Member Bio

I’m a new operator, having passed tech and general in March of 2025 and Extra in April of 2025.

I’m currently operating on a Shure SM7B through a cloudlifter into a Yaesu FT-DX10 at 100W. The antenna is a Buckmaster 7-band OCF dipole that hangs “flat top” at about 20 meters high.

For VHF/UHF I run a Yaesu FTM-510Drasp into a Diamond x300 mounted on a mast at about 7 meters high.

My background includes some audio engeering and one of my other passions is designing and building loudspeakers.

I also love music, motorcycles, cars, photography (Flickr), skydiving, scuba diving, machine tools, welding, shooting sporting clays, etc.

Anyway, I’ll try to keep this updated as I go. Cheers!

These are my latest build. Kind of an “all Italy” pro build focused on high sensitivity. These modern pro drivers have come a very long way and now rival some of the best hi-fi drivers I’ve heard (I have spent a lot of time listening to ATC, Genelec, etc in controlled environments). The Faital drivers in particular should be on your radar for hi-fi use… Anyway:

The design centered on the Faital 10PR410 10″ midrange which is an interesting 99dB professional driver from Italy. Perhaps the most notable features are the lightweight cone (36.6 g) tied to a powerful motor (18.5 N/A). The result is one of the most detailed midranges I’ve heard. They get 450 watts per side from a recapped Crest VS900.

The high frequencies are crossed at 1,500Hz and are handled by a Faital HF-10AK 1″ ketone polymer compression driver mounted to a Faital STH-100. The HF10AK boasts 110dB efficiency and works really well with the STH-100 elliptical horn. The 80 degree horizontal coverage may seem wide at first, but it works well in my room. They get 120 watts from a recapped and bridged Rotel.

The low end is a B&C 21SW152 21-inch subwoofer with 96dB sensitivity crossing at 200Hz. It sits in an 8 cubic foot vented enclosure tuned to 29Hz. They get about 2kW per side from bridged Crown amps. I think the models predict around 130dB output. No idea what they do in reality.

Faital 10PR410

Faital HF10AK

Faital STH-100

BC 21SW152

A pair of nearfield monitors using the Tang Band W4-1720 which is a fun little beast of a 4″ underhung midbass and the Vifa ring radiator. I guess these tweeters are being made by Perless now. It’s a great tweeter for very little money. These are now serving as my HAM speakers.

Some Seas Prestige drivers from Norway above.

Scan Speak 18W/8531G Revelator mid woofer/SB Acoustics/Satori TW29R ring dome tweeter. That Scan is a really sweet driver.

The dog is not impressed.

A quick center channel using Seas Prestige and the Fountek ribbon. I think these are maybe being sold as GRS now?

Some car and bike “stuff” that I’ll try to get around to updating soon.