Beverage antenna & radials cart

9. January 2017 in Hardware

At our Contest Station ED1R we are limited in space. Therefore we have to install before the contests our low band verticals and beverages - and of course, after the contests, take them down and bring them into the storage again. Over the last years, we started optimizing the way how to rapidly deploy and remove radials. Earlier we used a bunch of garden hose carts, which were inexpensive, but after three contest seasons, they started falling apart. A more solid solution was needed. This time we build a solid cart, using surplus military equipment.

Network accessible Rotators

11. January 2015 in Contesting, Hardware, IT Stuff

Once your contest station grows bigger and you add more antennas to turn, it becomes quite annoying to move around the physical rotator controllers between the operating positions inside the shack. Desperate for a better solution, I developed a server software that provides access to the Rotators through the network. Now all rotators can be controlled either directly through Win-Test, TCP socket, or through a Web-Interface.

DG8SAQ VNWA & Virtual Machines

11. January 2015 in Hardware

A few years ago I migrated almost entirely to OSX & Ubuntu. However, I still had to maintain a Windows copy on one of my hard drive partitions, since a few applications were just available for Windows. In particular, DG8SAQ’s superb Vector Network Analyzer (VNWA) software. I can already use most of the applications in a Virtual machine, with the benefit of not having to reboot and change the OS, but DG8SAQ’s software with it’s USB I/O always gave me hard time. Finally, I figured out what needs to be changed. Now the VNWA runs also smoothly in a Virtual Machine.

Will additional coax stubs improve Bandpass Filter performance?

12. May 2013 in Hardware

I was curious if the performance of our 4O3A high-power Bandpass filters could be improved with additional coax stubs in parallel. We were operating at ED1R for some time now with the added stubs, and we are pleased with the results. Check out the details!

How to rapidly deploy & remove antenna radials

24. March 2013 in Hardware

At our contest station ED1R we have no space for permanent Lowband Verticals. Each Contest, the verticals have to be installed temporarily in a field nearly. Especially the deployment and removal of the antenna radials are very time-consuming. Over time we optimized our system which reduced the required time from 2 hours down to 30 minutes.

Can I still use oxidized coax cable?

18. March 2013 in Hardware

This question bugged me after trying to exchange the connectors of a 25m long Aircell7 coax cable. During preparation, I discovered a black inner conductor. It seems water entered the cable. Do I have to throw it away? Read more to discover a probably unexpected answer!

4O3A Triplexor

14. March 2013 in Hardware

Until today, I’m fascinated by what can be achieved with good filters. At our Contest Station ED1R we bought a Triplexor (10m/15m/20m) to be able to use our new Optibeam OB11-3 on the three bands simultaneously.