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
Introduced at Hamvention for the US market the new Comet CAT-300 tuner will handle 300 watts and covers 160 through 6 meter amateur radio bands. Comet CAT 300 300 Watt Antenna Tuning Unit The CAT-300 is a quality 300 Watt antenna tuner whic... Read more
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Inflatable Satellite Antenna GATR 2.4m Inflatable Ku & C Band Satellite Antenna VSAT Satcom Deployable Up for auction is an GATR 2.4m inflatable antenna for Ku and C Band. This unit is in good physical and working condition.I also have a 1.8m GATR, see my other auction for details.Comes With The Following Components In Six […] Read more
Did you know, not all Toroids are created the same? They may look the same, but there is one big difference! UPDATE: I’m sorry, in the video I was saying magnesium sink when it’s manganese zinc. thanks to fep Labs radio for pointing that out, sometimes doing videos early in the morning are a bit […] Read more
COBWEB ANTENNA Multiband cobweb antenna works on 7 HF bands and up to 1000w. Bands are 14,18,21,24,28,50,70 MHz Built and modified by me for my friends and other radio hams. This antenna has sides of the square 2.65 x 2.65 m, and is very useful where space is limited.This antenna works well as an antenna […] Read more
The Diamond HF Mobile “CL” Series Antennas are a bit special. Centre Loafing is claomed to be superior to base loafing. Peter G3OJV, tests out the 20m model. Other models cover the bands 10m = 80m. The Diamond HF20CL 20m is a portable antenna that is especially beneficial in sitations where compact size is essential. […] Read more
“In this video we cover the assembly, installation and testing of the 3000N Discone for use on an SDR and home scanner.” Ultra-wideband design 25 to 3000 MHz receive, 50-1200 MHz transmit (6m tunable for transmit)• Compact and lightweight design enables antenna to be installed on balcony railing at an apartment or condominium• Ideal for 2m, 1-1/4m, […] Read more
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