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A licensed amateur since the 1970s, originally licensed as KA2GZT, my operating now — what there is of it — is mostly on two meters from my car and 10/15/20 from the house, although years ago I used to work a lot on 40/80.

Now I enjoy club activities and Field Day, participating in Emergency Services activities, and am a Volunteer Examiner.

ARRL ARES logo ARRL Volunteer Examiner logo

My Shack

2 Meters/220/440

Over the years there has been a variety of VHF equipment, but for the moment I'm using a Kenwood TH-F6A 2-meter/220/440MHz Tri-Bander (handheld) and a Radio Shack HTX-252 2-meter.

And here is my now ancient (but still reliable) KDK-2016, the first 2-meter FM radio I ever had, from 1979 or so.

Thumbnail of KDK-2016

By the way, I think it is important to not forget the 220 band. It always seems to be in danger of being lost to other services, which is why I make sure to mention it and to have 220 capability.

The Low Bands

My ICOM IC-706 MK II G.

Thumbnail of ICOM 706 MK IIG

I have an MFJ Versa-Tuner II that I've had since the late 1970s, which I got to tune my (then) random-length dipole, the longest that I could fit in the back yard: now I use it to tune my vertical. A little odd to tune — you have to consider that when you are tuning it you can be changing the circuit with your hand, so it's tune, take hand away, tune take hand away — but very reliable and, well, versatile. I also have an LDG Z-100 tuner, but I don't use it very often.

Antenna-wise, I have 80 and 20 meter dipoles at my camp; at my city QTH, I'm just using an old CB antenna that was on the house when I bought it, which loads-up fine and generally seems to work quite well for 10/15/20, better, in fact, on 20 than on 10.

Legacy

There used to be a lot more stuff lying around. My first radios were 2-meter a.m. sets. My very first was a Heathkik lunchbox from the Heath store on Long Island on — I seem to recall — Jericho Turnpike in Westbury. That was followed by a Clegg-22er (the one before the "22er Mark II" and then the "22er FM," which looked just like each other), which I can't remember where I got it (I seem to remember a used radio store on Long Island, in Freeport on Center Street, a side street parallel to Sunrise Highway, but I'm not certain on that), but I do remember putting a nuvistor pre-amp in it that worked wonders. (During that transition period from 2M AM to FM I can also remember converting some AM sets to FM by modulating by way of the screen grid on the final: couldn't do that with a transistor!) There were also various Heathkit monobanders, various receivers (including a military surplus R-388), and various HF and VHF mobile set-ups, but now they are all long gone.

My QSL Card . . .

thumbnail for link to QSL card

. . . and license plate:

graphic of NC2S license plate

My Amateur Radio Resources

My Links Page

Links that I have found useful, interesting, or just curious, not all ham radio related but somehow all related to electricity, electronics, physics, or some-such thing that seems an obvious connection to me.

VE

As a volunteer examiner, I try to remember how to do things, but when I need help with procedures, here is what I use.

Everything Else

Actually, I have revised all of my resources that were originally here and placed them on the W2EGB site. The links page forms the foundation of the links page on W2EGB: both links pages — here and on W2EGB — are maintained, and there are a number of differences, as might be expected between a personal and a club site. General electrical concepts have always been on my Railroad web site.

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Revised: 6 February 2024

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Steve Sconfienza, Ph.D.
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