Welcome, my name is Ron and I am located in Dunwoody, Georgia (EM73ux), 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of the center of Atlanta.  The purpose of this web page is to give the hams I meet on the air a visual tour of my station.  Over 80% of my operating is on CW and most of that is chasing DX.  However, a good old fashion phone rag chew is always welcome.

This is my shack on 29 March 2012

The radio on the left is a Kenwood TS-870S HF Transceiver along with a matching SP-31 speaker.  Next is an Elecraft K3 HF/6 meter transceiver with the P3 Panadapter.  On the small shelf on the right is a Ten-Tec Argonaut VHF Transceiver and a Yaesu FT-897D HF/6 meter/2 meter/ 70CM Transceiver.  Under the shelf is a LDG Z-11 Auto Tuner and LDG AT-100Pro Autotuner.  To the right of the shelf is an Ameritron remote antenna switch RCS-8V.  On the desk surface in front of the shelf is a Begali Magnetic Classic paddle, Begali Spark straight key and a Begali Simplex paddle.  On the left side of the picture a corner of an Astron RM-35M power supply can be seen.  On the wall to the right is an MFJ-2704 Antenna switch and the centerpiece of the shack is K4DS in counted cross stitch made by my wife.

Short history

I was first licensed as WV2BSW (Novice) September 1958 – Plainfield, New Jersey.  The V changed to an A a year later when I became a Tech.  In April 1961, I took the trip to 641 Washington Street (NYC) and became a General.  It was not until February of 1980 that I upgraded to Advanced.  With an even longer time gap, 26 years later on 26 February 2006 I took and passed the Extra.

This past September (2011) was my 53^rd anniversary as a ham.  I have held a Novice, Technician, General, Advance and now an Extra class license.  I believe that is all possible unless I want to go backwards.  I have operated AM, FM, SSB, RTTY, PSK31 and CW.  One day I would like to try Slow Scan.

As of March 3, 2012 my call is K4DS.  This is quite a change after 53 plus years with the same call.

Elecraft K3 and P3 Panadapter

This is a look at the Elecraft K3 HF/6 meter transceiver with the P3 Panadapter.  This transceiver has become my main radio and is used primarily on CW at the 50 watt level.  This is my first radio with a Panadapter and I can not imagine using a radio without one.

In this photo the K3 was tuned to 30 meter CW.

Operating

As noted elsewhere on this site, most of my operating over the past several years has been on CW.  Below is a table showing my activity for the last two calendar years.