This site is dedicated to my Amateur Radio hobby. Amateur Radio is also known as Ham Radio. This site is a work in progress, just like my life!  It is designed with the spirit of amateur radio. My current interest in Ham radio is ragchewing (just casual conversation) on HF (High Frequency) and casual DX'ing. The picture above is of my Heathkit SB-200 linear amplifier idling with the cover off and the lights off.  Nice glow huh?  Look around and enjoy the site. Visit my guestbook and sign it if you are so inclined.

 

My name is John D. Tate.  I was born in Lafayette, LA in 1966.  I grew up in the suburbs.  I always loved electronics.  I remember being a small kid and twirling through my AM transistor radio and picking up KAAY in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The program was Beaker Street and it played the psychedelic rock that was popular in those days, the late 60s and early 70s.  I was amazed at being able to hear a station way up in the next state.  I can also recall catching Denver, Colorado tv stations on UHF before cable TV came to our home.  This started my fascination with radio signals.

After graduating high school in 1984, I enrolled in University of Southwestern Louisiana with a General Business major.  I was bored so I switched to Southern Technical College and pursued a 2 year degree in Electronics Technology.  I also married and later fathered two awesome boys.  After spending the late 80s and the 90s building and maintaining computer networks for small business and schools, the Universe threw me a curveball.  After the dust settled, I found myself living alone and pursuing my Amateur Radio hobby.  I now work as a dispatcher at night (imagine that, radios and computers!).  I love life and can't wait to be in the next Great Adventure!!

KX5JT station

My station consists the following equipment. First I start with my microphone which is an MXL 990 studio condensor microphone by Marshall Electronics. This gives me excellent sensitivity and a really flat response curve. Using a XLR microphone cable, the audio from the mic is fed into a Behringer VX-2000 audio processor which provides downward expander and compression. This is then mixed through a Berhinger mixer and fed into a W2IHY iBox that I put together from a kit. Fun project! I feed the audio from the iBox into the mic connector of a Kenwood TS-570DG. The radio then feeds a custom paint black Heathkit SB-200 with 2 Sylvania 572B tubes. This amplifies my signal to about 600 watts and feeds a G5RV setup as an inverted vee. The apex is at 33 ft and the ends are at 9 ft. I also own a few MFJ tuners.

KX5JT radio station is always changing and improving!

You can email me at johndtate@post.com anytime.  Please visit my QRZ page at www.qrz.com/kx5jt