W5QJMAMATEUR EXTRA / SEAN BABER
HOMEBUILT CURIOSITY. WORLDWIDE CONVERSATIONS.STATION PROFILE / W5QJM

Built by hand.
Heard worldwide.

Radios. Antennas. A signal that gets there.
I’m Sean, W5QJM — Amateur Extra, hands-on builder, and the guy who will probably try making it himself.

Step inside the shack ↘Tune my receiver →
AROUND THE WORLD. BAREFOOT.

No external amplifier. The antenna gets some credit.

W5QJM / LIVE LISTENING POSTRSP1A · RECEIVE ONLY
CANON490 / NFMREADY TO LISTEN
145.490MHz
SDRPLAY RSP1ARECEIVE WIRE ANTENNA
THIS ONE IS A REAL RADIO.PRESS LISTEN BELOW ↓
TURN THE DIAL ↗
ON THE WATCH / MOUNTAIN TIME
AUTO WATCH / Canon490145.490 MHz · NFM

Flex time scans local repeaters and calling channels. Manual tuning gets 30 minutes idle; scheduled nets use 5 minutes.

    Open full receiver ↗
    VOLUME / AF

    Drag the knob or use the slider. Boost lifts quiet signals.

    Open audio. Raise until idle noise disappears.

    Audio here. Nets and local repeaters rotate automatically. Open the full receiver to tune your own frequency.

    LIVE SPECTRUM APPEARS WHEN CONNECTEDHOME BASE: CANON490 / 145.490 MHz
    Click Listen to connect. No autoplay.MORE CONTROLS →
    BUILD → TUNE → LISTEN → CONNECTKEEP SCROLLING. THERE’S MORE IN THE SHACK. ↓
    AMATEUR EXTRA✳HOMEBUILT RADIOS✳ANTENNA BUILDING✳HF · 2 M · 70 CM✳WORLDWIDE, BAREFOOT
    01 / THE SHACKREAL GEAR. PLENTY OF EXPERIMENTS.

    At home.
    And on the road.

    The HF shack, the truck rigs, and more handhelds than this page needs to inventory. Two Yaesu FTM-500s ride in my trucks. Pick a rig to explore the lineup.

    HF / YAESU FT-1000

    The hardware is part of the fun.

    The FT-1000 is one of my main HF radios. I also build radios and antennas myself. Understanding what is between the controls and the signal is a big part of why I enjoy this.

    HF · HOME STATION · HANDS-ON RADIO
    02 / BUILT, NOT JUST BOUGHT

    Sometimes the best part
    is making it yourself.

    I’ve built my own radios and antennas. There is something satisfying about making a piece of hardware, getting it working, and then using it to talk to someone a long way away.

    I’ve made contacts around the world running barefoot. No external amplifier. Just the station, the antenna, and figuring out how to get a signal where it needs to go.

    RADIO CONSTRUCTIONANTENNA BUILDINGBAREFOOT / NO AMP

    Same instinct as the homelab: understand it, build it, make it useful.

    03 / MORE THAN ONE WAY TO CONNECTRF MEETS THE REST OF THE STACK

    The shack has
    a network side, too.

    Hotspots, an AllStarLink system, WIRES-X, a System Fusion repeater, and a separate GMRS repeater. Different systems, different ways to keep people connected.

    AMATEUR RADIO / ALLSTARLINK

    Radio is a systems problem, too.

    I run an AllStarLink system. It brings the radio side and the network side together — right in the overlap between my amateur-radio and platform-engineering interests.

    A profile of my setup, not a live node-status panel.

    W5QJM / AMATEURBUILD / OPERATE / UNDERSTAND
    04 / OUTSIDE THE SHACKPEOPLE ARE THE OTHER END OF THE LINK

    A signal is useful.
    A message getting through
    is the point.

    01 / EVENTS

    Radio coverage, where it’s needed.

    I’ve provided radio coverage for events. Getting out of the shack puts the equipment, preparation, and listening skills to practical use.

    02 / NETS

    Show up. Listen. Participate.

    I participate in local and national nets. Radio is technical, but it is also a community of people making the time to get on the air.

    03 / THE THROUGH-LINE

    Know the hardware. Know the system.

    From a homebuilt antenna to a linked radio system, I like understanding the whole path. That is the same approach I bring to platforms and software.

    05 / A LITTLE SIGNAL LABYOUR BROWSER IS THE ONLY TRANSMITTER HERE

    Put your callsign
    into dots and dashes.

    A small browser-only Morse encoder. Type a callsign or a short message, see the pattern, and play it locally if you want to hear it.

    Ready. Audio plays only when you press Play.

    ENCODED SIGNAL
    .-- ..... --.- .--- --
    · DOT— DASH/ WORD BREAK

    Letters A–Z, numbers 0–9, and spaces. Audio stays in this browser; this page never keys a radio.

    THAT’S THE SHACK. THE REST IS ON THE AIR.

    Keep building.
    Keep listening.

    W5QJM

    Amateur Extra · Sean Baber
    Homebuilt curiosity. Worldwide connections.

    The platforms & software side ↗