Shack

I currently have no dedicated shack room, and operate from wherever I may roam or set up. I have a portable setup and a base station setup.

Accessories

Things that make things happen — TNCs, SDRs, power management, keys, and keyers.

Bencher JA-1 — Japan-only iambic paddle, circa 1945–1960. The JA-1 is a BY-1 with smoky finger pieces and the ST-1 spring tensioner.
G4ZLP DigiMaster CW Keyer — UK-made keyer with K1EL WinKeyer support. Works with every program I’ve thrown at it.
MFJ-550 — Your basic straight key. Cheap and plastic.
NucleoTNC — Kit-built TNC from Mobilinkd. Used for APRS and packet on VHF.

Very light on this one since I don’t have space or the antenna to use an amplifier, but I do own one — a Heathkit HA-14 with the HP-24 power supply.

We can never have too many options for antennas. A mix of homebrew and purchased wire antennas for HF, and a copper J-Pole for VHF.

40m-10m QRPGuys UnUnTenna — QRPGuys 40m-10m UnUnTenna.
40m/30m/20m QRPGuys Tri-Band Vertical — QRPGuys 40m/30m/20m Tri-Band Vertical.
2M Copper J-Pole — Gift from a fellow ham, built by KC0P. A testament to good workmanship.
40m Magnetic Loop — Made by W0IH. Manual tuning box.
80m–10m Random Wire EFHW — 55ft Random Wire EFHW with 9:1 UnUn by Nelson Antennas.
80m–6m ZS6BKW — Homebrew multiband wire antenna of ZS6BKW design.

Having rigs means you need power. I have acquired power sources that I have repaired or bought and work to keep my rigs on the air.

Samlex SEC-1223 — A well-designed, reliable, and RF quiet power supply!
Astron RS-50A — Repaired linear supply from a church organ set. Added an inrush limiter to stop tripping the breaker.
Kenwood KPS-21 — The Kenwood power supply that Kenwood claims doesn’t exist and Astron remains silent about.
Powerwerx SS-30DV — Switching supply on my portable case. Low noise, front-panel PowerPole ports.

I own more radios than I’d like to admit, but I guess you can never have too many radios… though it’ll seem I have a Kenwood disease…

Kenwood TK-880 — Because a guy can’t have too many Kenwood radios.
Kenwood TS-50S (v2) — HF rig which I bought from Japan. Battery and TCXO upgraded. Recapped.
Baofeng UV-5R Plus — Yet another Baofeng. Yes, they’re cheap.
Kenwood TK-790 — Old, but trusty. I got this for VHF packet access with a TNC.
Baofeng RD-5R — A DMR HT that I am using to test a multi-mode digital gateway project I am working on.
Yaesu FTM-400XDR — Another Yaesu, and not trusting the factory service on this one.
Kenwood TM-261A (v2) — Bought a second one and came with a custom TNC
Xiegu G1M — QRP Xiegu quad-band HF (80m/40m/20m/15m)
Kenwood TS-50S (v1) — [SOLD] HF rig which I bought from Japane. Battery and TCXO upgraded. Recapped.
Kenwood TM-261A (v1) — Purchased for an APRS digipeater project.
Baofeng UV-5R EX — My first HT. Gets me on the air, hits local repeaters.
Kenwood TS-850S — Solid Kenwood radio. TCXO upgraded, got WAS on 100W barefoot with this one.
QYT KT-8900D — Dual band base station from a fellow ham. Slow TX/RX but reliable.
Yaesu FT-2700RH — Gift from a fellow ham. VHF/UHF radio used for APRS and packet.
Yaesu FTM-400DR — [DEAD] Repaired once, then connected the PowerPoles backwards.
Yaesu FTM-7250DR — My first mobile rig. Dual band, C4FM and Wires-X capable.

The one tool that is the bane of our existence, but useful to have. You wish you didn’t have to use it, but glad that you have one.