Ham radio has its own OCD.

O.C.D. in ham radio?

By Matt Erickson KK5DR

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in ham radio, the following is an example of it.

This is a "first person" fictional account.

Any radio I buy used must come from a non-smoking owner, in a non-smoking house, in a non-smoking section of the city. Then, the radio must have a serial number that has not been manufactured yet. Next, I require the previous owner to have never operated the radio on any of the "high" duty cycle modes.

All my radio gear has been installed in a NASA-like control console, vented to the exterior of the "radio control center" via sound damped ducting.

The walls of the room are covered with sound absorbing foam. All cables are hidden, and anchored within the consoles.

I have installed an electro-static air purification system, similar to the type used in semi-conductor clean rooms to keep the air in the control room clean and dust free. The room must be kept at a constant temperature and low humidity, this helps prevent oxidation in the gear.

The antenna systems are all custom-built mono-band yagi(s) fed with Heliax®. You could say it's a little much for an HF system, but then I'm funny like that. The towers are all solid cell site type, at 200ft tall each, installed by professional installers. About 50 ground rods were installed, at 25ft. long each. Grounds are solid copper flat bars 1/2" thick by 2" wide. The rotors were custom built also. I have the entire system disassembled and cleaned every other year. The Heliax® is replaced at that time, due to weathering of the jackets.

I have several dozen microphones, which are removed from service after each week for cleaning, since dirt and moisture "colors the sound". I also, use a different mic for USB and LSB, as well as AM & FM.

My amplifiers are "re-tubed" every other year, when the emission drops by 1%.

I send all my radios back to the factory for any and all "updates" every other year, just in case I miss an update. I have them re-aligned at that time too.

I have a Rubidium time/frequency standard with an accuracy of .00000001 PPM. which I use to check the frequency of my radios each week.

I don't allow any eating or drinking in the radio room a spill would require a complete disassembly and cleaning of the entire room. I don't allow smokers to enter the room, since the smoke residue in their breath would contaminate the room.

I don't like mismatched gear, each radio must only be used with the same make of power supply and speaker. Kenwood with Kenwood, Yaesu with Yaesu, and ICOM with ICOM.

Worst of all, would be to use a piece of Collins gear with a non-Collins piece!

Each of my radios is on an independent AC circuit. I use 10AWG wire for each. My amplifiers are on circuits that are wired with 8AWG wire.

The preceding was a fictional satire, if you don't understand it, you likely have it.