Operating Mobile HF – Working DX

November 20, 2014 by AB1OC

ZS2XD Antennas In South Africa

It is still early days for operating mobile HF now that our setup is complete. I am continuing to make adjustments to improve performance. I had a chance to operate mobile from New Hampshire, USA this evening made some interesting contacts. I began by calling CQ on 20m SSB. I was operating with the amplifier on at about 325W output. I had a pileup almost immediately and worked about 20 contacts over about 40 minutes. Early on in the pileup, I had several stations in Europe call me. I also had ZS2XD, Gerry in South Africa answer my CQ! The signal reports for our QSO were 59 both ways and I was able to have a nice conversation with Gerry. We were both surprised that the contact was as solid as it was. Gerry has a good antenna system on his end and I was on the grey line which no doubt helped.

HL5FUA Antennas On Ullung Island, South Korea

Later in the evening I decided to tune across the 40m band where I encountered Choi, HL5FUA on Ullung Island (AS-045), South Korea calling CQ. He was working stations all around the world and had a decent pileup going. I set my drive to produce about 425W out and called him. To my surprise, he came right back on the first try! The signal reports for our QSO were 56 both ways. I believe that he was working the USA long path over Europe. Choi has a good directional antenna and was using some power. This combined with my being just on the dark side of the grey line certainly helped.

With these contacts, I have worked a total of 95 DXCCs mobile HF from our truck. I continue to be surprised at how well a properly installed mobile HF setup works. Our results are also a testament to the efficiency of the Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna that we are using. I plan to concentrate on the low bands (80m and 160m) and see what sort of DX is possible on these bands.

– Fred (AB1OC)

Mobile HF Installation – Part 4/4 (500W Amplifier, 160M and Accesories)

November 19, 2014 by AB1OC

Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna Setup for 80m – 15m

This article will cover the completion of our Mobile HF project. Our installation is fairly complex, so we’ve broken the project into several phases:

Phase 1 – Install the Icom IC-7000 running barefoot with a simple MFJ HAMStick Antenna (to be replaced with the Scorpion Screwdriver Antenna in Phase 3)
Phase 2 – Properly bond all elements of my truck and deal with any noise issues
Phase 3 – Install the Scorpion Screwdriver Antenna and Controller
Phase 4 – Install a 500w Amplifier, 160m capability, and operating accessories (this article)

The first step in this part of our project was to add upgrades to our Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna to enable it to be used on 160m.

Screwdriver Antenna Configured For 160m

Ron at Scorpion Antennas makes an add-on coil unit to enable his 80m – 10m antennas to work on 160m. The picture above shows the add-on coil installed along with a 3 ft rod and Cap Hat. The coil adds additional base loading inductance to enable the antenna to work on 160m.

Antenna Base With Shunt Coil Switching Unit

A different shunt coil is required to properly tune up the 160m configuration. Ron makes a very nice shunt coil switching unit (the grey box attached to the base of the antenna in the picture above) to allow multiple shunt coils to be used.

Antenna Shut Coil Switching Unit

The unit contains two shunt coils (one for 160m and one for 80m/40m) and a 12V relay. The relay switches in the appropriate shunt coil are under the control of a switch that I’ve added to our truck’s console. After properly adjusting both shunt coils, I was able to get a good match (SWR < 1.4:1) across the 160m, 80m, and 40m bands.

The next step in this phase of our project was the installation of a mobile HF amplifier and some accessories to make the operation of our mobile HF station easier. Alan Applegate (K0BG), author of the excellent K0BG.com website on mobile HF, points out that installing an amplifier in a mobile application is not a trivial project. One must pay a great deal of attention to the following areas:

Beefing up the vehicle’s electrical system to be able to supply adequate 13.8V power (a 500W mobile amplifier will require 60A – 80A of sustained current when transmitting at full output and may draw close to 100A on peaks).
Proper physical mounting and adequate cooling to dissipate the heat generated (a 500W amplifier will generate approximately 500W of heat when operating at full output)
Proper choking of antenna control leads to ensue that conducted RF does not get into your vehicle or electronics (this area was covered during the installation of our Screwdriver Antenna)
Drive/output power and SWR monitoring to ensure that the amplifier is not over-driven and is working into a properly tuned and matched load

I am going to cover each of these points as they were handled in our installation.

Secondary Battery And Fuses

It’s important that your vehicle’s alternator is capable of supplying enough current to operate the amplifier and the rest of your vehicle’s electrical system with overloading or major drops in voltage. Fortunately, our F-150 Truck came with a 150A alternator from the factory. The next problem to solve is to provide 100A+ of peak current during transmit without excessive voltage drop (you want to have no more than 0.5V of drop between your primary battery and the power terminals of your amplifier). The easiest way to achieve this in our application was to install a secondary battery in the bed of our truck. We choose an Optima Red-Top series battery for the secondary battery and as a replacement for our truck’s primary battery. The Red-Top series provides very high current for short periods of time (ex., engine cranking). This profile is ideal of supplying a mobile amplifier. Both batteries are connected in parallel with custom-made 2 ga cables for both +13.8V and ground. The batteries must be identical when connected this way to ensure that differences in operating voltage do not result in uneven charging. For safety reasons, It is also critical to properly fuse the connections between the batteries at both ends and in both the +13.8V and ground leads! We used high-current fuses (the insulated holders to the right of the battery in the picture above on both ends of the battery cabling. If either cable becomes shorted to the other or to ground, the fuses by the batteries will blow and prevent a fire. It’s also important to securely mount the batteries and associated cabling and properly protect the cables. We used insulated cable clamps and convoluted tubing to accomplish this.

Ameritron ALS-500M Amplifier And Radio Interface

The next step was to select a location for the amplifier that enabled good airflow around the unit and securely mount it to the truck’s floor. The spot we chose was under the flip-up rear seat of our truck. We used The mounting location at the corner of the seat, ensuring good airflow around the unit. We also made an aluminum plate that sits between the amplifier and the carpet in the truck to ensure that cool air can circulate under the amplifier without being blocked by the carpet. The Ameritron ALS-500M Amplifier we used comes with mounting brackets that allow it to be securely screwed to the floor of the truck so that it does not become a safety hazard during a quick stop, etc. We also installed an Ameritron ARI-500 Radio Interface Unit, which provides automatic amplifier band switching and a keying interface for our Icom IC-7000 Transceiver.

Amplifer And Accessories Under Rear Seat

Amplifier And Accessories Under The Rear Seat

The picture above shows the location of the amplifier under the rear seat. Note the clear path that the vents in the case have to the air which circulates within the vehicle. There are air conditioner vents behind the front seats in the center console, which can direct cool air on the amplifier during warm conditions.

Power Distribution, Antenna Controller And Wattmeter Sensors

The picture above shows the layout of our installation’s power and accessory electronics. Note the two high-current fuses protecting the power connections between the amplifier and the secondary battery. We also installed a RIGRunner 4005 Power Distribution Block to supply 13.8V fused power to all our accessories. Again, we used black convoluted tubing to protect all of the cabling and dress up the installation.

Wattmeter Sensors And Screwdriver Antenna Controller

The picture above shows the remote sensors (left) for the Elecraft W2 Wattmeter that we are using in our installation. A separate sensor is used on the input (200W range) and the output (2Kw range) side of the amplifier so that we can accurately set our drive power as well as monitor the amplifier’s output power and the SWR, which is being presented by our antenna.

The TuneMatic unit is an Automatic Screwdriver Antenna Controller. This unit senses the frequency of our radio and automatically adjusts our screwdriver antenna to provide a good match. It also has auto-tune capabilities and includes an amplifier key line interrupter relay to ensure that we do not transmit high power into the antenna while it is being tuned.

Control Layout On F-150 Console

All of the controls for the Amplifier, Screwdriver Antenna Controller, and Elecraft Wattmeter are mounted next to the driver on the F-150’s shifter console. We used heavy-duty Velcro strips to mount everything. The device in the right foreground is a Remote Control Unit for the Amplifier. The device in the left foreground is the control head for the TuneMatic Screwdriver Antenna Controller. Just behind the Screwdriver controller unit is a lighted 13.8V switch which we installed in the console to switch the shunt coil relay between the 160m and 80m/40m shunt coils. Finally, the unit in the background is the Elecraft W2 Wattmeter.

Antenna Controller, 160m Shunt Coil Switch, And Amplifier Remote Unit

The TuneMatic Antenna Controller will automatically adjust our screwdriver antenna with a simple touch to the Tune (TU) button when the radio frequency is changed. This unit can also be used to manually move the antenna up or down to fine-tune the match. There is also an auto-tune function which works well. An antenna controller such as the TuneMatic makes changing bands and frequencies much safer and easier to do and ensures one keeps an eye on the road.

The Ameritron ALS-500RC unit provides a switch to enable or reset the amplifier if it should trip and a remote current meter, which shows how much current the amplifier is drawing.

Elecraft W2 Wattmeter

The Elecraft W2 Wattmeter worked out well in our mobile HF application. One can easily select the input or output sensors, and its auto-ranging features provide accurate power and SWR readouts. It also has an LED brightness adjustment which is nice when operating at night.

Voltage Monitor

It’s important to be able to monitor your vehicle’s voltage when using an amplifier. The heavy current demands of an amplifier at full power output can cause significant voltage drops, especially if the vehicle is idling and other power accessories like de-icers or seat heaters are in use. I found a simple and inexpensive solution for voltage monitoring – a unit that plugs into the cigarette lighter jack in the vehicle. The unit has an easy-to-read display and does not draw much current, so it can be left plugged in when our truck is parked.

It took a little time to set up the TuneMatic Antenna Controller to quickly adjust the Scorpion Screwdriver antenna on all the bands from 160m – 10m. The instructions which come with the unit explain this process, and it is not difficult to do. The TuneMatic must be configured to work with your particular screwdriver antenna when it is first installed. This involves setting some option switches and adjusting a pot inside the TuneMatic unit. Again, the instructions cover the setup steps well.

Icom HM-151 Microphone

The Icom IC-7000 Transceiver is an excellent radio for mobile HF applications. Unfortunately, the quality of the transmitted audio with the “stock” Icom HM-151 microphone, which comes with the radio, is less than ideal. To solve this problem, I sent my HM-151 microphone to Bob Nagy (AB5N) for some upgrades. Bob performed several upgrades, including replacing the element with a higher quality unit, installing a heavy-duty PTT switch, weighting and vibration deadening the housing, and other mods. After adjusting the equalization in the IC-7000 to match the new element, we are getting some very nice reports on our audio quality from the stations that we are working while mobile.

You can click on the above video to hear what our mobile HF station sounded like in Europe during initial testing with the new amplifier and upgraded microphone. We were still adjusting the audio settings when the recording was made, but it will give you an idea of what the setup sounds like on the air.

There was a lot of integration and working with the folks at all the companies who supplied the components for our mobile HF project. Ron Douglas at Scorpion Antennas, Mike at Ameritron, Jim at TuneMatic, Bob Nagy (AB5N Microphone Upgrades), and the folks at DX Engineering were all very helpful in answering our questions and getting everything to work together.

Scorpion Whip Quick Disconnect

We are operating across a wide range of bands (160m – 10m), and I’ve found that it is best to use a range of “whips” on our screwdriver antenna to cover all the bands. The Scorpion Quick Disconnects make changing “whips” a snap. Our “go-to” configurations are as follows:

160m – We use the add-on 160m coil plus a 3 ft rod with a Cap Hat. The Cap Hat makes the rod appear electrically longer, improving overall efficiency on the Top Band. This combination allows the antenna to be tuned for all but the top 50 kHz (above 1.950 MHz) of the 160m band.
80m – 15m, including 30m and 17m – We use a 4 ft rod with a Cap Hat. This combination is very efficient, and our results on 80m have been particularly good. I am able to work DX from New England, USA, into Europe on 80m with 100W (amplifier off) using this combination. The 4 ft rod/Cap Hat combo is electrically too long to tune above the 15m band. The 3 ft rod/Cap Hat will tune up on the 12m band but not on the 10m band.
12m and 10m – We use a 6 ft whip for these bands.

We really like the combinations which utilize a Cap Hat. These setups are definitely more efficient than the 6 ft whip, and the overall height of the combination is low enough to stay out of the low tree branches here in New England, USA. The Cap Hat combinations allow less of the screwdriver antenna’s coil to be used. The coil is one of the largest sources of loss in a properly installed screwdriver antenna setup, which is why the Cap Hat/short rod combinations work so well.

It’s nice to have the extra power when operating from our truck, and I find that I can call CQ and sometimes generate a pileup while operating mobile! I’ve also been working quite a bit of DX from our mobile HF station (95 DXCCs worked so far), and the improved antenna and the added power have also helped in this area.

We hope you have enjoyed our series of articles on our Mobile HF project. We have learned a great deal doing the project, and we’ve made over 600 contacts from our truck along the way, with many more to come.

– Fred (AB1OC)

Mobile HF Installation – Part 3/4 (Screwdriver Antenna Installation)

October 13, 2014 by AB1OC

Icom IC-7000 Mobile HF Radio

We have made some 250+ contacts using the Mobile HF setup in our Ford F-150 Truck. Our initial setup used an Icom IC-7000 Transceiver and HAM Stick Antennas. This combination enabled us to work a lot of DX from our truck (56 DXCC’s worked mobile HF to date). It is surprising how well a properly installed Mobile HF setup works. For more information on our Mobile HF installation project, see our other articles here –

Phase 1 – Install the Icom IC-7000 running barefoot with a simple MFJ HAMStick Antenna (to be replaced with the Scorpion Screwdriver Antenna in Phase 3)
Phase 2 – Properly bond all elements of my truck and deal with any noise issues
Phase 3 – Install the Scorpion Screwdriver Antenna and Controller (this article)
Phase 4 – Install a 500w Amplifier, 160m capability, and operating accessories

Our plan has been to enhance our Mobile HF installation to include a Screwdriver Antenna and a Mobile Amplifier. This article covers the first of these upgrades.

Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna

We chose a Scorpion SA-680 Screwdriver Antenna for our project. Scorpion mobile HF antennas are among the best in quality and efficiency. The SA-680 covers all HAM bands from 80m – 10m (160m operation will also be added to this antenna – more on this in a later post). The SA-680 is also a good choice given our plans to add a mobile HF amplifier to our truck (the SA-680 is rated for 1500 Watts SSB PEP). We ordered our antenna with a flat black powder-coated finish to match the color scheme on our truck. Scorpion antennas can accommodate a variety of whips, and we have both 6-foot (supplied with the antenna) and 8.5-foot whips available. We also ordered a 3-foot-long rod with a Cap Hat, and this is the combination that we are currently using. This arrangement features improved efficiency due to the top-loading of the antenna the Cap Hat provides and a reduced height profile, which is perfect for avoiding the low tree branches here in New England, USA. Ron Douglas, NI7J owner of Scorpion Antennas, has been a great help providing lots of good advice to help us to install his SA-680 antenna properly.

Breedlove Folder-Over Antenna Mount

The Scorpion SA-680 Antenna is a beefy unit and weighs about 18 pounds. This antenna requires a strong mounting system for safety and reliable operation. We chose to mount our antenna in the bed of our F-150 Truck using a fold-over mount from Breedlove Antenna Mounts. This mount is made specifically for the Scorpion Antenna and uses a 1/2″ thick aluminum plate with reinforcing bars that mount under the truck bed to ensure that the mount is rigid and does not crack the truck bed due to the load of the antenna. As you can see from the picture above, we cut the plastic bed liner, which protects our truck’s body to allow the base of the antenna to sit on the truck body’s sheet metal. We used star washers between the mount and the bed to ensure that the mount made a good RF connection with the bed of the truck.

Antenna In Folder Down Position

One of the nice features of this mount is its ability to be folded over to 90 or 45 degrees. This is done by loosening two large Allen screws on the mount. The picture above shows the antenna folded over with the Cap Hat/Rod removed. In this position, we can close the roll cover on our truck’s bed to completely cover the antenna. This is great for taking the truck through the car wash or protecting the antenna from the winter weather here in New England.

Scorpion Whip Quick Disconnect

Removal of the Cap Hat/Rod or an attached whip is made easy by Scorpion’s Quick Disconnect. The ones on our antenna are made from stainless steel and allow easy removal of the Cap Hat Rod or a whip.

Control And Feedline Choking

All Screwdriver antennas require control cables to operate a motor that raises and lowers the antenna to change the length of a base loading coil. This is how the antenna is tuned to operate on different bands and frequencies. The motor and associated control leads operate at a high RF potential relative to the vehicle’s ground. This is also a problem for the outside shield on the coax cable feeding the antenna. The RF potential on the control cables and feedlines must be choked, or it will enter the vehicle and cause RFI problems. Proper RF choking is especially important in our installation as we plan on running high power via an amplifier. To ensure proper choking, we built a series of RF chokes for the six control lines from the antenna – one pair for the 2 motor leads, one pair for the 2 pulse count leads that are used to sense the position of the antenna, and one pair for a future shunt coil relay to enable 160m operation. These chokes were built according to the information on K0BG’s excellent Mobile HF website. Each pair of control leads were run through two separate chokes at the base of the antenna (two chokes were used due to the planned high-power operation with an amplifier). Two chokes were also used on the RG-8X feedline. For the initial installation, the supplied shunt coil (copper coil on the left side of the antenna base) was used to match the antenna on 80m and 40m. The coil was adjusted using the procedure on K0BG’s website to match these bands well. Also, note the ground strap (visible to the left of the fold-over base). This connects to one of the button head screws at the base of the antenna and to the ground point on the antenna mount to ensure good ground between the antenna and the truck.

Chokes Inside The F-150

Another set of control cable and feedline chokes were made and installed when the antenna cables and feedline entered the vehicle. The picture above shows some additional detail on how the chokes are made. It is important that the chokes be at the same point on each of the control cables and coax feedline so that any RF induced on the cables does not couple from one cable to another and bypass the chokes.

Additional Bonding And Antenna Mount Grounding

I decided to do some additional work on the bonding of the bed of our truck to the rest of the F-150. This involved installing 4 bonding straps between each corner of the F-150’s bed and the frame. I used the excellent strapping material from Electric Motion for this purpose. This strapping features eyelets installed every 3 inches along with the strapping material. This made the attachment of the strapping to the F-150’s bed and frame easy to do via self-tapping stainless steel screws and star washers. A liberal coating of Ideal NOALOX was used on each of the screws and washers to protect against corrosion. Also, note the convoluted tubing which houses the antenna control leads and feedline running along with the frame. The tubing protects the antenna’s cabling and feedline from the weather and enables secure mounting to the vehicle’s frame.

Screwdriver Antenna Manual Controller

The final step in the installation was to connect the antenna control cables to Scorpion’s antenna control switch and mount the switch on the console with velcro strips. This switch is used to raise or lower the antenna, changing the length of the loading coil to tune the antenna for different bands and frequencies. I also installed crimp-on connectors on the RG-8X feedline and connected them to the radio and the antenna. A quick check of the antenna’s SWR on 20m confirmed that the antenna and feedline were working correctly.

I was able to make contacts on the 17m, 20m, 40m, and 80m bands with the new antenna last evening, and it works great. I am particularly pleased with the antenna’s performance on 80m. I made several contacts on this band out to about 2,000 mi and was receiving signal reports ranging from 58 to 59+20dB. These results are very good considering the short length of the antenna’s Cap Hat/Rod (only 3 feet) and that I was using only 100W.

*** Safe operation of your vehicle requires your full attention on the road. You SHOULD NOT try tuning your antennas or radio while your vehicle is in motion. Safety requires that you perform these actions only when your vehicle is stopped and parked safely. ***

The antenna is easy to tune manually. One simply sets the radio to the desired band/frequency and then adjusts the antenna up/down until the maximum reading on the radio’s S-meter is obtained. This usually gets you to within a “coil turn” of the optimal tune-up. I then key the radio up and adjust the antenna up or down to optimize the tune to the lowest SWR, as indicated on the radio. The antenna’s tuning is not critical on 20m and higher bands. It is fairly sharp (due to the short length) on 40m and 80m, so the final adjustment to minimize the SWR is important on these bands.

It’s great to have the full set of Amateur HF bands in the truck with the new antenna. Performance seems comparable to the Ham stick antennas I was using previously on the 20m and higher bands. I would say that this indicates that the efficiency of the Scorpion SA-680 is significantly higher than the Ham stick antennas because the Ham sticks were mounted dead center on the roof of my truck and about 3-4 ft higher than the Scorpion. While this location performed reasonably well on 20m and higher bands, it was not a very practical mounting location due to height problems and difficulty getting at the base on the antenna to change or remove the Ham sticks. Performance is also much better on the 40m and 80m bands with the new antenna. I would say that the new antenna is also somewhat quieter than the Ham sticks were. This is probably due to a combination of being further away from the engine and cab noise sources plus benefits due to the additional bonding work.

The next stage of our Mobile HF project will be the installation of a mobile amplifier, automatic antenna controller, and 160m band add-ons to the Scorpion antenna. I hope to work with some of our readers on the HF bands from our truck soon!

– Fred (AB1OC)

Mobile Ham Radio – VHF-UHF Upgrade

October 13, 2014 by AB1OC

Mobile Ham Radio - Icom ID-5100 Transceiver

Mobile Ham Radio – Icom ID-5100A Transceiver

We installed a 2m / 70cm mobile ham radio setup in our Ford F-150 Truck about 3 years ago. The original installation used an Icom IC-2820H. We used this setup for access to our local repeaters on 2m and 70cm including the many DSTAR repeaters in our area. Our antenna mounts were showing some wear and I’ve been wanting to upgrade to the new Icom ID-5100A for some time now so I decided to replace the entire setup. The Icom ID-5100A was very easy to install – a virtual drop-in replacement for the Icom IC-2820H. The pedestal mount and bracket that I made for the IC-2820H worked fine for the control head of the ID-5100A.

Icom ID-5100 Main Unit Mount

The ID-5100A’s main unit was mounted on the driver’s side kick panel in the same place as the IC-2820H.

The display on the ID-5100A is much easier to read that the IC-2820H and the features that this radio has to locate nearby repeaters based upon the GPS position of the vehicle are also very nice. All in all, the Icom ID-5100A is a much more user-friendly radio to setup and use.

2m / 70cm Mobile Antenna and Mount

The original antenna and mounts on our truck were getting a little tired so I decided to replace them as well. We choose a Diamond K400C NMO mount and a Diamond SG-7900A 2m / 70 cm whip this time around. The Diamond NMO mount is very sturdy and should stand up well to the winters here in New England (as well as the car wash). The new Diamond whip has a bit more gain that the previous setup and is about the limit in terms of height for our location in New England, USA. It is has 5.0 dBi gain on 2m and 7.6 dBi gain on 70cm.

Antenna SWR on 2m

The new mount and antenna was easy to install in our F-150. A final checkout of the antenna’s SWR showed that the new installation was ready to go.

The new radio/antenna combination is working great and the improved usability and display on the ID-5100A is encouraging us to use our local DSTAR repeaters more frequently. The combination was a very worthwhile upgrade.

– Fred (AB1OC)

LEO Satellite System Part 3 – Final Installation And First Contacts

September 19, 2014 by AB1OC

Eggbeater Antennas And Preamps SystemsOn Tower

Eggbeater Satellite Antennas And Preamp System On Tower

With some help from Matt Strelow, KC1XX of XX Towers, we’ve gotten our LEO Satellite Antennas and Preamp System installed on our tower. We installed the antennas on a sidearm at about 80 ft and installed the preamp system (the upper left gray box) next to the antennas on the tower. The design and construction of our LEO Satellite System was covered in the Part 1 and Part 2 articles here on our blog.

Hardlines At The Tower Base

I choose a 7/8″ Heliax Hardline Coax (Andrews AVA5-50) for the feedlines between the antennas on the tower and the shack. I choose this type of cable to hold our losses end-to-end to about 1.0 dB for the 432 MHz side of the system. Our Icom IC-9100 Transceiver, which we will use for satellite work, provides 75W of output on the 70cm band, resulting in a maximum of about 45W at the antenna – plenty of output power for LEO satellite uplink work. The end-to-end loss on the 144 MHz side is about 0.6 dB resulting in an 85W out the maximum from 100W in. The antennas were connected to the preamps and through to the hardline coax cables using short LMR-400UF coax jumpers, and crimp-on N-type connectors were used throughout the system. The conduits buried under our lawn had plenty of capacity for the two additional hardline cables (the lower pair of large coax cables in the picture above). I also routed the control cables for the preamps through one of our smaller conduits.

Hardline Terminations At Our Shack

The hard lines (cables with orange and purple tape) were terminated with N-connectors, and the shack entry end through grounded PolyPhaser Lightning Protectors.

VHF – UHF Antenna Switching Console

The two sides of the LEO Satellite Antenna and Preamp system were terminated on our VHF – UHF switching console in our shack. The console uses Hofi-Technik Rotary UHF Antenna Switches to allow selection of the LEO Satellite Antennas as well as our M2 Antenna Systems 144 MHz and 432 MHz Yagis and a Diamond X-300NA 2m/70cm ground plane vertical, which we use for repeater work.

Preamp Control Cable Terminatons On Tower

Preamp Control Cable Terminations On Tower

We also terminated the control cable from our Preamp System on Control Line Static Suppressors at the base of our tower.

Preamp Sequencers

The Preamp Control Cable was routed to a pair of M2 Antenna Systems S3 Sequencers (top units in the picture above) to enable proper Tx/Rx sequencing to protect the tower-mounted Preamps from damage during transmit. These units allow the 144 MHz and 432 MHz Preamps to be turned on/off separately, as well as enabling the noise test function on the 144 MHz preamp. With all of the installation work done, I confirmed that the SWR reading on both antennas was in the specification at the input to the IC-9100 Transceiver and that both Preamps work (via an observed increase in noise level) when turned on.

Nova For Windows (FO-29 Satellite Pass)

The final step was to install the Nova For Windows program and download the latest Keplerian Elements for the HAM satellites that are currently operational. Nova For Windows allows me to determine when a given satellite is making a pass that covers both my QTH and the area where I want to try to make contacts. The program can also predict future passes, making planning satellite operating times easier. The picture above shows the footprint of the FO-29 and the ISS during a pass over my location.

Fuji Oscar FO-29 Satellite

On the day and time, I tried to make my first contacts, only satellites with Linear Transponders were making useful passes overhead. I try my first contact through FO-29 (Fuji Oscar 29), a V/U Mode (145 MHz uplink/435 MHz downlink) satellite.

First Satelllite Contact - EA1QS In Spain

First Satellite Contact QSL – Pablo, EA1QS In Spain

With my IC-9100 setup in Satellite/SSB Phone mode to transmit and receive on the proper frequencies and side bands and with the Tx and Rx sides set to track each other (this is one of the useful satellite Features provided by the IC-9100), I began by locating a clear frequency on FO-29’s transponder and transmitting on the uplink while adjusting my Rx offset until I could hear my own transmissions coming back from the bird. Once I found my receive frequency, I began looking for a station to work. As good luck would have it, I found Pablo, EA1QS in Spain, and made my first contact! It took some care to stay on frequency during the brief contact as the Doppler shift associated with the path through FO-29 was changing fairly rapidly.

I also made two contacts with W1AW/9, the ARRL Centennial QSO Party Operation in Illinois, USA. I made these two contacts through two different satellites. The first contact was made through VUSat VO-52, a U/V Mode (435 MHz Uplink/145 MHz Downlink) satellite, and the second one was made using FO-29 again. I was quite fortunate to make the contact through VO-52 as its batteries failed, and the bird went out of service just 12 days after my contact was made.

M2 Antenna Systems 70cm and 2m Yagis On Top Of Our Tower

My early experiences with our new LEO Satellite System have been good. The M2 Antenna Systems Eggbeater Antennas and tower-mounted Preamp System work quite well when the Satellites being worked are 30 degrees or more above the horizon. I can use our weak signal 2m and 70cm yagis (top two antennas shown above) and the associated tower-mounted Preamp Systems (two grey boxes just below the top of the tower) for Satellite passes below 30 degrees. This mode of operation will require computer tracking, which I can do via Nova For Windows or the Ham Radio Deluxe Satellite Software, both of which I already have. I plan to try this combination and provide additional setup and operational results for this configuration sometime in the future.

Its been a very busy summer, and I have not as much time to operate using LEO Satellites as I would like. With WRTC 2014, the ARRL Centennial Convention over, and the 13 Colonies Special Event and W1AW/1 New Hampshire portable operations completed, I hope to have more time to devote to Satellite Operation. It’s a lot of fun to make contacts through satellites, and this mode of operation will give us the chance to learn some new skills.

World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 Experiences

August 27, 2014 by AB1OC

Hollis Site Competitors, Referee And Support Team

Anita (AB1QB), Scott (NE1RD) and I had the opportunity to serve as site managers for the WRTC 2014 competition site in Hollis, NH. Our site was one of 65 sites in New England USA (and the only on in the state of New Hampshire). This gave us a chance to be part of the WRTC 2014 event and to meet some of the competitors, referees and the event organizers. WRTC has been called the “Olympics of Amateur Radio” because it brings together the very best Amateur Radio Contesters in the world to see who is the “best of the best”. Here’s a summary of what WRTC is all about from the WRTC 2014 Website:

“The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is held every four years and consists of 50+ two-person teams of amateur radio operators from around the world competing in a test of operating skill. Unlike most on-the-air competitions, all stations are required to use identical antennas from the same geographic region, eliminating all variables except operating ability.”

Each competitor must qualify based upon results in selected contests over a period of 3 years. There were a total of 63 teams which participated in the event. It is a tremendous achievement just to qualify for WRTC. Each qualifying competitor selects a second person to make up their team. The competitors at our site were Julio Henriquez, AD4Z and Dan Thompson, W4UH. Our referee was Alex Orlov, RW4WR from Russia. We really enjoyed getting to know Julio, Dan and Alex. The stories that they shared and the information and tips they gave us a relatively inexperienced contesters will stick with us forever.

WRTC 2014 Competition Sites

The WRTC 2014 competition was held on July 12-13, 2014 as part of the IARU HF World Championship contest. A great deal of effort was put into selecting and building 65 competition sites for WRTC to ensure that they were as equal in terms of propagation, antennas and configuration as possible. WRTC provided all of the antennas/feedlines, generator power and a tent for each site and each team of competitors supplied their own radios and supporting station equipment.

WRTC Station Kit In Transit

Preparations for WRTC 2014 have been in progress for several years now including planning sessions, station and site tests, team formation and training. All in all, the event is a tremendous planning and logistical effort. Doug Grant, K1DG was the leader and chief evangelist for WRTC 2014. Doug and his team did a tremendous job in making WRTC 2014 happen.

Our part of the WRTC experience began with the pickup of the station kit for the Hollis, NH site on the Wednesday before the event. The station kit consists of a 40 ft Rohn 25G tower, beam/wire antennas, feedlines, generator, tent and miscellaneous equipment.

TX38 Tri-Band Beam Assembly

Ed, K2TE and our “beam team” were at the Hollis, NH site bright and early on Thursday morning to put up the tower and antennas. The heart of the WRTC 2014 antenna system is the TX38 Tri-Band Beam which was designed for WRTC 2014.

TX38 Yagi Installation On Tower

Here’s a picture of the assembled beam and tower ready to be pulled up and into place at our site.

Tower Going Up!

The picture above shows the tower going up. The Falling Derrick System that was developed for WRTC is quite ingenious and it raises the 40 ft tower and beam antenna with very little effort. Each beam team was specially trained in the use of this system to ensure safe setup and takedown of the tower and antennas at each site.

WRTC 2014 Site In Hollis, NH USA

While Ed and the team took care of the tower and antennas, Scott, Anita and I setup the tent, generator, feedlines and “crew tent” at our site. The picture above shows the completed site ready for our competitors.

WRTC Station Radios And Equipment

Julio, Dan and Alex arrived at our site after the site drawing at WRTC headquarters on Friday and proceeded to setup and test their station. As you can see, they brought quite a sophisticated setup! They used Ten-Tec Orion II radios, a microHAM band decoder and antenna switching system and PCs running the N1MM Logger to create a modern, state of the art multi-two contesting station at our site. WRTC competitors used a variety of different radios to compete in the event. You can find a summary of the radios and software used by the competitors here. The Elecraft K3 was the most popular transceiver and a combination of the Wintest and N1MM loggers were used most of the competitors.

WRTC Monitoring System

The WRTC 2014 organizers did some custom design work to facilitate the event. Shown above is the WRTC monitoring system. This system is used by the referee to monitor the power levels of each operator’s radio to ensure that the 100W WRTC power limit is not exceeded. The referees can also monitor the audio from each operator simultaneously and a recording of these audio streams for the entire contest period is also made. All of this is done in the interest of ensuring a fair contest and for judging purposes as needed when the event is complete. A device also monitors the logging streams from the competitors computers to create a live, real-time scoreboard on the web. The scoreboard uses an innovative data collection method developed by Dave Pascoe, KM3T and Bob Raymond, WA1Z to “sniff” the logging information being exchanged by the competitors computers. The data extracted in this way is fed via cellphone data connections to the WRTC headquarters to update the teams scores on the web in real-time during the contest.

The Big Moment – Our Station’s Callsign

On Saturday, just before the competition began, Alex our referee opened the sealed envelope which contained our site’s callsign which was W1T. As with all things about the event, the callsigns were not disclosed to the operators until just before the contest began to ensure that none of the operators specific callsigns were known to others.

Julio (AD4Z) Operating

Once the contest began, our team was all business. Julio is shown above operating CW. He is an amazing operator and can easily operate at 40+ WPM speeds!

Our site was one of the public access sites for the event and we had quite a few visitors from the press and local HAMs who were interested in seeing what WRTC 2014 was about. The event also received quite a bit of media coverage, some of which can be viewed here.

2014 WRTC Medal Winners

An award ceremony was held at WRTC HQ the following Monday to announce and recognize the winners:

Medal winners

Gold K1A 7,184,844 points

Daniel Craig, N6MJ – United States
Chris Hurlbut, KL9A – United States

Silver W1L 6,816,144 points

Rastislav Hrnko, OM3BH – Slovakia
Jozef Lang, OM3GI – Slovakia

Bronze W1P 6,421,383 points

Manfred Wolf DJ5MW – Germany
Stefan von Baltz DL1IAO – Germany

Award winners

Highest SSB (with >35% QSOs on CW)

K1M (IK1HJS/I4UFH) SSB – 2063 CW – 1233

Highest CW (with >35% QSOs on SSB)

N1S (LX2A/YO3JR) CW – 2391 SSB – 1302

Highest Multiplier

K1A (N6MJ/KL9A) 436

Best Accuracy

W1P (DJ5MW/DL1IAO) 1.0% error rate

The final results were very close with only 118,425 points separating the 3rd through 5th place teams. To give you an idea of how close this really was – only 6/10 of a multiplier or about one minute of operating time separated the 3rd and 4th place teams! Some of the operators achieved peak rates of over 300 contacts per hour. This is very impressive considering that Field Day style stations with 100W output were used by the competitors.

WRTC Tower And Antennas At Sunset

Our WRTC 2014 experience was a very memorable one. It was a great combination of amazing people, the best contesters in the world, great application of Amateur Radio technology and some of the best logistics and organization of a large event we’ve ever seen. Truly an Amateur Radio experience of a lifetime!

– Fred (AB1OC)

LEO Satellite System Part 2 – Antenna Assembly And Ground Test

June 24, 2014 by AB1OC

Assembled Eggbeater Satellite Antenna System

We continued our project to add LEO Satellite capability to our station this past weekend (you can read about the design of our LEO Satellite System here). With 370′ of 7/8″ Hardline Coax (LDF5-50A) ordered and with Matt Strelow, KC1XX of XXTowers scheduled to help with the antenna installation on the tower later this week, the only prep work left was to assemble our M2 Eggbeater Antenna System and preamps and test the setup. The first rule of tower work is to assemble and test as much on the ground as possible. To this end, we decided to mock-up the entire antenna system a few feet up from the base of our tower. The first step in the process was to assemble the M2 Eggbeater Antenna System. This step was not difficult.

Ground Pre-assembly And Test

We next assembled a Rohn sidearm mount and attached it to our tower about 5 feet from the ground. We then mounted the antennas and cross boom on the sidearm mount and did some SWR sweeps on just the antennas with a RigExpert Antenna Analyzer to ensure that the they were performing to specifications. Both antennas checked out just fine. They both had SWR readings of 1.2 or less across a very wide bandwidth.

Satellite Preamp System Mock-Up

The final step in the pre-assembly process was to mount the preamp system that we had assembled previously to the tower. We also built all of the coax cables needed to connect the system from the planned 7/8″ Hardline Coax Feedlines (LDF5-50A) through the preamps and to the antennas. We used LMR-400UF Coax for these jumpers along with crimp-on N-connectors (we crimp and solder the pins on these connectors to the inner conductor of the coax to improve reliability). We installed heat shrimp tubing to seal the connectors in the crimp ferrule area and then covered all of the exposed connectors with electrical tape and CoaxWrap sealing tape. We also installed a 200′ length of DX Engineering Heavy Duty Control Cable (DXE-CW8-HD) to the preamp system. With these steps done, we again verified that the SWR performance of both antennas checked out within specifications.

I plan to pre-install a run of control cable from the control line surge protectors at the base of our tower to the shack and hook the control cable up to our M2 Antenna Systems S3 Sequencers sometime later this week. With these steps done, we will be ready to put our LEO Satellite System on our tower and perform the final integration and testing steps with the rest of our station.

Station Automation Part 3 – Antenna Cutover And Final Integration

April 3, 2014 by AB1OC

AB1QB Operating Position

The final article in our microHAM installation series will be about our station’s cut-over, configuration, and integration testing. The first step was to bring the second radio in Anita’s (AB1QB) position into the microHAM system. We also added a PR 781 microphone and boom from Heil Sound to her setup at the same time.

AB1QB Position Design

Anita’s second radio is an Icom IC-7610, and its integration into the system went very smoothly. We also integrated the control of our Power Amplifiers (a combination of Icom PW-1s and an Elecraft KPA500) into the microHAM system. As you can see from the diagram above, the amplifiers are dedicated to specific radios and can be controlled directly by each radio’s Station Master Deluxe (SMD). We used microHAM-supplied amplifier control cables for the PW-1, and I built a custom control cable for the Elecraft KPA500 (this was not difficult – both microHAM and Elecraft provide good documentation for the interfaces involved).

Bandpass Filter Control

I also built custom cables to allow our SMDs to control and automate the switching of our Bandpass Filter Units from Array Solutions.

Bandpass Filter Configuration

With the cabling done, I configured the SMDs to correctly set the control leads to switch the Amplifier and Bandpass filter bands based on the Transmit (Tx) frequency of the associated transceiver. The picture above shows the configuration for the bandpass filters. The configuration for the amplifiers is similar.

Control Box Configuration

The next step in the process was to add some microHAM Control Boxes to the uLink bus and configure their addresses. The picture above shows the control interfaces in our system, including the four SMDs. The addressing convention we use in our station has 40-series control boxes that control our 4×10 antenna switching matrix, 50-series control boxes that control our Tx antennas, and 60-series control boxes that control our Receive (Rx) antennas and associated equipment. The picture above also illustrates some of the Units we’ve defined on our Control Boxes to create interfaces to amplifiers, filters, antenna switching, and other controls.

Palstar Dummy Load

The first step in the cutover of our antennas was to connect the antennas and devices, which did not require complex control. This included our OCF Dipole and our Palstar High-Power Dummy Load. As each antenna was connected, the associated path was configured in the system and tested to ensure everything worked as expected.

Dummy Load Modification

I modified the Dummy Load to allow its lamp to be switched on when one of the radios in the shack selects it. This involved adding a couple of binding posts to the device and running the lamp bulb circuit through the binding posts. The posts are connected to a RELAY6 control box, and the microHAM system is configured to close the associated relay whenever a radio selects the Dummy Load. This makes it easy to see that the Dummy Load is selected and extends the life of the bulb.

Transmit Antenna Controls

The next step in the cutover process was to move all of our transmit antennas and rotators to the system one at a time and test them. This required constructing and testing some RS-232 serial cables to connect our three SteppIR Antennas and our Green Heron RT-21D Rotator Controllers to their associated DATA Control Boxes (top row in the picture above).

SteppIR DB36 Control

The picture above shows the configuration for one of our SteppIR Antennas – The Upper DB36 Yagi. This particular configuration step involved assigning the antenna to a DATA Control Box as well as telling the system the type of control protocol to use to control the antenna. The microHAM system “knows” about a wide array of serial and other controllable devices and implements the necessary protocols.

Receive Array Control And Sequencer

The integration of our 8-Circle Low-Band Receive Array involved some special steps at both the Hardware and Configuration levels. The connections on the RELAY10 control box above are used to “steer” the Rx array and enable or disable the shared Low-Noise pre-Amplifiers (LNAs). To protect this antenna from damage from nearby transmit antennas, power to the array must be removed a few milliseconds before transmission begins. This is normally done by a sequencer in a single radio station. Our station can have up to four radios transmitting on any of several different antennas on the low bands. To solve this problem, I used a RELAY6 control box to create a multi-radio sequencer. Each antenna that can transmit on the 160m – 60m bands has one of the relays on the RELAY6 shown above associated with it.

80m Delta Loop Sequencer

These relays are controlled via an optional SEQ control unit configured for each of the associated antennas. These relays are wired in series with the power lead for the 8-Circle Receive Array. Whenever any radio transmits on any band from 160m – 60m on one of the low-band Tx antennas, the associated relay is first opened (with appropriate delay) before Tx is enabled. This approach implements a multi-radio low-band sequencer across the four radios in our station. The control logic also powers down the array when it is not in use by any radio.

Virtual Rotator For 8-Circle Receive Array

The other “special” step involved in the integration of our 8-Circle Receive Array was the implementation of a “virtual rotator” for it. This involves creating a table in the system configuration which maps all possible headings to one of the eight available direction settings for this antenna. Once this is configured, the antenna behaves as if it had a conventional rotator associated with it. When it’s selected, loggers like the DXLab Suite and N1MM can automatically steer the antenna to the best possible direction selection to work a given station. The front panel rotator controls on the SMDs can also be used to turn the antenna just as if it had a “real” rotator.

Available Antenna Paths

With all of the antennas and other RF devices properly configured and interconnected in the configuration, the microHAM router software generates a list of available antenna paths, as shown above. The software automatically determines the path and associated control resource to connect a given antenna to a radio. Note that some of our antennas have multiple paths by which they can be reached. The software detects this and allows the alternative paths to be selected or, if configured as is the case with our 8-Circle Receive Array, be used by multiple radios at the same time. This table represents all of the possible antenna selections in our system.

Antenna Selection Configuration

The final step in the configuration process is to determine which antennas may be used by which radios on each of the available bands. The microHAM router software initially populates this table with all possible choices based on the “available antennas.” I edited the automatically generated configuration to remove a few choices which were not needed and to reorder the lists for each band so that the displays on the SMD would be the most logical for us to use. With these steps done, our configuration was complete.

Yagi Stack Control

The system is quite easy to use and provides easy-to-read and useful displays. The picture above shows the selection of our Stack of two SteppIR DB36 yagis on one of the radios. That radio (an Icom IC-7800) is currently on the 20m band tuned to 14.267 MHz for both transmit and receive. The two white squares show that both yagis are currently included in the stack. Options exist to use either antenna independently and to use them either in or out of phase in the stack. Both SteppIR DB36 antennas are pointed to 45 degrees (we can turn them independently), as can be determined from the numbers next to the white blocks and the direction of the arrow next to them. The row of buttons numbers 1 – 7 shows the available antenna selections for this radio on the 20m band.

80m Split Tx/Rx Antenna Selection

The picture above shows the SMD display for the same radio tuned to 3.658 MHz on the 80m band. Note that the antenna selections have changed to those available in our station for the 80m band. In this example, I am using different antennas for Tx (our 80m Delta Loop) and Rx (our 8-Circle Receive Array). The virtual rotator for the 8-Circle array is active, and you can see that this antenna is pointed toward 245 degrees (the virtual rotator input was 255 degrees, and the SMD picked the closed direction selection on the Rx antenna). Our 80m Delta Loop is vertically polarized and omnidirectional, which is indicated by the symbol next to it on the display.

Station Master Deluxe Keypad

In addition to the buttons and rotary controller on each of our SMDs, antennas can also be selected and steered via a keypad that is associated with each SMD. The keypads enable many functions, including direct entry of rotator headings, antenna selection, and setup for split Tx/Rx antenna operation.

MK2R+ Virtual COM Port Configuration

The microHAM platform (MK2R+ and SMDs) creates an interface to all our logging and control software on our PCs via a series of Virtual COM Ports. The ports for radio CAT interfaces, PTT and FSK (RTTY) keying, and control of the CW and Voice Keyers in the MK2R+ are created by the microHAM Router, as shown above. Each of the two radios at a given operating position has a unique set of ports for CAT and keying.

Station Master Deluxe Virtual COM Ports

In addition, the SMD associated with each radio creates additional virtual COM ports to allow software programs to control the rotator associated with the currently selected antenna(s) on that SMD. The control also includes any “virtual rotators” associated with antenna(s) that may be selected on a given SMD.

DXLab Radio Control

We use the DXLab Suite and the N1MM+ Logger at our station, which works well with the microHAM system. DXLab, including its Commander component (lower-right), is shown above, which provides the radio interface to the suite. If you look closely, you can see the Commander radio buttons, which select either of the two radios at this position. DXLab (and N1MM) know the microHAM control protocol and will automatically switch the associated MK2R+ to use the appropriate radio. This includes setting which radio is active to Tx, what audio is heard in the headphones/speakers, and what audio goes to the sound card for the associated MK2R+ and its radios. The appropriate routing of the shared microphone and CW paddles is also automatically configured.

DXLab and HRD Rotator Control

The picture above shows our rotator control software. We are using two programs here. In the upper left is DXLab’s DXView program, which will steer our antennas in the direction associated with the callsign currently entered into the logger. The other rotator controller is HRD Rotator (lower right) which displays a map of the world and a path. We can click on any location on HRD’s Rotator’s map, and the software will turn the currently selected antennas in that direction. The use of independent rotator control programs is made possible by the microHAM Router, which implements two separate Virtual COM Ports for the rotator(s) associated with each SMD’s selected antenna(s) for its associated radio.

As you can probably tell from the articles in this series, the microHAM system is very powerful and can handle most any station’s setup, including those which are much more complicated than ours. While the construction and configuration work described here may seem a little complex, it’s not that difficult to create a good plan for your system at the outset (see the first post in this series). The documentation for the microHAM system is very good, and Jozef (OM7ZZ) and Joe (W4TV) at microHAM were very good about answering my questions and steering me in the right direction as I built and configured my system. There is also a good Yahoo! group for the microHAM system. You may want to look at the other articles in this series for more information as well:

I had the opportunity to use our new microHAM System as part of the 2014 CQ WPX SSB Contest this weekend, which helped me improve my score. For more on this, check out the article on the contest on this Blog.

We are considering the addition of legal limit solid-state amplifiers and high-power bandpass filters to our station, which will be integrated into the microHAM system when installed. I am also experimenting with the addition of a software-defined radio to the setup. I plan to provide additional articles here as those projects proceed.

– Fred, AB1OC

Station Automation Part 2 – Second Operating Position And Antenna Switching

March 18, 2014 by AB1OC

microHAM Gear At Second Operating Position

microHAM Gear At Anita’s (AB1QB) Operating Position

We have continued our work on automating our station’s operation using microHAM equipment. I have integrated the second operating position into our station into the system via the installation of a second microHAM MK2R+ SO2R interface and two more Station Master Deluxe (SMD) antenna controllers. This position has a Yaesu FTdx5000 Transceiver and an Icom IC-7600 Transceiver. The integration of the FTdx5000 was straightforward and involved a cable hookup to the transceiver. I will add the Icom IC-7600 once the interface cable arrives here.

Current Antenna Control Stack

We’ve also begun to integrate the control of our antenna equipment into the microHAM system. I’ve moved our three SteppIR SDA100 controllers for our two SteppIR DB36 Yagis and our BigIR Vertical, as well as the two Green Heron RT-21 rotator controllers to a set of microHAM DATA control boxes (all of these devices have RS-232 interfaces). With these steps complete, any of our four radios can control the Rotators or provide frequency data to automatically tune our SteppIR antennas.

Antenna Switching Matrix

The biggest part of this project is the construction of a 4 x 10 antenna switching matrix. This element of the system allows any of our 4 radios to connect to any of up to 10 antennas. We built the Antenna Switching Matrix on a 4′ x 8′ board mounted on the wall outside our shack. As you can see from the picture above, this step required quite a few control cable connections as well as the construction of 40 coax interconnect cables (LMR400 Coax and crimp-on connectors were used here).

microHAM Ten Switch

Our Antenna Switching Matrix uses a set of microHAM Ten and 4+4 antenna switches along with multiple RELAY10 control boxes for control.

Antenna Switch Matrix SWR Test

It’s important to test an element like this as it is constructed to catch any errors and to ensure that the final system performance is as expected. I did a combination of continuity, voltage, and end-to-end SWR measurements on the Antenna Switching Matrix as it was built. The microHAM control boxes have a nice manual mode that is available via their front panel buttons which allowed me to configure each antenna switch manually to fully test all of the coax and control cabling in the system.

Receive Antenna Splitter And LNAs

Our antenna farm includes a steerable 8 Circle Vertical Receive Array for the low-bands, and we decided to create two separate appearances of this antenna on our switching matrix. This approach allows two different transceivers to use the receive antenna at the same time. This involves splitting the incoming signal from the receive antenna using a 2-port Splitter from DX Engineering. We also decided to include a pair of Low-Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) to boost the signals from the splitter before feeding the received signals to our antenna switching matrix. The Splitter and LNAs are 75-ohm devices. The signals are passed through a pair of 75-ohm to 50-ohm transformers from Wilson to match their 75-ohm impedance to our 50-ohm antenna switching system and feed lines. The SMD(s) control the LNAs, which have the associated receive antenna connection selected at any given time. This way, an operator can turn off the LNA at their SMD if they don’t need the extra amplification.

Antenna Matrix And Receive Antenna Control

All of this antenna switching requires quite a number of microHAM control boxes. We are also planning to terminate our 8 Circle Receive Antenna’s control lines at this point in our system. The receive antenna requires control leads to steer its direction and a sequencer capability to ensure it is not damaged by strong signals from other nearby transmit antennas. The microHAM system handles these functions easily via a combination of RELAY10 and RELAY6 control boxes, the units in the upper row in the picture above. These boxes also control the two receive LNAs.

With these steps done, we must complete the hookups of our Switchable Band Pass Filters and amplifiers to their associated SMDs. With that done, we can begin moving the feed lines for our antennas and radios over to the system. This will be the topic of our next article. For more information on our automation project, you might want to look at these articles:

– Fred, AB1OC

2013 Amateur Radio Highlights

February 9, 2014 by AB1OC

DXCCs Worked in 2013

Anita and I were quite active on the bands in 2013. Together we made 20,650+ contacts from a combination of our home and mobile stations and we worked a combined 259 DXCC Entities.

Combined 2013 QSOs By Band

We were active on all of the Amateur Bands available in the USA from 160m through 70cm except for the 60m and 1.25m bands. The picture above shows the distribution of our QSOs across the bands in 2013. Both of us participated in quite a few contests in 2013 and this resulted in the 5 major contest bands dominating our operating activity. I did quite a lot of work on the 160m band this year and I participated in several 160m contests to gain experience and to begin working towards a DXCC on this band. We worked a total of 50 DXCC Entities on 160m in 2013. Our 6m, 2m, and 440 MHz (70cm) contacts were made mostly during VHF/UHF contests that I participated in.

Combined 2013 QSOs By Mode

We like to operate using many different modes. Anita (AB1QB) does quite a bit of RTTY contesting and she accounted for the bulk of the activity in the digital modes from our station in 2013. I made it a point to become active using the CW mode this year and I made 1,550+ contacts using CW in 2013 including participation in several CW contests. Operations in SSB Phone mode dominated our activity this year mostly due to our operations in SSB Phone contests and as one of the New Hampshire Stations in the 2013 Colonies Special Event this year where we made a combined total of 6,200+ contacts.

QSL Cards Ready To Mail

We really enjoy sending and receiving QSL cards. We sent 5,800+ QSL cards this year, averaging approximately 110 cards sent each week. We also QSL’ed via eQSL and Logbook Of The World. I am often asked what percentage of our QSL requests are confirmed. For 2013, we received confirmations for 67% of our direct/bureau cards, 31% of the QSOs uploaded to eQSL, and 37% of the QSOs upload to LoTW. These numbers will undoubtedly rise a time goes by.

AB1OC Operating Awards

All of this operating allowed us to complete a number of operating awards this year. Fred completed his DXCC Challenge, 8-Band DXCC, and CQ WPX Award of Excellence Awards as well as a DXCC Awards in CW mode and a DXCC QRP (5 watts).

AB1QB Japan Century Cities Award

Anita has held a DXCC for some time and has been focusing on a number of JARL Awards. She completed her Japan Century Cities Award for confirming contacts with 100 cities in Japan in 2013.

AB1QB Operating In The BARTG RTTY Contest

Contesting was a big part of the operations from our station this year. I was active in several major SSB and CW contests this year and Anita was active in quite a few major RTTY and phone contests as well. We are both licensed for less that 3 years and have been competing in the Rookie or Novice categories in most contests and we have been doing quite well. Anita took 5th place in the world in the 2013 BARTG RTTY Contest and she has placed 1st in our call area in several of the 2013 ARRL Rookie Roundups in both SSB Phone and RTTY.

2013 CQ Worldwide WPX SSB Certificate

I placed 1st in North America/2nd in the World in the 2013 CQ WPX SSB Contest (Rookie High Power) and 1st in North America/2nd in the World in the 2013 CQ WPX CW Contest (Rookie High Power). Contests have provided us a great deal of operating experience and have contributed greatly to our completion of several operating awards.

Mobile Installation In Ford F-150

Station Building was a big part of our Amateur Radio experience again in 2013. We installed a mobile HF setup in our truck and did quite a bit of mobile HF operating. We made 165 contacts from our mobile station in 2013 and worked 41 DXCC entities.

WSJT EME QSO – Waterfall

I also made my first Earth-Moon-Earth Contacts on 2m in 2013. I made 30 contacts on 2m using the moon as a reflector, working a total of 16 DXCC Entities this way.

AB1QB Operating The Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio

We added a Flex-3000 Software Defined Radio (SDR) to our station in 2013 and have been using it to learn about this new technology. The performance and operating capabilities of SDR are making SDR a big part of the future of Amateur Radio in our opinion.

8-Circle Receive Array System Diagram

Antenna projects were also a part of our station building work in 2013. We installed an 8-Circle Receive Array System for 160m – 40m and this new antenna system helped us a great deal with DX’ing and contesting on 160m and 80m. We also began the reinstallation of our BigIR Vertical Antenna but the onset of winter here in New Hampshire caused us to delay the completion of this project until spring. Finally, we made the switch to the excellent DXLab logging and DX’ing software suite. DXLab helped us a great deal with QSL’ing and tracking our progress toward operating awards.

2013 Field Day CW Station Operations

We were part of the 2013 Field Day team at our local radio Club (PART in Westford, MA). We provided and managed the digital station as well as the setup of a portion of the antenna systems for our club’s field day operations.

ARRL At Dayton 2013

Anita and I attended the Dayton Hamvention again in 2013. The Dayton event is always a great opportunity to see the latest in Amateur Radio equipment. We attended the 2013 Contest University which was held as part of the Dayton Event and used the information that we learned there to continue to improve our contesting skills.

Fred Lloyd AA7BQ, Founder Of QRZ.com

The internet was a big part of our Amateur Radio experience again in 2013. We met Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ who visited us to do an article on QRZ.com on our station. We learned a great deal from Fred during the time that we spent with him as part of this project. We published 47 new articles here on our blog in 2013 and have received over 45,000 views from our readers in 152 countries around the world. We really appreciate the interest from the HAM community and we will continue to publish new articles here in 2014.

As you can tell from this article, 2013 has been a very active year for Anita and I. I’ve created the video above to give you some idea of the contacts that we have been fortunate enough to make around the world in 2013. We hope you enjoy it and we want to thank everyone who has taken the time to work us, to end us a QSL card or to read the articles that we have written here.

– Fred (AB1OC)

Our HAM Station

Notes on the construction and operation of a multi-op Amateur Radio Station

Tag Archives: Antennas and Feedlines

Operating Mobile HF – Working DX

Mobile HF Installation – Part 4/4 (500W Amplifier, 160M and Accesories)

Mobile HF Installation – Part 3/4 (Screwdriver Antenna Installation)

Mobile Ham Radio – VHF-UHF Upgrade

LEO Satellite System Part 3 – Final Installation And First Contacts

World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 Experiences

Medal winners

Award winners

LEO Satellite System Part 2 – Antenna Assembly And Ground Test

Station Automation Part 3 – Antenna Cutover And Final Integration

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