I am a Radio Amateur (ham radio operator) licensed as KE3VIN.
This picture was taken outside Bill Wong's in Orlando, FL at a recent luch time meeting of the Central Florida Geeks by W1GJY.
I live and operate in the Central Florida Volusia County-Orlando area.
I am an organizing member of the Central Florida Amateur Radio Society along with W1GJY and K7FHP.
My CFGARS articles are here.
I also enjoy listening to SWL/HF/LF to and VHF/UHF.
My Shortwave and HF page is here and the monitoring page is over there.
My "shack" so far consists of the following: Radio Shack DX-394 for monitoring and SWL which right now is on a coax switch which along with the Kenwood TS-430S is connected to a Hustler 4BTV 4 band trap vertical.
For VHF I have a Memorizer that I use for simplex, packet and APRS (although I am considering switching to IRLP on simplex) via my PK-232MBX TNC and connected to the CFGARS Comet GP-9 dual-band vertical. For 220 Mhz in the shack I use a Kenwood TM-321.
I am also building a test repeater out of two Clegg 27 Bravo's.
For mobile operations I use a Yaesu FT-1500, Kenwood 3530A for 220 MHz and several hand held scanners including the Uniden BC-245XLT, a PRO-95 and a PRO-83 capable of Signal Stalking for monitoring everything else.
For portable operations such as AREC deployments I use two handhelds: the Santec ST-144µP and the toned ADI 201 serving as both voice packet portable via my KPC 3+ portable 12VDC TNC.
Here is Amateur Electronic Supply in Orlando, Florida.
And of course my favorite place to hang-out Skycraft!
Need a battery replaced or a pack rebuilt? I highly recommend TNR Technical in Sanford, FL
EMSCO has an office in Orlando
Nuts & Volts Magazine
A list of several interesting electronic "junque" shops in the Orlando area.
They have listings for places I remember as a kid growing up in Maryland suchas "Olson Electronics".
You have to scroll down to get to the Orlando stuff. Do a search for Orlando.
Astro Too Surplus Electronics in Melbourne, FL
Some listings of surplus dealers: here, here, here, here, and here.
Need to fix something? Consult the sci.electronics.repair news group FAQ here.
TechAmerica was a good source for mailorder electronics now it is RadioShack
as is Newark Electronics (they have an office in Orlando)
Digi-Key is another
and Dick Smith Electronics is yet another
Still hoping a Fry's will show up one day in Orlando!
Of course the best way to get gear is at a hamfest.
A calendar of local hamfests can be found at http://www.kevininscoe.com/radio/ham/fl/hamfests/.
If you are into clubbing then try these:
West Volusia Amateur Radio Society
Volusia Amateur Radio Emergency Communication Service
Orlando Amateur Radio Club
Central Florida Listeners Group
Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society
Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association
Orange County ARES/RACES
Seminole County ARES
Orlando Metro REACT
Central Florida CERT Association
CERT Association of Greater Orlando
REACT Teams in Florida
Florida Council of REACT Teams, Inc.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Amateur Radio Association
Central Florida Repeater Association
Central Florida DX Association
And of course the club of clubs, the Club Supremo!
The Central Florida Geeks Amateur Radio Club
