The Amateur Radio Station of G4ROB / G8RYK
Selston, Nottinghamshire UK

450feet ASL on the South side of Selston Church Hill
IO93ib Locator
Unrestricted South Path... Restricted West and East...the further North the worse the path gets due to the Church Hill

Station details:
Base Station Transceiver :KENWOOD TS2000X All HF, 6m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm Bands
Power supply: A Superb Alinco DM-330MW that gives up to 35Amps at 13.8v and is totally stable
together with Noise Cancellation --very useful for HF work

HF antennas:  Long wire tuned by a Smart Tuner SG230
VHF Antennas: Comet GP6 Dual band Vertical ...Self modified Cushcraft 22LB Yagi for Horizontal and Vertical Polarisation
UHF Antennas: Comet GP6 Dual band Vertical .. Self modified Cushcraft 35LB for Horizontal Polarisation
23cm Antenna: 35el Tonna Yagi rebuilt from a smashed one with modified mount and feed
Feeders:  Cellflex HFY (similar to Andrews FHJ450) on all bands
Antenna system Mount: Modified Clark SCAM 12 Pump up Mast
Rotator: Yaesu GR-5500 Azimuth and Elevation rotator to allow Satellite Operation if required
Digital Modes: 3Ghz DualCore PC with 2Gb RAM and 560Gb HDs running various programs you will find mentioned on this web site
Digital Interface from PC to and from radio:  ISOTERM USB from G3LIV... Cheap. easy and one of the BEST www.g3liv.co.uk

Mobile: Yaesu FT-8800 Dual Band Transceiver with Wide Band receive. Great for Monitoring Civil/ Mil Air Band too
Monitoring: Uniden UBC 3500XLT Hand Held Scanner mainly used for Aircraft Monitoring at Air Bases

Archive Equipment:
Icom IC240 dating back to 1975 (currently used for VHF DF Hunts with Home brew active attenuator)
Icom IC211e Dating back to 1979... currently being restored to full working and physical order
Kenwood TS-770e dating from 1982.. 2m and 70cm all mode Base station

My Current Projects:
Design and Build a Multiband Minibeam for HF
Build a 432Mhz 250watt Transistorised Power Amplifier... Modification from a Surplus TETRA Repeater
Complete a Dual 2C39 Power Amplifier for 23cm Band
Complete a single 2C39 Power Amplifier by K9EK for 13cm band
Design and Build a Multi Power supply to operate the above 2C39 amplifiers

A selection of Photographs showing the various pieces of equipment I use

Kenwood TS200X 1.8Mhz to 1296Mhz Multimode Base station|
Display Modified... check out Changing Colours for details

The Superb ALINCO DM-330MW Power Supply

HF-VHF-UHF Antenna Array on a Modified SCAM 12 Pump Up Mast which allows me to raise the Antennas to around 40feet above ground
from their lowered height if around 15 feet.
The mast is extended or lowered by compressed air at 20 psi which I control from my radio operating position.
Check out MAST CONTROL for details
Antennas  In use: September 2009
Trident 5el for 6m
22el Cushcraft Long Yagi... Modified to 11el Horizontal with 7el Vertical on front edge of Mast
17ele Cushcraft Long Yagi and Modified 35ele Tonna for 23cm mounted side by side on non metallic cross boom
Comet GP6  2m / 70cm Colinear mounted on a separate mast which also has a HB9CV for 4m (70Mhz)

Also shown:
Yaesu 5500 AZ Rotator mounted on a Barenco HD side mounting plate
Above the Rotator is a Yaesu Alignment bearing mounted on another Barenco side mount plate.
Two MicroPro Gaasfet Masthead preamps.. one each for 2m and 70cm .. hard switched from my HB station Controller / sequencer.
Also, a 250w rated Coaxial Relay which is controlled from the Shack. This allows switching the polarisation of the 2m Yagi via one coax feed.
The Rotator mounts directly onto the Top section of my SCAM Mast.
The poles from the Rotator are ex British Army HD Aluminium Poles that interlock in 1m sections... Super Strong !!!

A view of my station.... 30th January 2009
Kenwood TS-2000.. Yaesu G-5500 Az-El Rotator Controller
ALAN (aka Ameritron and other OEM Manufacturers) KW-520 Dual sensor HF-VHF-UHF SWR/Power meter
Alinco DM-330MW 30Amp SM Power supply
Check Changing Colours for Details of how to standardise the look of your shack

SGS SC230 Smart Tuner mounted on the outside wall for the past 10 years... 100% Operation every time
The long wire is less than 8ft above ground at it's lowest point and
no higher than 6m above ground at it's highest point. ...14g enam Copper wire only 38 feet long

Custom Designed and Built Antenna Connection Box.

The main reason for this box is to allow easy access to any and all of the coax lines I use, while giving me the facility
to totally disconnect ALL lines from the Radio mast into my House within SECONDS.

Why Go to this trouble ?
  Have you ever seem what damage occurs after a NEAR Lightening strike !!!!
Lightening doesn't have to directly strike your antennas to cause considerable damage to your equipment and Home.
I prefer to be safe and always disconnect the feeders whenever a Lightening Storm is predicted / expected

Eight N Type Female Connectors bringing 8 RF coax feeds from the shack.
Four are shown in use in the picture to aid clarity...  Currently I use 6 feeders... although only 4 are shown for clarity...the two additional sockets are
to allow future expansion with ease.

N Type 90 degree adaptors connect to specialist N Type Plugs for the Cellflex Coax lines each 20m long

The box also carries a multicore controller cable for my Rotator with a Plug / Socket
as well as a 3 pin connector for remote operation of my Scam mast.
I have also drilled three 12mm dia holes in the bottom of the box...  if water gets in there the holes will
ensure it drains out before water logging the coaxial feeders ... even though
everything inside the box is also protected with two coats of Electrolube Conformal Coating.

I can extend my mast from 12feet to 40feet AGL by simply flicking a switch in the shack.
It takes less than 30 seconds to extend and around 40 seconds to collapse.
The switch simply controls two 12v solenoid compressed air valves which allow air at 20psi to enter or escape from the Mast.
Note that this system will work on ANY pump up mast from the little Racal's to a SCAM 21meter beast !!

If you want details of my design as well as Tips on Mounting a Pump Up mast  CLICK HERE

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