About N4YG

N4YG The Ham

Joe Lunsford was first licensed as a Novice in 1969 as WN4RUF. Shortly thereafter an Advanced Class license was received along with a new call, WB4RUF. In 1973 WB4RUF became N4YG with an Amateur Extra Class license. Being a Novice, the only operating mode was CW and that mode became the favorite and eventually the predominant operating mode. Designing and building neat stuff. During the short period of Novice operating, a 2 watt solid state QRP tranmitter was constructed. Many other projects were undertaken in the years to come.

N4YG The Engineer

Before getting into amateur radio, a degree in Electrical Engineering was received from Auburn University in 1965. A masters degree was subsequently earned. First employment was on the NASA's Saturn program. Later after joining the Department of Defense for the remainder of the career, missiles and radars became the predominant work. After 37 years, retirement occurred in 2002.

About The Collage

The Stations

The collage on the home page of this site actually tells a story, chronologically from bottom to top. Running along the left side are a series of photos which show most of the stations that have been operated by N4YG. The first station is shown at the bottom left corner. It was located in the garage and it got very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. Nevertheless many enjoyable hours were logged with the Knight R-100a receiver and the Knight T-50 transmitter.

The next two photos show the next QTH and the new station setup. The snow on the ground and roof is rare for north Alabama. The station was greatly improved, now being heated and cooled. The equipment was also much improved, including a TS530s and SB-220. In the interim a Heathkit HW-101 was built from a kit and used for several years. By the time this photo was taken, a brother was using the old rig.

The next two photos up show the QTH after a trajic tornado struck our city on November 15, 1989 at 4:38 PM. The date and time are etched in the memories of those touched by this event. No one associated with N4YG was injured, but 21 people were killed, scores injured and hundreds of lives were disrupted. The station, shown just above, was disrupted and the equipment received several dings, but nothing serious in spite of the heavy rain and, yes, snow the next morning.

The next photo shows the new home built on the same site and the accompaning photo at the top is a recent shot of the station. By this time the HW-101 has been returned and modifications have been made to restore it to operating condition.

Projects and Activities

The remainder of the photos tell a story of some of the creations of N4YG. The four photos at the bottom right are somewhat out of place because they depict work done on the carillon bell system at church and the development of a Digital Carillon Controller for the system. The remainder all relate to amateur radio.

Again, the story told by the collage is generally chronological from bottom to top, the top being the most recent. The bottom photo is of the SMART Filter, a switched-capacitor audio filter with bandwidth variable from about 50 Hz to 4 KHz in steps of about 25 Hz. The SMART Filter received a nice review from the ARRL in the May 1993 issue of QST. Just above, the SMART Keyer and the SMART Keyer II are shown. The SMART Keyer III is shown above and to the far right. In the 1980s and 1990s the SMART Filter and the SMART Keyer were sold by N4YG, but are not longer available.

Immediately above the SMART Keyer/SMART Keyer II is a photo of the SMART Keyer Lite, which appeared in an article by N4YG which appeared in the May 2004 issue of QST.

In the 2004 timeframe N4YG became interested in restoring the HW-101 to good operating condition. The old rig had become unuseable because the mechanical parts in the VFO had worn, making the unit difficult to use, an embarrassment and unpleasant on the receiving end. The next four photos up the page show what came out of this effort. The photo to the right of the SMART Keyer Lite shows the Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) board for the HW-101, designed and constructed by N4YG. The photo directly above this shows the board and the complete assembly inside the HW-101, replacing the old VFO. The photo to the right of this shows the front panel of the HW-101 with the digital readout visible behind the old dial window. To the left is these and just above the SMART Keyer Lite is an outgrowth from the HW-101 project. It makes use of some of the DDS circuitry to implement an RF/AF signal generator with output from 1 Hz to 20 MHz.