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KØCAT Richard C. 'Dick' Blumenstein Hickory, NC QCWA # 37720 Chapter 126 |
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My nickname is "Dick". I'm an Electrical Engineer and spent most of my career writing and testing embedded software in many different products and am mostly retired at this point. I look forward to making many new friends over the airwaves in the coming years.
Hickory, NC is about 1:30 hours E of Asheville and 1:15 NW of Charlotte, NC. I moved to Hickory in Dec 2015 from Port Orange, Florida.
I held a Novice license in 1983 as KA0RCV, but unfortunately dropped it when I became interested in aviation as a hobby and became a private pilot. I came back to the hobby in 2013 and got a General license. My initial equipment lineup is mostly vintage Collins S-Line with a 75S-3 Receiver, 32S-3 Transmitter, 312B-4 speaker/patch panel and a Heathkit SA-2060A antenna tuner. I had gotten the system/shack up and running in late December 2013. (I have since built a custom rolling shack bench and will soon be uploading the below photo for that, but in the meantime, here is the setup I had in Florida before my move to North Carolina).
Presently, I also have a Collins 30L-1 linear which I am refurbishing. Until I get some proficiency back with CW, I am still only using phone.
In February of 2016, I purchased a used 72' crank-up US Tower with a 20m beam, 2m/70cm vertical and an Alpha-Delta Sloper antenna covering 40, 80 and 160m. I was finally able to raise the tower in February 2018. This was one heck of a long project. When I first started building the shack bench and transitioned into building the tower, I contributed a monthly newsletter article to our club's newsletter. If you are really interested in seeing what it's like to go through building a tower site and a ham shack, you can see the entire process every month starting with the August 2016 newsletter which is here: n4lnr.org/newsletters
| In Dec 2014 I decided to join the "digital QRP age" and got an Elecraft KX3. In 2018 I added an Icom IC-7300. (However, my cat still like the Collins 32S-3 transmitter as it is very warm to lay on!). |
| Finally, if you want to learn about what's really happening in this world, check this out! I've been following Dr. Greer since the early 2000's. Quite a guy. He says he wishes he didn't know what he now knows: |
June 03, 2018