VE9GC - Gordon
I was first licensed in 1978 as VE3LJL in
Hamilton, Ontario. I moved to New Brunswick in March of 1981 and
was issued with VE1AVQ.
When New Brunswick was assigned the VE9 prefix,
I applied for and was granted VE9GC.
I am a former commercial radio operator with
several years of shipboard experience and operated VE1AVQ/MM on numerous
occasions. I have fond memories of fine QSO's with my IC-735 running
barefoot into the main ships long wire antenna. A couple of hundred feet
of wire some 50ft over the salt water sure worked well!
Like many hams, I have an eclectic mix of
equipment. Some old, some newer but all well loved. My base station is
comprised of the following:
As of March 2010, there are a National NCX-3
tranceiver, a Yaesu FRG-7000 reciever, a National NC-109 receiver, an Icom IC-765 and a Yaesu FT100D. I have to admit I miss my old Viking
Valiant II and NC-303 combo. The mercury vapour rectifiers in the Valiant had
such a wonderful glow.
On VHF / UHF I run a
Yaesu FT-7800. The FT-100D covers the VHF / UHF SSB and CW
modes.
A couple of Yaesu VX-5R round out the rig collection Nice little
handheld serves me well.
Antennas at the moment are restricted to some
verticals and a low slung G5RV. One vertcal is a Butternut "hybrid". I had parts of a Butternut HF6VX that was missing a couple of pieces of tubing. I had an old 5 band trap vertical (Hygain?) that had suffered a major bending at the base. Well, I salvaged some tubing from the the old 5 band vertical and along with a trip to Princess Auto where I found an aluminum extension handle for who knows what. Some cutting and drilling and a little while later I had what mostly resembles a Butternut on the air. An ice storm took out the tower and beams and
they are on the list of things to be eventually replaced. Well I have procured an old tower, I just have to get it transported to here and will get it up along with the Wilson System 2 that came with it. For those who
may be interested, the QTH is located at Grid Square FN76og (46 15 12 N 64 47 24
W) elevation is 82 metres (269ft.) above sea level. For current local area
weather conditions just click here
Worked me fixed or mobile? QSL Here if you wish
Mobile
My mobile station is comprised of an almost vintage Audi 100
that sports an Icom IC-706MK2 for HF and a Kenwood TM-G707A on VHF and
UHF. The antennas are a Nagoya SG7200 dual band, a Diamond SG-7900 dual
band and a KJ7U Shorty II 160-6 meter for HF. The Shorty II attracts its
fair share of stares and has been photographed on several occasions by
passersby's. Fortunately the Audi has sufficient trunk space to hold
them all. It is also blessed with a rather well bonded body so grounding
is not too much of an issue. If you want more info on the KJ7U line of
antennas, click here.
The current HF install works quite well with a 6ft whip from MFJ on top of the Shorty II. It is fed with RG8 Coax.. The Shorty II is mounted on a home fabricated
penta mag mount. That's right, 5 magnets. It is a composite setup up that is
part MFJ Goliath, tri mag mount and another tri mag mount that I had here. A
quad mount would probably suffice, though with the size and weight of the Shorty
II I decided against taking chances. It has proven itself stable at 120Km/hr (
75 mph). I avoid low trees, and drive through's. Frequently asked questions
include: "What is that?" , "Is that a flux capacitor?". Yes, I have been told it
looks like the trunk of the DeLorean from "Back to the Future".
The VHF / UHF antennas are comprised of a Nagoya SG-7200 which I have hooked
up on the IC-706 VHF side and a Diamond SG-7900 for the Kenwood dual bander. I
have heard some criticism of the size of the SG-7900. For me it is not an issue
as it is shorter than the Hustler Hustler CGT-144 Collinear it replaced.
Both the Icom and the Kenwood are remote mounted. The Icom is mounted to the
bulkhead aft of the rear seat in the trunk. The Kenwood is mounted under the
rear seat adjacent to the battery compartment. The Kenwood control head is
mounted on the dash to the passenger side of the centre console. The 706 control
head is mounted on a RAM
Mount goose neck on the passenger side of the centre console.
Manuals, Manuals Manuals!
I have over 12GBs of various manuals. I can not post them all here
as I don't have that much server storage space (remember this is not a
commercial venture, it's all funded by me). If you are looking for a manual use
the contact me link below and give me the details. I will search my collections
and get back to you. Hopefully I will have a catalog page set up in the near
future showing all the manuals I have. Only problem will be keeping it up to
date as I keep obtaining more. Check the links below, I add manuals as I find them. I am not in the business of selling manuals. I can provide cerlox or spiral bound paper copies or CD /DVD copies for the cost of reproduction and postage. Have some that I don't? Want to share? Just let me know.
|
ICOM ManualsHere you will find some Icom manuals. Some
are fairly rare others very common. Feel free to browse and use. Please do
not download for resale. I provide them for free and you should too. |
Kenwood Manuals I have collected various Kenwood Manuals
over the years. Feel free to browse and use. Please do not download for
resale. I provide them for free and you should too. |
|
Yaesu Manuals Check out my Yaesu manual collection. It
is far from complete, but feel free to browse. Please do not download for
resale. I provide them for free and you should too. |
Misc Manuals - Amateur Radio, Computer related Some
Drake, Collins, Heathkit, National, Swan, WRL, Butternut, Compaq. Feel free to browse and use.
Please do not download for resale. I provide them for free and you should
too. |
|
Operating Modes Though primarily on
voice, I still enjoy CW and have the capabilities of RTTY and other
digital modes on HF. I am currently setting up an IRLP simplex node that
will operate with the call sign VE9GEC. I am hoping that at some point it
will become a low power repeater that will be linked to IRLP. |
VE9GEC I recently acquired
this call sign for use with my IRLP node and for a future repeater. The
call is in memory of my late father Gordon Edmund Cotton (7 Aug 1918 - 9
Apr 2003). Though he was never a ham operator he was always supportive of
all my endeavours. As a former RCAF navigator he was pretty good at morse
recognition. Gone, but not forgotten, Thanks Dad! |
