Amateur Radio Station AB9BH
The following is a QST.
I am an Amateur Radio operator with callsign AB9BH, and I hold an Extra class license. I got my Technician license in 2000, and I upgraded to Extra in 2001, back in the old days when one still had to pass a Morse Code test at five words per minute. I was mostly inactive between 2003 and 2021 aside from some repeater operation and mostly failed experiments with APRS and the International Space Station. I also hold GMRS license WQRM321 (really).
Current station
After moving to Greenmore House in Shoreline, Washington in early 2021, I was finally able to set up a real ham radio station, but construction of the station progressed rather more slowly than I expected. Although much operation through 2024 was conducted by means of an occasionally deployed Buddipole antenna, I was still able to achieve significant rank in several operating awards during that time.
Construction history
- 2021 — Bought Greenmore House, built redundant DC power system
- 2022 — Entrance panel, grounding, 2m/440 vertical, end-fed wire for HF, two-element fixed beam for 6m, some Buddipole operation
- 2023 — GPS-locked time server and outdoor antenna
- 2024 — Homebrew vertical for 20/15/10m
Operating awards, endorsements, and totals
- DXCC Mixed #68507 — 150 entities — 229 confirmed
- DXCC Digital #9302 — 150 entities — 218 confirmed
- DXCC Phone (pending) — 100 entities — 112 confirmed
- DXCC CW (pending) — 100 entities — 114 confirmed
- DXCC 20M, 17M (150), 15M (150), 12M (pending), 10M #37539 (150)
- WAZ Mixed #10860
- WAZ Digital #700
- VUCC 50 MHz #3535 — 400 grids — 426 confirmed
- WAS Mixed #65706 — 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m
- WAS Digital #5684 — 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, FT8, FT4
- WAS Phone
- WAS CW #3263
- WAS Triple Play #2714
- 5BWAS #4567
[Totals were automatically updated on 2024-12-09.]
Station records
Greatest miles per watt
- ZS2DL (grid KF26sb) — 10525 miles ÷ 5 watts = 2105 miles/watt
Very distant 6m contacts
- VP8NO (grid GD18bh) — 7853 miles — 2024-01-23
- CX4DAE (grid GF25ae73) — 7023 miles — 2024-11-09
- ZL1RS (grid RF64vs) — 6957 miles — 2023-03-08
Very distant 2m contacts
- AA7A (grid DM43) — 1148 miles — 2023-06-12
Selected contest scores
🏅 2024 ARRL DX CW — SOULP — 4th place Western Washington section — 90,678 points [1.5 MB]🏅 2023 ARRL June VHF — SO3B — 1st place Western Washington section — 35,230 points [1.4 MB]
🏅 2022 ARRL June VHF — SO3B — 3rd place Western Washington section — 2,108 points [1.4 MB]
Memberships
- ARRL Life Member
- INDEXA #5393
- Ten-Ten International #78254
Station equipment
- Icom 7300 transceiver (HF/6m)
- Icom 9700 transceiver (2m/440/1.2 GHz)
- Icom 2730 transceiver (2m/440 FM)
- Icom SP-41 speaker
- HamPlus AS-603AL antenna switch (6 antennæ, 3 radios, 1 amplifier)
- Daiwa CN-901 power meter
- MFJ 969 antenna tuner
- RigExpert AA-55 antenna analyzer
- Palomar Engineers end-fed antenna (9:1 unun, 55 feet of wire plus two 15-foot counterpoises)
- Diamond A502HB antenna (6m beam, two elements, used fixed with no rotator)
- Cushcraft AR-270 antenna (2m/440 vertical)
- Buddipole Deluxe with many extra parts (long mast, 32-inch arms, 9.5-foot whips, beam kit)
- Homebrew multiband vertical for 20/15/10m
- Time Machines TM1000A GPS-synchronized NTP time server and TM160 POE NTP clock
- Leo Bodnar GPS reference clock (9700 is modified for true GPS locking)
- Tallysman TW3142 active GPS radome antenna
- GPS Networking L1FPDC band pass filter
- GPS Networking LDCBS1x4 splitter
- KF7P entrance panel outfitted with Morgan Systems and Alpha Delta lightning arrestors
- redundant DC power system
- Heil Sound PR-10 desk microphone
- ART Tube MP Studio V3 microphone preamp
- Donner DEL-4i2 four-channel audio mixer
🌐 Palomar Engineers
🌐 Buddipole
🌐 Time Machines Corporation
🌐 KF7P entrance panels
🌐 Morgan Systems
🌐 Alpha Delta
Station photographs
📷 The control point at AB9BH [3.6 MB]📷 The station's single-point ground, mounted next to the operating position [2.3 MB]
📷 At AB9BH, safety is taken seriously! [3.4 MB]
📷 Entrance panel and lightning arrestors, connected to ground by two-inch strap [3.7 MB]
📷 Antenna for 2m/440 [4.3 MB]
📷 Two-element beam for 6m (fixed, no rotator) [2.0 MB]
📷 Three-band vertical for 20/15/10m [3.1 MB]
📷 SWR graph of the vertical [2.0 MB]
Past stations
My first station was in a campus apartment in graduate school. I had an Icom 706MKIIG connected to an AH-4 automatic random wire tuner (with a 30-foot or so wire running around my ceiling) and an MFJ 969 antenna tuner for a 6m inverted vee on my balcony. I also had a 2m vertical dipole. Since I was on the third floor of three, my antennæ were up about 30 feet or so. Due to excellent propagation in 2001, I worked stations all over South America and Europe and a few in Africa and Asia with that setup.
During the summer of 2001, I lived in Park Ridge, Illinois where I had a bit different of a setup thanks to a tripod and a bit of mast. I had a 2m ground plane at 20 feet, a 6m dipole at 18 feet, and a 20m dipole at 8 feet. I probably should have figured out a way to string up a 20m inverted vee with the apex supported by the mast. With this station, I worked stations all over South America and Europe, several in Asia, one in Africa, a VK, and a ZL on 20m. I also worked a lot of grid squares on 6m.
My right trusty and right entirely beloved friend Dr Gregory Allen Koenig, KA9YNI, and I once took over the University of Illinois's Synton Amateur Radio Club, W9YH, one of the oldest Registered Student Organizations associated with the University, founded in 1925.
📷 The control point at AB9BH (Park Ridge, summer 2001) [774 KB]📷 Antennæ at AB9BH (Park Ridge, summer 2001) [1.0 MB]
📷 The control point at AB9BH (Champaign, fall 2001) [776 KB]
📷 Antennæ at AB9BH (Champaign, fall 2001) [741 KB]
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Copyright © 2001–2003, 2022–2024 Sidney August Cammeresi IV. All rights reserved.
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