Welcome to K3VR.com

First item of business; if you ever hear a Canadian mentioning my call sign, abusing women and children, and using a lot of disgusting cuss words, please try to forgive him. He's been following me around for a years, but I don't believe he's as dangerous as he sounds. I don't think he's in full possession of his faculties and I don't think he can help it. As my old friend Riley says... Use the big knob, and remember -- We can't regulate stupid!

I own a lot of ham radio equipment and like a lot of you reading this, I have way more than I really need. I keep putting more and more of it on shelves and in boxes, and one of these days I'll probably even sell some of it. There are a few pieces of gear I'll hold onto until they put me in the ground, and then, who knows what will happen?

One of those items is my big Johnson Matchbox, transmatch. The Johnson Matchbox (according to my old friend Jim) looks like a small washing machine that was built in the 50's. He's right. It has 3 huge knobs on the front and it has a built in SWR meter. As K8KAS says, Great tuner for balanced fed antennas. When you look for current balance and low tuner loss this tuner is tops. It is possible to lose up to 6db with T Type tuners and baluns feeding a balanced line. That's 3/4 of your power wasted in tuner and balun loss. I own two KW Matchbox(es), I would never part with them.

Another item I'll hang onto is my Alpha 99 amplifier. It's fairly quiet, has a built in peak reading watt meter and SWR indicator, and it's very easy to tune. I've owned a few Alpha amplifiers and they work really well. Believe it or not, this amplifier has actually increased in value by about $800 since I bought it eight years ago.

My favorite receiver is my Motorola R-390A. I had one several years ago and I sold it to a fellow who restored it to good as new condition. After a few years I began to miss it and I bought another one and had it restored. All of the modules are made by Motorola. The front panel was sand blasted and silk screened. The covers and tube shields are all new and the specs are better than a unit that recently rolled off the assembly line. This is a very late serial number ( #6535 ) for this particular Phila 56 contract.

The modules are serial numbers XF #4529; AF #2005; IF #5036; OSC #6908; RF #7583; GT #3490; PTO #2745.

Mike Melland has a great page devoted to his R-390A. Mike says, R-390A's were re-activated for duty in the Gulf.... the blowing sand and associated static caused problems with many solid state receivers... so the R-390A's were called back into service and performed wonderfully. The R-390A's -147 dB noise floor makes it the most sensitive receiver I own. As an example of the pinacle of receiver performance this radio's general sensitivity is .3 microvolts or better on most all bands in AM using a 4 KC filter.

I have several transceivers, too many to mention really. My favorite transceiver is a software defined model made by Flex Radio in Texas. I also enjoy an older Icom 756 ProII and a Yaesu FT-990 which was extensively modified for enhanced AM reception. It was a poor performer prior to the modification but it's and excellent short wave listening radio today.

I own a few portables that are fairly well known. The best of the portables is the Grundig Satellit 650. It's the most sensitive and it has the best sound, although it's hardly portable at over 20 pounds.

Another classic favorite is the Panasonic RF-2200. Another is a somewhat beat up, but finely tweaked Grundig Satellit 500 which has seen better days. And the one I bring to the rifle range and the beach, is the Grundig G5. Nothing like listening to Led Zepellin when you're in your ghilllie suit blasting steel targets at several hundred yards.

I used to have a more information here about my wife and family, but with pedophiles, whackos, and stalkers in abundance, you can't be too careful these days. My wife is a former actress/model (really) and I actually talked her into getting her ham license a few years ago. She enjoyed chatting on 2 meter FM repeaters until I bought her a car with very little room for a radio. Now she goes to the gym and shuttles the kids to sports practice and music lessons but she has little time for radio. She also likes those old Edith Wharton stories and anything with English sounding actors in period costumes. Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and... I'll never understand that.

Looking around the shack here, I see Wattmeters, 2 meter radios, HT's, old CW keys... about a million cables and connectors. I need to get rid of this junk! On the other hand, maybe I'll will it to one of my radio friends. After I kick the bucket, whoever gets it can come with a U-Haul and my wife can have her spare bedroom back.

When I have time for ham radio, which is not often these days, you can find me on 160 and 40, or on 20 meters.

I was elected to the board of the Southwest PA DX Association this year and I didn't even run for the position. With friends like that... I like long conversations, AM, and very rare DX. I've worked all states, all zones, and most countries, but there are still a few ultra-rare entities I keep an eye out for. I'm good on QRZ if you need to get in touch with me. I use eQSL and the QRZ logbook. See you on the air!