HAM radio equipment used in Kasperske Hory

Short waves (HF & 6m):

• transceiver Yaesu FT-2000. Nice modern radio with lot of features (but If comparing just the receiver I still prefer my old TS-850). I like specially the support for digital modes and 50 MHz band.
• linear amplifier Yaesu Quadra VL-1000. Up to 1kW out. Used when necessary...
• solid state linear amplifier Yaesu FL7000. Spare amplifier, used rarely.
• M160 transceiver - home made copy (designed in 1980's, CW only, version for 80m band). QRP 1W only, full QSK. Great for CW chat.
• QCX transceiver - home built kit of popular QRP CW only radio, version for 40m. Simple, lightweight, but performs well. QRP 4W. Optimal for portable activities from battery.
• QMX transceiver - home built kit of new QRP radio. Small, but very powerfull!
• interface box - multiswitch. Own design of transceiver interface to simplify switching between different devices (computer keyer, sound card, modem, several transceivers,...). A simple ETM type elbug is included as well. Look here for more details.
• digital SWR meter (SWR Mega).Own design of SWR meter with digital display bulit on single chip microcontroller ATMega8. More details here.
• remote antenna switch. Own design of simple antenna switch (one coax into 4 antennas), the goal is to use minimum of wires between shack and remote switch. More details here.
• multimode controller PTC2e. This SCS product is small brother of known PTC2. I used Kantronics KAM+ before but wondered how Pactor2 performs, so have changed the box. Smart piece of hardware, I like this sofisticated equipment as a technician. But because pactor activity dropped down recently (I remember boom in 90's, I enjoyed it especially when at sea). So it serves as a souvenir / shack decoration now.
• antenna rotator Create RC5B-3. Standard antenna rotor, no more to say. I don't use computer control yet (I don't use it for satellites and otherwise manual control is sufficient).
  
  

VHF & UHF:

• multimode transceiver Yaesu FT-847. Good compromise for functionality and price if you are interested for all possibilities the VHF offers. Pitty manufacturer overlooked some minor details, otherwise it would be great radio (just except of HF, the radio can HF as well but there it cannot compete to other models). I purchased the radio when I searched good 50 MHz gear but later I found it is better fit for satellites than IC-820 I used before, the best satellite radio I ever used. When I go to expedition, I take it with me as a small 100W radio, otherwise I use it on VHF only.
• FM transceiver Kenwood TM-V7. Bought as 2nd hand, it still does the job I need: to listen on local simplex frequency and access nearby FM repeaters. Nice feature is double receiver so I can easily monitor both. Small problem is just the LCD display / perhaps because of age the contrast is not very high.
• transceiver Quansheng UV-K5(8). Interesting piece of hardware to play with. New firmware by IU0IJV changed it completely.
• Baofeng UV-3R A toy from China. Small low power lightweight handheld duoband radio with lot of features for very nice price. I take it with me often while walking in the mountain.
• QO100 stuff Different hardware used for experiments and traffic for QO100 satellite uplink on 2.4 GHz. DB6NT transverter, home 2003 built kit, 0.5W, together with Yaesu FT817; homebrew CW only TX (tuned VCXO), about 200mW; Analog Devices ADALM Pluto etc.
• multimode transceiver Icom IC-820H. Used rarily, mostly as backup radio.

Antennas

• 6 element Yagi for 50 MHz ZX Yagi model, bigger brother of similar Yagi I use in Holysov. Perfect SWR (I spent some time doing adjustment), performs well.
• 10 element Yagi for 144 MHz Made by OK5IM. Solid design, just my QTH is poor for VHF...
• 5 element Yagi for 18 MHz ZX Yagi model. Robust, just small modifications necessary (some pipes have not matching inner and outer diameter, necesary to put elements together - problem fixed by cutting the pipe and using stainless clamps). Performs great, there are not too much stations using 5 element monobander on that band that makes me competitive also with 500W only - "these days". I used that antenna in Holysov for several years but because I am not there too often I moved it to K.Hory.
• dipole 2x20m for 80m from top of the tower. It works surprisingly good for low height (10m above the ground). Excellent for Europe, average performance on DX. Tuned into center of CW band, that means nearly useless in SSB DX windows because of bad SWR there.
• inverted Vee for 40m band. Average performance, but sufficient for some experiment and time to time DX.

• white whip vertical antenna for 2m and 70cm band. Designed mostly for FM local operation but I use it sometimes for CW/SSB as well during contests. Better than nothing, I am usually able to work just few nearby stations. I plan to put up also another more efficient beam antenna in order to improve my signal on local simplex frequency - to be able to talk to friends in Holysov (distance about 70 km).
• 2.4 GHz 60cm offset dish. 5 turn helix feed, fix pointed to QO100 satellite, placed on balcony. More details here.

HAM radio equipment used in Holysov

• 5 element Yagi for 50 MHz, ZX Yagi model. Robust enough, performs well, just adjustment on best SWR was not so easy.
• 4 element Yagi for 21MHz. Homebrew, DK7ZB design. Performs well, just condx could be better...
• Dipols for 80 and 40 meters. Work fine, like all dipoles. Of course beam or good vertical would be better...

Mobile setup