For the first pieces of hardware in my shack (aka corner of the unfinished basement), I followed the advice Dave Casler KE0OG provides in his reference station write up:
- Main HF rig – ICOM 7300
- Power supply – Samlex SEC-1235M
(I have to pause here to say that I’m a HUGE FAN of DX Engineering. They’re very close by (in Ohio) and my (many) purchases from them have all arrived lightning fast.)
After a lot of consideration, I chose the 7300 over the Yaesu 991a that many people also recommended because the 7300 is just so ubiquitous. There’s nothing you could want to know about ham radio that isn’t covered in a YouTube tutorial using the 7300 as an example. All the software supports it. It seemed like the most hassle-free choice for a first rig.
My Elmer K8RRT suggested a different antenna than the one in Dave’s reference station, one many local hams are using with great results. I was happy to follow his advice:
- MyAntennas EFHW-8010-2K-Plus
I’ve read many places that when you’re first getting started with your shack, you should leave yourself as much flexibility to change things around as possible. So instead of drilling a hole in my wall to bring feedline inside, I grabbed a window passthrough:
And finally, as I’ve been making a lot of cables for my tape measure yagi and my Ed Fong j-pole, and will be making more to get the EFHW 8010 into the shack, I picked up a soldering iron recommended by Josh in his review of his favorite gear of 2020:
Everything is here and set up now except the antenna. It’s scheduled to arrive Monday. Once I get it up, I’ll finally be able to get on the air in HF. I’m super excited.
