Moving the Shack

 

Moving the ‘Shack’

My radio equipment was in my study, but when I gave up work, I moved out of that room, which reverted to being a spare bedroom. My radio equipment therefore had to move as well, which I did not relish. I have about eight antennas, all in the loft, and each one had its own feeder. These, together with a rotator cable and a couple of power cables made a flexible but very untidy arrangement. In my defence I have to say this rats’ nest was mostly hidden behind curtains but it had to go!

The Cable Arrangement in the Old 'Shack'

The easiest way to move would have been to simply transfer this cable bundle to its new location. However I wanted to take the opportunity to make the arrangement much tidier and more professional. I investigated coax switches but decided these were too expensive and introduce losses which, as a QRP operator, I could ill afford. I only use two or three antennas most of the time so I decided to build two identical patch panels, one in the loft and one at my operating position, with ‘N’ and ‘BNC’ connectors (PL-259s are banned in my shack!). 

The Downstairs Patch Panel Box  

The Design

I decided to run one RG-8 cable, for VHF/UHF and three RG-58 cables for other bands and non-critical VHF activities.

Frequency	RG-8	RG-58
Loss/100m 14 MHz	2.3 dB	5.3 dB
Loss/100m 145 MHz	6.0 dB	19.2 dB
Loss/100m 433 MHz	10.4 dB	39.5 dB

  Table - Approximate Cable Losses

 ‘N’ and BNC connectors have negligible loss at 400 MHz whereas the loss of PL-259 connectors rises rapidly above about 200 MHz  My longest cable run was less than 10m, from equipment to antenna, so the RG-58 cable losses are acceptable at VHF except for contests etc. when the RG-8 comes into play.

The Installation

Installing the cables was very straight forward as I planned an almost vertical drop from the loft junction box to the operating position. I measured the cable lengths then added a bit. I terminated the four cables in the loft patch panel before installing it. I then screwed this to a handy loft timber and carefully drilled a hole in the ceiling plasterboard directly above the operating position. I then fed the four coax cables and the rotator cable down to the operating position and enclosed them in plastic trunking. I trimmed the cables to length before terminating them in the downstairs patch panel and screwing this to the wall.

I decided not to fit connectors to the rotator cable as this already has a screw terminal on the control unit and the rotator assembly. I did not trim this cable so I will have flexibility if it needs to be moved. The surplus cable is coiled in the loft.

I then made up a set of patch cables (RG-8 or RG-58) to go from the upstairs patch panel to the antennas. There is less than 1m from the downstairs patch panel to the operating position and I already had several 1m BNC-BNC cables so no work was needed here. Incidentally I like BNC connectors because of they connect quickly and securely. As I only run QRP, their power handling is not an issue as it might be at higher powers. 

The New 'Shack' Operating Position

Operating

The downstairs patch panel is very convenient when I need to change antennas as I leave the most commonly-used ones connected up top. I do have to climb up when I need to change the ones in the loft but this is not a massive inconvenience as I have a sturdy loft ladder. I do need to remember to write down the upstairs configuration and pin this on my notice board whenever I change anything up there; my memory is not what it was!

As a result of this move, my entire station including a small storage unit for hand-helds, cables , microphones SDR radios etc. now occupies less than ½ sq m, which has pleased the XYL, and I have not lost any operating capability. The cables arrangement is now much more professional looking and I am pleased I have achieved all the design objectives.

  

SOTA Activation Ditchling Beacon G/SE-006

On Saturday 26 July I activated SOTA summit Ditchling Beacon (G/SE-006). Although there is a bus from Brighton to Ditchling, I enjoy walking so I took an early train to Lewis followed by a 10km walk along the South Downs Way.  My plans went slightly awry when the Southern train broke down at Haywards Heath, but after a 30-minute delay we arrived at Lewis.  This section of the South Downs Way is well signposted and so I did not get lost this time. My pack was a little heavier than usual. It was a very hot day so I carried extra water, not knowing that there would be an Ice Cream van, also selling water (but two quid a small bottle!), at the Ditchling car park. The walk took around 2 ½ hours, including a short sandwich stop.

M0BGR/P at Ditchling Beacon, G/SE-006. July 2014

 

I have never suffered a catastrophic failure on one of these expeditions but today was the exception. I use a small plug box (in the foreground of the photo) so I can quickly connect several items to my  lead-acid 7.2Ah battery. I wired up the FT-817 and switched it on while I set up the Super Stick HF antenna. After about 5 minutes there was a bang from the vicinity of the plug box and the 817 reverted to internal batteries. I quickly disconnected the lead-acid battery and began to investigate, thinking something had shorted. All the external wiring seemed OK so the problem had to be in the plug box.

I carry a small tool kit but I had omitted to include a small Posidrive screwdriver, required to open the plug box, and a multi-meter which would have been helpful when fault finding. I could have carried on by either using the FT-817 internal batteries, which would have lasted about an hour, or directly connecting the 817 to the battery – a little inconvenient as I could only power one item at a time. I decided to investigate and was able to open the plug box, carefully, with the tip of my pen knife blade.  The inside was a complete mess! It used to have an electrolytic capacitor but this had blown itself apart. As this was not required for battery operation I surgically removed it, cleaned out the wreckage, put the box back together again and re-connected everything (carefully!).

The 817 was still not receiving power but checking fuses without a multi-meter is difficult and none had obviously blown. I am a bit fanatical about fusing everything and there were three fuses in the 817 circuit. Fortunately I carry spares, taped to their respective leads so I opted to replace them all even though only one should have blown. I had been some time since this plug box had been used. I powered it up before leaving home, but only for a few seconds, so I guess this was not enough to reveal a weak electrolytic capacitor even though this was adequately rated for the job (100 uF, 25V).

 Next time – check tool kit, test everything properly, before leaving home, and carry a multi-meter!

Finally, I was on the air and firing on all cylinders. This was the day of the IOTA contest so I spent most of my time on the WARC bands, with occasional calls on 2m and 4m FM. This was the first real outing for my new Wouxun KG-UV6D – it performed well.  Band conditions were not great but I quickly worked the four stations I needed for a valid activation, thanks to Mike, G6TUH, who I worked on several bands and also spotted me on the clusters. I was on the air for three hours and worked 14 stations, including 5B4KH in Cyprus (Asia-004 in the IOTA contest). During the afternoon lots of people stopped to ask what I was doing. Although this interrupts operating time, I always take the opportunity to explain amateur radio and why it is relevant today.

I packed up in time to catch the last bus to Brighton, but it was such a lovely afternoon I decided to walk back to Lewis, after pausing for an Ice Cream! The walk back was uneventful, apart from getting a painful blister on my right foot with about a mile to go which I had to stop and sort out (I always carry a basic First Aid kit). On the walk back I was passed by lots of Ghurkha soldiers who were doing a 100km run along the South Downs Way that very hot day, which rather puts my 10km walk into perspective, but they weren’t carrying an amateur radio station!  

2011 IOTA Contest - QRP Expedition to Isle of Wight (EU-120)

For this year’s RSGB IOTA contest (islands on the air), I decided to try a lightweight backpack DXpedition to the Isle of Wight (IOTA Ref: EU-120). (http://www.isle-of-wight.world-guides.com/isle_of_wight_maps.html)

Isle of Wight IOTA Ref: EU-120

I travelled by Southwest Trains to Portsmouth Harbour then by Wightlink ferry to Fishbourne. It was then about a 30 minute hike to my (Secret) operating spot. I did not have time to go to the island beforehand to check this place out so I had a couple of backup locations that fortunately I did not need.

M0BGR/P on Isle of Wight

The set up was my Yaesu FT-817 with a 7AH lead-acid battery pack. The antenna was a aged fibre glass pole with the dipoles I had built earlier (See April 20^th 2011 Posting). I arrived at site about an hour before contest start and proceeded to set up. Now, I knew the pole was past its best and had a few cracks around some of the joints so I was very careful, but as I was raising the pole, the antenna caught on a bush and the pole snapped about 2/3 the way up. ‘Oh, what a nuisance’ I said (or words to that effect). I had some insulating tape so with that, and some twigs as a splints, fixed the pole; not pretty but OK for the IOTA contest.

(By the way, be VERY careful with broke fibre glass poles. A couple of years ago I go a splinter I my hand and they are very painful and impossible to remove. I had to visit the hospital who also insisted on administering a Tetanus jab that was more painful than the splinter!).

The SFI index on the day of the IOTA contest was well over 100. The earth bound CME had not materialised and I was operating only in the afternoon so I decided to bet the farm on 15m. Bad idea! Conditions were very poor and I struggled to make 30 QSOs (though these did include Asiatic Russia and USA mid-west). 20m sounded very active but I thought a QRP (low power) station like mine would never be heard and the broken pole made me reluctant to change bands. However by my last half hour (1700 UTC/ Sat), I decided I had nothing to loose so (carefully!) changed antennas to 20m.  I had no difficulty being heard and my run-rate immediate shot up to a respectable level, both on CW and SSB. This may have been because I was the ‘new kid on the block’ and with a rarer EU-120 locator may have helped. The other stations on EU-120 did not seem to be around on 20m as several stations thanked me for the multiplier.

It was tempting to stay a bit longer, but at 1730UTC I had to pack up to get the WightLink ferry and train to back home without getting stranded. On the walk back I called CQ a few times on 4m with my Wouxun KG-699E, but did not work anyone. Is anyone active on 4m on the Isle of Wight?

Lessons for the day:

·         Don’t take equipment I know to be faulty, it will fail under field operational conditions.

·         If my game plan isn’t working, change it. I should have switched to 20m as soon as it became clear conditions were poor on 15m

·         Has anyone ever worked out the average speed of South West Trains? It took 2 hours from Portsmouth to London (no refreshment facilities) and at that rate, I think Stephenson’s Rocket could have given us a run for our money.

73 Dave.
ps - when I submitted my log, there was only one other station listed as a QRP-Expedition - where are all the back packers?