N5ITO – N5ITO

New Location – The Move to EM22

Jan 12th, 2030 I sold the property in Mt Vernon, Texas (EM23) after being there over 20 years. I moves a few miles south to a little town called Winnsboro, Texas. I am now located in EM22. The radio station was all packed up and boxed for the move. It took 4 days to tear everything down from 20 years of building. I thought I would never be moving from that location. Things change, life goes on. SO now I’m a few miles from my daughter, who happened to decide to buy a new house 1.5 blocks away. Talk about getting closer to your kids in your old age.

My EM23 location was 4 miles outside of town on 4 acres. I had farm land on all sides of over 50-75 acres on all sides. I had zero RFI issues and the bands were always a joy to work. Now, I have set up the radios ( IC-7300/IC-9700) on the desk with just loops for 50/144 outside the window at 25 feet just to get on the air. I’m seeing a constant 2-3 S-units of noise floor at all times. This will have to be worked on. I strung a brand new Radio Wavz DX-80 OCF Di-pole last week 20 feet off the ground for testing. After 3 days it shorted out and is now junk. I always had good luck with this brand and antenna. I ran one for 6 years in EM23 with great results. We’ll see what can be done with it. It’s been on the cold side for the last few days with rain and makes it hard to do any work outside.

I have put the first 3 sections of new tower up and will continue to build it back as much as I can as weather permits. The base is a cut 10ft section down to 6 feet and 4 feet in a 2×2 slab of concrete. It’s bracket mounted to the roof’s eve at 10 feet, attached to the 2nd section of tower. I then places the 3rd section and slid the Hazer over that section. This will at least allow me to drop the antennas to be worked on down to roof level for maintenance if required. I’d rather work on antennas at 10 feet while standing on the roof, then 40 feet in the air hanging off the side of the tower. The mast will be the same mast used in EM23. A 2″ solid 1/8″ wall 20 foot mast. I have been using the mast for over 20 years. It can be seen in other location pictures I have posted here. The most I’m going to raise the tower is maybe 1 more 10 foot section. This will place the tower at at height of 35 feet. Add the mast and the top antenna will be standing just over the 50ft level. Far from the EM23 location with the tower at 55ft and the mast reaching 70ft height. But moving to the city does cause issue. I don’t have all the space for the guy wires required for that height. 35ft will be just enough to not use guys as the house bracket will provide support and only 20ft or so will be above that mark. I still have room for a 80M OCF Di-pole and will work on that AGAIN once it’s up.

Current I have a 6M and 2M on a temp tower just to listen to the bands. I have ordered a side arm mount with a 7 foot mast attached to stand off 36″ off the side of the tower. I’ll be stacking 2 each of the 2M loops and the 6M loop on this side arm at the top of the new tower. I used a single 2M loop for contest in the past at 35 feet and it worked great in unison with my M218XXX at 70 feet. This setup will give me a loop at about 40 feet with a stacked loop at the 35 foot level also. 3db gain over last location. Plans are to mount the M2-18XXX at the 50 foot level on the mast IF I can get clearance from the trees around the house. It is a 36 foot boom and requires a lot of room to spin. If that can be worked out the 33 foot boom on 432 and the even smaller boom for 1296 will be a breeze. The 5ele 6M beam will not be an issue. Still debating if I want to raise the A4S tri-bander with the 40M addon-kit or just work off the DI-pole. For the last 4 years the A4S has not been in the air and I was happy with the OCFDs results. But this was out in a low noise area. OCFDs tend have have a little higher noise floor and I was seeing it with testing. This will have to be worked on as I build back the station.

I created a YouTube channel of this move from start to finish. I’ll be posting update there in hopes to maybe help a few new hams getting setup. After all I am starting from scratch here. I have lots of gear to work with, but this location in the city will add issues I have never had to deal with. Higher noise floor, RFI, tower limits, and NEIGHBORS. Yes the one behind me has already started glearing as she saw me planing the first tower base. More tower and antennas scattered all over the yard, hundreds of feet of LMR-600 rolled up. I bet she thinks I’m nuts.. But ya, some of are! AT any rate follow me on YouTube, like, comment, and please subscribe!

ARRL June VHF Contest 2019

I’ll be operating from EM23jd the whole contest with no sleep and 2 coffee pots going. I have spent the last 4 months rebuilding the whole antenna/tower system and fine tuning it with new LDF5 feed lines and flat SWR on all bands. I’ll be working 4 bands ( 50/144/432/1296) instead of 5. The 222 Transverter decided it wanted to give up during testing this week so I lost a band and can not get a replacement in time.
I only know of 2 Hams that work contest periodically from EM23 and most run single band IF they operate. If you need a multiplier watch for me or send me a sched request and we’ll make it happen for any band or mode.

I rotate the beams by the clock when calling CQ
00:00 – North
00:15 – East
00:30 – South
00:45 – West

Good on QRZ or send me a message. Will also be on PJ chat. email also

FT8/MS/CW/SSB/MSK144/JT65B
6M: 5ele @ 65 ft 100W
2M: M2-18XXX @ 70ft 1KW
432: M2-432-13WL @ 75ft 100W
1296:M2-23CM35 @ 80ft 50W
Loops for monitoring 6M @ 45feet 2X2M @ 40ft

See you on the air I hope! N5ITO / EM23 https://n5ito.us

Tower Up to 57 feet!

The Rohn 25 VHF/UHF tower has been sitting at 37 feet for a while as I build the station up. My Son had a chance to come out and help get it to the 57′ mark this weekend. So now with the hazer and the 24′ two inch mast the 1296 yagi should be sitting at the 80 foot mark with each band dropping down a little more till the 6 Meter yagi at bottom. When done I should be on 5 bands and ready for June 2019 VHF Contest…. I hope..

Progress and Complete

Views From the top all directions

Update 05/26/2019 : Tower upgrade complete.. Hazer at the top with VHF/UHF beams in operation. All test show wonderful results!

6 Meter Harris 1KW Amp project

SSPA 48 Volt 44 Amp Power Supply

This page should document the build of a 6M/50Mhz kilowatt SSPA Harris amp. The plan is to build a cabinet out of a metal File cabinet on wheels that looks nice and clean to house a single PSU for all of the SSPA amps in the works. But first to get a 6M amp built and running. I have tube HF and 2M amps now, but will be upgrading to SSPA amps for all the bands to get full legal limits on all bands. While most people using the SSPA Harris and Larcan amps use the HP PSUs. The HP server power supplies work well, but have high fan noise, and are pretty bad EMI generators. You must take extra measures to reduce the EMI emissions. On EME, even one or two dB of extra noise is not acceptable.

From N5TM’s page I found this information and asked a few questions. Then off to eBay I went. The RKW 15-22K is adjustable from 10 to 18V and delivers 22A. These power supplies are designed to be run in parallel with provisions for master/slave and current balance. So with a pair you have 44A. If you put three pairs of these in series you have 53V at 44A. These Kepco RKW power supplies are extremely well made and meet the very strict EU emissions requirements. No noise emissions from the new power supplies for the SSPA.

I found them on eBay and I bought six of them for $37 each.

And it begins..

Henry Tempo 2002 2 Meter Amp

Latest to to hit the shack ! A MINT Henry Tempo 2002 .
Sure makes 2M MS much more enjoyable!

Power Input: 2000 Watts (1000 watts for CW and FM)
Output Power: 1000 SSB, 500 Watts FM/CW
Freq Range: 144 – 148 Mhz
Drive Power Required : 50-100 Watts
Tubes: Eimac 8874 grounded grid

432-13WLA, 430-436 MHz

Well the 432 yagi is now ready to get put on the tower… Another step towards operation.. Here it is laying next to the 2 Meter 2M18XXX and the 6 meter A50-5S. This think is massive with 38 elements at 30.3 feet long with 20.5 db gain!

On a slow day you build extra long antenna’s in the store show room LOL.. Ok it was over 100 degrees outside..

M2 2M18XXX, 144-146 MHz

Well the 2 Meter 2M18XXX yagi from M2 is assembled and ready to be put on the tower when it’s finished.. My last station had the 2M5WL and this thing is even larger.. Talk about a well build and massive antenna.. Can’t wait for the tower to be ready and have this mounted.. Next to assemble is the 432 Mhz 432-13WLA. Below is the 2M18XXX laying next to the Cushcraft A50-5S. When complete with all of the antennas, I’ll have all bands 50Mhz to 1296 Mhz.

Origin of the Name “HAM” for Amateur Radio Operators

If you search the Web for the origin of the term “HAM” for radio amateurs, you will find two or three accounts that are evidently most believed. However, this version seems to be the most credible. It was provided to me by a very active and accomplished HAM, Mr. Cornell D., who is not given to propagating bad information. I tried unsuccessfully to locate an original version of the “Florida Skip Magazine” from 1959. If anyone has a copy that can provide a scan of the article, it would be a great service to all HAMs if you could send it to me for posting. Thanks.

All copyrights acknowledged, but unknown

Why radio amateurs are called “HAMS”
(from Florida Skip Magazine – 1959)

Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called “HAMS?” Well, it goes like this: The word “HAM” as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first amateur wireless stations operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were ALBERT S. HYMAN, BOB ALMY and POOGIE MURRAY.

At first they called their station “HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY”. Tapping out such a long name in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed it to “HY-AL-MU,” using the first two letters of each of their names. Early in 1901 some confusion resulted between signals from amateur wireless station “HYALMU” and a Mexican ship named “HYALMO.” They then decided to use only the first letter of each name, and the station CALL became “HAM.”

In the early pioneer days of unregulated radio amateur operators picked their own frequency and call-letters. Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals than commercial stations. The resulting interference came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activity. In 1911 ALBERT HYMAN chose the controversial WIRELESS REGULATION BILL as the topic for his Thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator DAVID I. WALSH, a member of one of the committees hearing the Bill. The Senator was so impressed with the thesis is that he asked HYMAN to appear before the committee. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the BILL went through that they would have to close down the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations.

Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and little station “HAM” became the symbol for all the little amateur stations in the country crying to be saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations who didn’t want them around. The BILL finally got to the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the “…poor little station HAM.” That’s how it all started. You will find the whole story in the Congressional Record.

Nation-wide publicity associated station “”HAM” with amateur radio operators. From that day to this, and probably until the end of time in radio an amateur is a “HAM.”

How to Perfectly Clean Wires in Minutes!!!

Here is an old ham radio operators trick for cleaning wires for soldering that are old and corroded. It is hard to find this technique printed anywhere! I am a ham, N5ITO.

Normally, if you strip a wire, and see it is corroded, there is not much you can do to restore it’s shiny new conductive properties. There is scraping and scratching which comes to mind, but you’ll never get it to the solderable slickness it once was long ago. After laboring and fretting over the corroded pieces of wire for a long, long time, you see that your sweat coming out of your palms and fingers are corroding the copper AGAIN!!!! Oh, dear. NOT TO WORRY!!!!! Give yourself a pat on the back, because what you will pull out of your bag of tricks now, will send all the corroded copper wires scurrying and scampering away in fear!!!! Here is how to clean any corroded wire without even touching it, in 30 seconds!! And what’s more, you can even solder it!!!

This process uses two solutions, one is regular table salt and vinegar. Any kind of vinegar will work, from balsamic, to rice, to white vinegars. Its the acidity and corrosiveness of the salt and vinegar together that you want. The other solution is Sodium Bicarbonate, or baking soda, and water. This is used to neutralize the corrosive properties of the other solution, and to further clean the wires.

Step 1: Strip the wires to be cleaned.

Step 2: Get 2 containers, one for each solution. They can be paper cups, plastic, glass, bowls, whatever you can find. I have vials, because I am a professional electronics installer and I use these solutions out in the field.

Step 3: Get 1 tablespoon of raw salt, and put it in one of the containers. Fill up the rest of the container with vinegar, and stir the both together. As a general rule of thumb, put as much salt in the vinegar as will dissolve.

Step 4: Get 1 tablespoon of Sodium Bicarbonate, (baking soda) and add it to the other container. Fill up the rest with water, and stir well. Add more baking soda to make it cloudy. The amount is not important, as long as it is alkaline to cancel the acid of the vinegar solution.

Step 5: Put the stripped end of the wire in the vinegar solution, and stir the solution with the wire. any wire you want cleaned needs to be under the solution. Movement of the wire in the liquid speeds up the process.

Step 6: After 2 minutes or so, the wire will look very shiny and new in the vinegar solution. The acid and salt in the solution is etching away the oxides, exposing the bare metal. Make sure the metal is uniformly shiny. Leave it in longer if it is not perfectly clean throughout.

Step 7: Once the wire is satisfactorily clean, remove the wire from the vinegar, and plunge it into the baking soda solution to neutralize the acid’s corrosive properties. If the wire was exposed to the air, without neutralizing the acid first, it would quickly corrode again. The baking soda keeps it clean and shiny. Swish the wire around in the baking soda water for about 10 seconds, and then you are done!! Shiny new wire ready for soldering, and conducting once again!!