In ham radio the place where you keep the bulk of your radios is known as your shack. I currently have 2 radios and 2 antennas set up in my shack.

Icom IC-9700

The IC-9700 is an all mode, tri-band transceiver covering 2 meter (144MHz), 70cm (430/440MHz) as well as 23cm (1200MHz). In my area there is not much traffic on the 70cm or 23cm bands. There are plenty of repeaters on 70cm, but they are rarely used.

I have the radio connected to a Comet GP-95N which works with all of the bands the radio supports. I have the antenna at the top of 1 and a half fence rale toppers which has it up around 27 feet high. Due to local terrain, both natural and mand-made, I struggle to get signals from the West, but am able to hit repeaters 60+ miles away to the North East 30 miles away to the South.

I primarily use the radio to check into local nets and to ragchew with people on the 2-meter repeaters. The North Fulton Amateur Radio League NF4GA repeater on 145.47Mhz is where I hang out the most, but I also regularly scan all of the repeaters I have in memory and drop into conversations every now and then.

I hope to get an antenna(s) at some point so I can work satellites and do Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) with the 9700, but that is probably a couple of years away due to cost and limited space to put antennas.

Icom IC-7300

The IC-7300 is a High Frequency (HF) plus 50MHz radio that covers the 6 to 160 meter bands.

It is connected to an MFJ-2010 Off-Center Fed Dipole covering the 6, 10, 20, and 40-meter bands. With the space that I have available I don’t think this antenna can be beat. I have it running from a tree in the front yard to a tree in the back yard with one end around 25 feet high and the other over 40 feet high.

With atmospheric conditions being what they are, I have decided to contrate on 20- and 40-meter bands using the FT-8 digital mode. I have been able to reach California, Washington State, North Eastern Canada, Belize, Ecuador, London, Spain, Hungary, and others. I am really amazed at how well such and inexpensive antenna is working for me.

With an LDG IT-100 Autotuner between the radio and antenna I am able to use the 80-meter band, but even with the tuner the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) is high enough to cause my transmissions to be very weak.

Other Bits and Pieces

I also have HamClock set-up on a Raspberry Pi with the official 7 inch touchscreen so I can keep track of UTC time, solar activity, satellite positions, and sun/moon position. It is really handy.

I also have a Raspberry Pi set up with HamPi, but have not put it to use yet. The IC-9700 can be worked remotely without a separate computer, but the IC-7300 requires a local computer that you VNC into to control the radio.

Plans

I don’t plan on adding much more to the shack, but I do plan on setting up remote control of both radios, I think it would be really cool to be able to use them while traveling or even from another location in the house.

My next project will be adding a radio to the car along with studying for the Extra exam, learning Morse Code (CW), and other digital modes.