various other QRP rigs (e.g. the WISPY, Fredbox and Sixbox) not listed are homebrew and much fun too.