US Traffic Net Lifetime Members
W7MMZ
| Status: | |
| Class: | General |
| Top OP: | |
| Country: | United States |
| Roundups: | 7 |
Member Bio
Hello fellow operators , from the Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, or the Deep Blue Sea depending on the time of year! I have had, and used radios of some sort all of my life. I was a Fire Fighter /EMT attaining the rank of Capt. In the early days I also installed radios and later computer systems in the apparatus. I retired from the fire department in 2015 with 29 years of service. I became a General Manager/ Harbor Master for a marina near my home and worked that job for 4 years until the marina sold. Retired now. I now spend my summers here on the Lake of the Ozarks in MO. I try to spend much of my winter on the boat down south.
I got my tech/General license in Dec. of 2017. I am a member of OMISS # 12063 and USTAW # 440.
Home station is an ICOM 7610 or a 756 Pro III, feeding a AL- 82 or a AL-80B Ameritron amp through a MFJ 989D or a Heath Kit 2040 tuner. The main antenna is a 80, 40, and 20 meters are OCF folded fan di-pole at 47′ above ground, and now a 576′ Mega loop fed with ladderline at 50′ above ground. I also have a hybrid G5RD for 10, 15, and 17 meters, and I am working on a pair of 40 meter quads for the farm. I have recently purchased a US tower TX 472 MDLP 72′ retractable and layover tower. I have put up a Cush Craft A4-S 77′ with the 40m rotatable dipole add on, and I now have an NA4RR hex beam at 90′. Audio is provided via a Heil Pro 7 headset or a Heil 77 D boom mic.
I have a 44 foot sail boat on lake Pontchartrain that I like to winter on, sailing south. It has an Icom 710 marine SSB and a Icom IC 7100. The antenna is a radom wire at 52′ fed through through a SEA1614 auto tuner. I also have various other vhf Hf transcievers.
Since I sail during the winter months, mail and QSL cards are difficult. When I do get to a mailbox I will return them but it can take a while. I prefer QRZ or eQLS.
The Mega loop lay out covers the front half of my lake property. The shape is therefore irregular. It does do very well on all but the 10m band. I think I am fighting nulls and voids on that band, but the fan dipole covers it.
Attached below in the PDF you will se the layout. When looking at it on screen north is facing up. It is fed directly with 450 ohn ladder line to my tuner which has an internal balun. It has some peaks and nulls as I suppose all irregular loops do but over all I am very satisfied with it’s performance. Thanks for your interest and 73!
SKY LOOP 576′
THE FAN DIPOLE ANTENNA AND THE G5RV IS ON A 35′ MAST ON THE SECOND STORY OF THE HOUSE.
72′ Tower with A4S and 744 Beam. HEX beam on top.A4S is at 75′, Hex beam is at 90′.
