NW7US

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      Managed by NW7US
Name:Tomas
QTH:Fayetteville
Country:United States
Grid:EM89
 
Web: https://nw7us.us
Tomas Hood
PO Box 110
Fayetteville, OH 45118
United States
 
Licensed since:Hidden
ITU: 8
CQ:4
State:OH
County:Brown
 
  
QSL via: LotW; SASE or via Clublog OQRS


This is the official Tomas David Hood - NW7US biography (updated: Feb 21, 2022)


 


ThenAndNow

Then, and, now. I've loved shortwave radio since the early 1970s.

When I was about nine years old, I got a hold of my parent's Sony Multiband Portable radio. I cannot remember which model. But it had four bands, FM, AM, LW, SW. I soon discovered that the SW selection held very strange and somewhat exotic sounds and stations.

As you might have guessed, SW stands for Shortwave (LW is for Longwave those frequencies below 530 KHz, AM is for the Amplitude Modulation mode, which is what is used in the domestic broadcast band (between 530 KHz and 1750 Khz or so), and FM (frequency modulation), the popular band of radio spectrum that everyone seems to enjoy, with music, talk, and other formats).

Shortwave describes the size of the radio wave used to transmit the signal that the radio can tune and listen in on.

As I began to discover not only odd, interesting noises and pops, whistles, and alien-like sounds, but also a great variety of radio stations from all parts of the world, I became deeply interested in the technical aspects of what made this little radio achieve such great magic. It seemed very magical that the BBC (England), RSA (Radio South Africa), CBC (Radio Canada International), Radio Australia, and so many more exotic stations, could be heard by me in the middle of Montana's Rocky Mountains. Hearing these signals lured me into listening and learning more about Shortwave Listening to the point that I was hooked for life.

I tried to get books about radio, electronics, and related information. Hard to come by for a nine-year-old. But I did get some support from my parents and friends, school, and library. I studied that until I knew it forward and backward. Tube theory, transistors (which were still a newer concept to the general consumer market, in the early 1970's), resistors, capacitors, and all the other doo-hickies and thing-a-ma-bobs that made all this magic of radio come into being.

How about you? Then, and, now?


I am a member of a number of clubs, groups, organizations. For instance, I am in SKCC member 4758s, FISTS member 7055, ARRL, Long Island CW Club, MDXC (Mediterranian DX Club), (SWODXA) Southwest Ohio DX Association, True Blue DXers Club member 1607, and others:

 


Tomas Hood - Life Member of the NRA   Tomas - Life Member of the American Legion   Tomas - Life Member of the Straight Key Century Club, Member Number 4758s   Tomas - Life Member of FISTS, Member Number 7055   NW7US - Life Member of the Long Island CW Club, Member No. 653   NW7US, Tomas - Mediterraneo DX Club member number 473   NW7US, Tomas - US Army Signal Corps Veteran   NW7US, Tomas - Member 0640 of the 30-Meter Digital Group (30MDG)   NW7US, Tomas - Member 4768 of the European Phase-Shift Club (EuPSK)   NW7US, Tomas - Member 4768 of the European Phase-Shift Club (EuPSK)

NW7US DXCC Mixed 200+   NW7US, Tomas - DXCC - Phone   NW7US, Tomas - DXCC - Data - 150+   NW7US, Tomas - DXCC - 20 Meters   NW7US Worked All States - Ohio   NW7US, Tomas - FT8 Digital Mode Club #124
 

Click this sentence to listen to the episode of QSO Today in which Eric interviews me about my journey through the radio hobby.

QSLing (Confirmation of our QSO):

You can send an SASE with your QSL card to me via postal service, and I will send a paper QSL back:

Tomas Hood / ARS NW7US
PO Box 110
Fayetteville, Ohio 45118

Or, my QSL is OK via eQSL, LotW, QRZ.com, or via the bureau (though, that is VERY slow).

PAPER QSL UPDATE: Now that I have finally moved into a house, and have a long-term address, I have obtained QSL cards. I will attempt to catch up with all of the QSL cards sent to me in the past... but the going will be slow. Do know that I plan on QSL returns to everyone. Just allow me a lot of time to catch up, please. Thank you.

Here is the final design, by Jeff, K1NSS, printed by KB3IFH Qsl Cards


My station, in Ohio

You may click on any image, to see a larger version in a new browser tab.

My main transceiver is the venerableIcom IC-7610:

The NW7US Operations Desk

which I control by using the Win4IcomSuite software.

For logging I am using Log4OM Version 2, with:

My Current Operations Desk

From here, I operate my amateur (ham) radio station, on Mediumwave and
Shortwave (shortwave is also known as HF, for, High Frequencies), and on VHF and above.

The NW7US Operations Desk

One of the most useful (and, to me, amazing) features of this Icom IC-7610, is the IP+ function, which, when turned on, improves the Intermodulation Distortion (IMD) quality by optimizing the direct sampling system performance. This function optimizes the Analog/Digital Converter (ADC) against distortion when you receive a strong input signal. It also improves the Third-order Intercept Point (IP3) while minimizing the reduction of the receiver sensitivity.

In short: I was listening to an s-0 weak signal of a DX station, when right adjacent to the frequency came an s-7 signal, wiping out my ability to copy that weak signal. I turned on the IP+ and the distortion of the adjacent signal disappeared, and once again, I heard the weak signal IN THE CLEAR! WOW!

My current shortwave (HF; High Frequency) antenna, used for receiving as well as transmitting, is an off-center-fed dipole antenna. The feed point is up at 50 feet, with one leg running Westward, and the other running Eastward. In the following images, you can see the actual orientation of the antenna.

Raw drawing of the off-center-fed dipole:

202103-raw-drawing-of-ocf-NW7US

In context, here is the raw drawing of the off-center-fed dipole, the azimuth of the two legs of the dipole, a rough plot superimposed on the satellite image of my home, and footprint on the 30-Meter Band (as an example of its performance):

20210411_OCF_Clg_lrg

 

My location at EM89ad:

Below: The next image shows my planned, new 160-meter full wavelength horizontal loop antenna. My new home is in Ohio, and this loop antenna will be my first main antenna that I will engineer and deploy once I am settled into the new home.

NW7US planned 568-foot 160-meter horizontal wire loop antenna at the Perry Township, Ohio radio station of NW7US

 

* * * *

I tend toward pursuing Morse code--by way of the tried-and-true CW (continuous-wave radio signal) keying either by a straight key (the typical up-and-down lever style of Morse code instruments), or a single-lever side-to-side paddle key that depends upon electronics to create the dits and dahs--the Icom IC-7610 has such a keyer feature, so I just plug in the key that you see, below, and the radio can be set to operate Morse code CW, keying dits when I move the lever to the right, and dahs when I push to paddle to the left. The keyer spaces everything out, I just have to control the sequence.

The Morse code key made for NW7US by N3ZN


On-air Activity of NW7US

NW7US CW Activity Reverse Beacon Spotting

Morse code activity as reported by the Reverse Beacon Network.

Go to the Reverse Beacon Network
Club Log
Clublog is an online database with a suite of powerful tools supporting active DXers.

Click for Clublog LiveStream

Once you have registered on Club Log and uploaded your log, you will be able to do a lot of cool things! Check it out.

Go to Club Log
Olivia Digital Mode
Olivia MFSK is my most favorite digital mode (other than CW).

I love OLIVIA digital mode!



Go to Olivia Digital Mode Community
HRDLog.net Logbook for NW7US
This is a listing of the most recent QSOs made by NW7US, as logged in the NW7US Logbook on HRDLog.net
QRZ.com Logbook for NW7US
This is a listing of the last 15 QSOs made by NW7US, as logged in the NW7US Logbook on QRZ.com


Go to the QRZ.com Logbook
 
NW7US Media
NW7US YouTube Channel
Here are some videos on my YouTube channel. Enjoy. Feedback is welcome - comment on the video page.
 

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel... you'll get updates!

The current station of NW7US; Icom IC-7610
 
About NW7US

To see a full, extended version of this page, please visit:
The complete bio of NW7US

 

Thanks for Visiting

Copyright © 1998-2022 · All Rights Reserved · Tomas Hood, NW7US




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