Besides motorcycles, and a few other things, I really enjoy ham radio. I have since I was about 12 years old, though there was a multi-decade break due to family life and work. Now that I’m back for a few years, I do operate from home but, even more, enjoy battery powered activity in the great outdoors. Whether camping, four-wheeling or motorcycling, I like bringing a radio, or two, sitting back with a cold one and reaching out on the airwaves to chat with interesting people and see how far my signal will take me.
After last year’s successful Moto DX Safari in which I went with friends ham radio camping with an Icom IC-7200 on a Honda Gold Wing, I decided to reprise the idea this year. Only this time I rode a 2016 Harley–Davidson CVO Road Glide Ultra to Temecula, Calif., to try out Icom America’s brand new IC-7300 rig with all the trimmings. The Ultra was a great choice, with its cavernous top case and panniers, to store gear, super-comfortable cockpit and its smooth and powerful ride that simply ate up the 150-mile, mostly freeway, ride to my destination.
The weather was warm and the skies sunny when I cruised into town and found the Doffo Winery, owned and operated by my friends Marcelo Doffo and his son Damian, a true family run winery. The various wines are delicious and, as important, the friendly atmosphere is a pleasure.
Doffo Winery Italian Motorcycles
Doffo Barrel Room
When in Southern California I highly recommend a visit. If you’re a motorcycle aficionado, I recommend you come to see the 100, or more, mostly vintage Italian bikes that litter the property with the best of all in the Barrel Room. Impressive is not a strong enough adjective. I will be following up this review with a travel story I’ll probably call “Harley meets Ducati at Doffo” and tell more about the sweet Ultra and the amazing Doffo Winery.
Even more importantly, for amateurs, Marcelo was once a ham and is radio friendly. Upon arrival, and after a glass of wine and some conversation, Marcelo pointed to the hill on the south end of the property. On it I found a few stone picnic tables covered by a permanent canvas fly.
The sun was out and a breeze was blowing the warm air through the tent-like structure and the far-off vistas were delightful to behold. This was truly a perfect spot in which to set up, hang out and operate the new equipment I was so excited about. Of course, I had been using the new radio for a couple of weeks before this date in order to acclimate myself to it….. READ MORE
WRTC Organizing Committee is proud to announce a 2023 edition of WRTC 2023 AWARD! This is NOT WRTC 2022 Contest that will be held in Bologna in July 2023! This is a WRTC 2023 AWARD for anybody who wants to have fun in radio chasing and look... Read more
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SteppIR Antenna This is another video from Pacificon 2022. I will interviewing another vender. John Mertel, WA7IR, for SteppIR. Watch to learn more. Read more
The Wolf River Sporty Forty is a single band base loaded coil for 40 meter operation using the Wolf River 213 inch, Chameleon CHA SS-17, or MFJ-1979 whips. Add the coil to your base of the antenna, extend the whip to its fullest length and the antenna will be resonate on the 40m band Read more
Here we take a look at and test the PT-GP1 HF Multiband Antenna. This can be used either portable, on hikes, sota, pota or even as a semi-permanent home installation with very little visual impace. PT-GP1 portable short wave antenna can work in the frequency range of 7MHz ~ 54MHz. It can be used in […] Read more
My current top 7 choices for portable antennas on Amazon. As an Amazon affiliate, I can earn commissions from qualifying items. Read more
Keeping track of changes when you are tuning ANY antenna is critical. Don’t rely on your memory for what you did, write it down. Read more
An amazing place and a unique and equally amazing antenna that you can hook up to! Ham Radio Operators, you can now broadcast and listen on the discone antenna at the Titan Missile Museum. When the Titan II became operational in 1963, its communication system included a large, broadband discone antenna that is still standing […] Read more
