Amateur Radio Station K2KV
Just for fun. Long ago, an active award-winning multi-operator contest station located on the north shore of Long Island, NY.
How it All Began
It started with a very early interest in radio-electronics that began way back in 1958 (or so), when I was around 12 years old. I was a voracious reader, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next issue of Popular Electronics, an experimenter’s delight. I experimented with all sorts of things, like jamming two ground posts into the back lawn in order to communicate via 60hz carrier with a friend who lived eight blocks away. We mostly got lots of 60-cycle noise in my headphones, but quests like that really kept me going.
I had a shortwave radio, and enjoyed discovering and listening regularly to lots of Communist propaganda from around the globe; I sent off radio reports to all those stations, received many confirming QSL cards and even got a free subscription to Radio Czechoslavakia, always opened and re-sealed by US postal authorities before it arrived.
I was 12. I had enormous fun.
Front of The House ca 1990
About The Tower
“The tallest legal amateur radio tower on Long Island”
US TOWER HDX572MDPL Heavy Duty 72-foot motorized tower with positive pull-down, upper and lower limit switches, thrust bearing plus custom-fabricated, installed and welded locking mast tube (to facilitate easy installation and rotor removal if necessary, as well as to provide additional strength),
Heavy Duty optional Tiltover Fixture
Yaesu G-2800SDX Rotor and controls on each of the two upper antennas
24-foot Chrome moly 2″x1/4 mast
KLM KT-34XA Tribander
KLM KT-34A Tribander
KLM 40M4 4-element “world class” 40-mtr beam
VHF/UHF Vertical on top, bringing total height to 100 feet
All antennas had rivets added to most joints during construction. This approach reinforces electrical conductivity and overall strength, and also facilitates very easy take-down and replacement of elements for cleaning, etc., without having to re-measure everything. All three antennas are “dual driven” and offer virtually “NO-TUNE” performance all the way from CW to SSB on all bands with only very few exceptions at the far extremes. In addition, we built custom-made side trusses for the 40-mtr beam to prevent its very large 42-foot boom from whipping around in the wind.
It was a beautiful thing.
Welcome to The Shack
Welcome to The Shack
Working the World
Funny, but I can’t possibly remember exactly how many countries we had eventually worked and confirmed over the years. I do know that we had more than 200 each on CW and phone (SSB). After all, we ran a full-power contest station with three major antenna arrays pointed to all parts of the world, plus a nearly 400-foot-long dipole pointed directly at southeast Asia, which put us squarely on the map — and on most packet boards — on 40 and 80 metres.
Helicopter Tour
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Downtown San Francisco
Waterfall Tour
Nature Hike
Operating Position
Three DOS-386 Computers
As a multi-operator contest station, we needed three separate positions. During the biggest contests, other ops would bring addition transceivers, hook up to our various antennas, and work and log their own contacts, all using the same call, k2kv.
The Gear
Main Radio was a Yaesu MP-1000 into an ALPHA 87A Amp delivering a full 2000 watts of RF into a rather wonderful — though not always so happy — Dentron MT-3000 tuner.
For contesting, we had both CW and voice memory keyers: you can see the MorseMatic under the middle computer screen, the QRZ Voice keyer just to the right of my right elbow.
Two packet stations, three dentron SWR meters, an endless number of homemade audio-switching boxes. 2-meter xceiver above the tuner (mostly for packet).
Lots of stuff I can’t possibly remember, somewhere in the room. I’m putting this together during February 2021, while the Pandemic rages on. The station dates back to early 1990s.
Come on in!
LOTS OF FUN, and many awards, too! Sorry about the reflection — back then, we didn’t have digital cameras, so this drugstore photo was copied, and the telltale reflection remains.
The Gang at Work
Competitive contest stations always require a dedicated team, especially since most contests run 48 hours — all weekend, all around the clock. It can be brutal!
Left to right: Jeff K2KV, Jerry WM2V, George N2GA, Diane N2GO, Mel KS2G
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There’s more to come…
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