DG4DW’s Blog

Hello everyone!

My hometown town is not far from Dortmund, at the eastern edge of the Ruhr area.

My German DOK : Z03

I am 48 years old, and have been a radio amateur since 2002.

Mike in the microwave contest 2008 (clubroom)

After gaining my first “basic” licence (as DO8DW) in 2002, I was only QRV on VHF and UHF. At that time in Germany, we were only permitted to transmit with a maximum of 10 Watts EIRP. Nevertheless, from the beginning, I always attempted to exploit the possibilities. I put together a good satellite-antenna array, with which (via satellite) I was able to contact nearly every continent within the space of a few months. Also, with ISS, in the first year of my licence, I had several QSO’s with Commander Valery Korzun.

Since the beginning of 2006, my station has been organised around short wave (HF) communication. Recently, I have also been QRV on the 6 metre band.

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There follows a description of my station: ICOM IC-7400; I use, turn and turn about, one of my Heathkit power amplifiers. I have started to collect Heathkit PAs! (At present, I have one SB-200,  and one SB-220.)

Shack from DG4DW, with 2 nice old Heathkit Amps

I have constructed the aerials/antennas myself. I use one dipole, with 2x 14m arms and 450 ohm feeder, and one portable dipole with 2x 27m arms and feeder. (Both G5RV type.) The height above ground is about 11 metres. With these antennas/aerials, I am QRV from 160m to 10m. My 6 M Yagi is broken, in an a big windstorm 2008. I plan a bigger one in 2010 .

I am mainly QRV on SSB, and sometimes in CW. The other digital operating modes don’t interest me at all at present. I started to teach myself CW early in 2006, as a result, my style is definitely not so good. Please excuse (me) / (my failings)!

For UHF and microwave, I have my ICOM 910-H transceiver and an old Kenwood TR-9000 as driver for the transverter At present,  only QRV at home, the shortwave bands, 6m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm, and 6cm.

In contest as a portable station QRV from 2m up to 76 Ghz!

My antenna system for VHF up to the microwaves

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Many thanks for reading this. I hope that we meet on-air again soon. My QSL cards are sent with 100% reliability, either via the bureau, or direct! You will find more information –> here on this blog!

Cheers and 73 de Mike, DG4DW