Station — WY6Y

Radios

Radio	Role
Yaesu FTDX10	Main shack rig. Runs 20m/40m digital modes most of the day, switches to 3.916 MHz SSB every night for the local Freewheelers & Trivia net.
Icom 718	Offline backup rig with an external tuner. Earned my first DXCC on FT8 during COVID, paired with a since-retired attic antenna.
Xiegu G90	QRP travel/portable rig. Lives in a custom ammo-can-and-walnut enclosure with its own LiFePO4 battery box for backyard operating.
TYT TH-9800 ×2	Dual-band mobile rigs — one in the truck, one in the shack. The shack unit runs EchoLink, VARA FM Winlink, and the WY6Y-7 APRS digi/IGate.
Yaesu FT70D	VHF/UHF handheld for backyard portable ops.
BTECH UV-PRO	Handheld with a built-in KISS TNC for on-the-go packet.
Yaesu FL2100B	Linear amplifier, inherited from a Silent Key estate — my first amp.

Antennas

80m all-band doublet — primary HF antenna, 110ft end-to-end out in the woods, fed through windowline, a 1:1 balun, and a remote tuner. "A real barn burner."
Emcomm III-B end-fed — paired with the FTDX10.
133' EFHW — flat-top in a tall backyard tree, primarily feeding an SDR receiver, with backup-HF duty if the doublet ever goes down.
2m/70cm J-pole (attic) — storm-weather backup VHF/UHF antenna.
Tram dual-band base antenna — primary 2m/70cm antenna, outdoor mount, ~30ft AGL.
Hidden vertical — 17ft whip + radials on a tree sapling, deliberately inconspicuous, feeds the aux shack.
Mag loop — home-built, 20m–10m, butterfly variable capacitor. Full build documented on YouTube.
Portable kit — 17ft whip, homebrew 49:1 EFHW, and a novelty 40m dipole built from a popsicle stick and lamp cord.

Shack

Main shack is up in the attic, with a small window AC unit keeping it livable and a proper single-point ground system — bonded to the service entrance, with every piece of equipment grounded through a bus bar and lightning arrestors on every coax run entering the room. A second shack in the study handles CW practice in comfort, and the backyard sees regular portable operating with the QRP kit.

Operating Style

Self-described "ALL MODES" — SSB, FT8, PSK31, Winlink, and increasingly FreeDV, often more than one at a time. Net Control for the MORI Tech Net on the Aeronautical Center Amateur Radio Club repeater (146.985 MHz, PL 141.3) out of Oklahoma City. Still working on CW — actively learning, not there yet. Elmer: KX0U.

QSL

Logs go up to QRZ and LOTW after every session. Direct QSL cards are always welcome — no return postage needed. Full details on my QRZ.com page.

ON THE AIR 73 DE WY6Y

WY6Y

Amateur Radio Station · Stephen Houser · Edmond, Oklahoma

QSL CARD — CONFIRMING TWO-WAY RADIO CONTACT