Hi!

    Thanks for looking me up   Name here is Brian and my home is in Mill City / Gates Oregon. Population of about 1500.  

     I am serving as a preaching minister up here in the Santiam Canyon.  Watch out!  A preacher and a ham operator combination can make for a very long winded QSO! Ha!

     Currently I'm running an Icom 706 MIIG in the pickup truck into an AH-4 auto tuner which is feeding a simple 9 foot stainless steel whip.    So far, I am well pleased with the performance of such an easy to operate system.  I'm good on all bands 80-10 meters and with the push of one button I'm all tuned up and on the air.  No fuss, no muss.  

The AH-4 is a random wire tuner, and with that in mind, if I am stationary and need just a little bit extra, I carry a 60 foot long piece of coated wire with me and with a quick wrap around the end of the 9 foot whip, I string it out 60 feet and tie the end to what ever is available at the time. Even a 4 foot tall bush will do the trick.   Hit the tune button and talk away.   

Actually I've been so impressed with the AH4 that I am using a 2nd one in my 5th wheel trailer along with a Yaesu 857D.   I know, I know Icoms don't normally work with Yaesu's, but a 45$ interface made by Better RF called a "Yaesue Tune Control" makes it all possible.  

 These 2 Items work well togetherIn Mill City I use it to feed a 140 foot long sloper that is up 100 feet to the top and 12 feet at the bottom

 .But when on the road, I use it to feed an 80 foot wire that is suspended by 2 fiberglass telescoping flagpoles over the top of the trailer.  This simple set up works well. 

I hope to get some photos up at some point. I'll post them on my website at http://ww2k.org    

Well. I suppose that's all for now. See you on the air!   

-Brian-