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Posts published in “Remote HF”

1500 watts and a Beam…

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/22/2019

With apologies to “100 watts and a wire”, why not go big with the SPARC remote club station! For those that may not know, one of the benefits of SPARC membership is access to a great remote station. The station happens to be the SPARC club station we use for contesting. The station is available using the RemoteHams software (free or $10 for an Android app).

Using your PC and headset, or a paddle and keyer if you prefer (including a straight key if you are really adventurous), you can connect just as if the station were in your own home.

It does not take much to get started and you have access to a station capable of running on 160 meters through 6 meters and everything in between (except 60m). Dean W8IM–our nightly NTS rep–uses the remote with a paddle to work the CW NTS nets. Others have been having fun this week working VP6R. In this age of homeowner’s associations that make setting up a tower at home difficult, you can use the station’s Log Periodic antenna, Elecraft K3 and Elecraft KPA1500 amplifier.

Less you think you are limited to just the interface of the RemoteHams software, I included a screen shot of the setup I just used to contact VP6R a few minutes ago. I use DXLabs Suite of software. I can still connect my logging software to the system so it should be quite familiar. This works with any standard logging software that talks to a radio over a COM port–in other words, all of them.

That screen shot is of both my monitors so if it is hard to read, the thing that looks like a K3 in the middle is the RemoteHams software. The compass rose next to that is the rotor controller. The screen above shows the amplifier status. Other displays are the DXLabs’ DXKeeper, Commander, DXView and SpotCollector. But again, you could use HRD to drive it just as easily.

If you are interested in learning more about this, please join our email list at SPARCRemoteHFStation@groups.io. You can find more information about the remote here. Our only requirement is that you are a member of SPARC but also that you are a local member (Tampa Bay area). You also have to have either a check ride on the station or show you can operate it based on prior experience (online meetings work). Some computer literacy is helpful too.

So jump in and join the fun. Remote operation is here to stay and many of the members of SPARC helped build the station so it might as well get used as much as it can be.

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Getting Started on the SPARC Remote Station

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 08/05/2019

Please note this is an archived page. The SPARC remote station was removed to support the transition to a multi-transmitted contest station. While this may return in the future, there is not set time frame or even commitment to do so.

A few people have asked recently how to get started on the SPARC Remote station. For those that may not know, a benefit of SPARC membership is the ability to use the club station remotely via your PC. This is done via the free RemoteHams software.  The complete RemoteHams Getting Started Guide is available as a PDF. I highly recommend reading this before you get started.

Assuming you are a member of SPARC and are in the Tampa Bay area (we limit it to local members so people in Seattle for example don’t join just for the remote). The first step is to go to the remotehams.com website and create an account. It is important to use your callsign as your account name.  After you register, download the software. Note this software is available for only Windows or an Android phone (the phone app has a nominal cost). If you have a Mac, use your favorite emulator (I did not write the software so I cannot change what it available). You can select the latest version 8 or version 9 client. Version 9 is beta but does include support for a straight key/paddle via an interface device. If you are interested in using a paddle for CW, ask Tom NY4I for more info on how to do this. Dean W8IM does this all the time with great success.

This is a great way for people that may not have their own HF station at home or have limited antennas. We have a great HF station capable of using 160 meters through 6 meters. You have access to an Elecraft K3, a fully controllable rotor and access to the Elecraft KPA1500 HF amplifier. Once you setup your headset and use the interface, it is quite easy to operate. Before you are allowed to transmit, we will ask that you get checked out the equipment. We want to make sure you know how to operate the station. We can arrange that at the station in person or even remotely depending upon your experience level.

The remote is woefully underutilized now so I hope this reminder stimulates some people to take advantage of it. One way to keep up on what is happening with the remote station is to connect to our RemoteHFStation email group. Send an email to SPARCRemoteHFStation+subscribe@groups.io to subscribe.

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Automatic Antenna Switch Decoder added to W4GAC Station

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 03/20/2017

Ron KP2N and Tom NY4I added a Top Ten Devices Band Decoder to the W4GAC station. This switch ties into the existing Six Pack antenna switch. The idea is that rather than the operator having to select the right antenna, the Band Decoder follows a signal sent from the radio that tells the decoder what band the radio is on at the time. The corresponding position is then switched on the antenna switch. So when the radio is on bands 10m – 20m, the Log Periodic is selected. When it is on 80 or 40m, the dipole is selected. It is also possible to use alternate antennas (in case we want to have a 40m vertical as well).

This addition is also needed for the remote station as the manual selection switch would not work with a remote station to change antennas. Below are a couple of pictures of the project. One is the band decoder and another is a handy little DB-25 breakout Ron used to get the pin outs correct before he soldered up the DB25.

DB25 Breakout Board

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Radio Testing to be Rescheduled

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 08/20/2015

Ham Radio Tower & SparksSeptember is the middle of hurricane season.  In an effort to make sure that your handheld and mobile transceivers are in good operational shape. SPARC will be available to test your HT and/or (uninstalled) mobile rig on TBD at the club station. HF, VHF & UHF radios can be accommodated.

Our radio gurus, will setup their service monitors and our spectrum analyzer to checkout your transceivers.  Be sure the battery is fully charge and the rig works.

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Station Maintenance Update

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 02/28/2015

Under the watchful eye of our station trustee, Dave, KR4U, some work occurred this weekend at the SPARC Club Station to support the Remote Station project, On Friday, station engineer John, KI4UIP and Don N4KII ran the rotor line and LAN drop from side one of the room over to the remote side (closest to the window). This allows the main network switch to go to the side that needs more LAN drops. Having the rotor cable allows the Green Heron RT-21 computer-controlled rotor interface to be next to the K3.

On Saturday, after the SPARC board meeting. John and Tom, NY4I worked on installing some more equipment. First was a plywood backing John fabricated to add to the wall under the table. This was to mount some equipment to allow remote control of the devices in the radio room.

  • First, we added the new LAN switch (8 port GigE with CAT7 shielded cabled to minimize RF interference).
  • Then, a Lantronix 4 port Ethernet to Serial server. This device allows someone to map a serial port from a PC across the Internet to control one of 4 serial devices. We have 3 devices that require serial control: Alpha 9500 amplifier, Green Heron Rotor Controller and the Elecraft W2 wattmeter. By having these devices available to the network, a remote user from home can monitor the power out of the station as well as turn the rotor with their local Logging program (like HRD, DXLabs, N1MM or WriteLog). Your local software just thinks it is talking to a local serial port, but in reality,the data is routed across the Internet to the device at the SPARC station. A great by-product of this is that the local computers can also talk to the serial devices over the network. This allows either station A or station B to control the rotor for example without having to run a 2nd serial cable across the room and switch them with an A/B switch.
  • The last item installed was a DLI Web Connected Power Switch. This device has 8 LAN controlled ports to allow switching and resetting of devices remotely. Say we are operating remotely and the Rotor controller stops responding. If necessary, we can issue a command that will turn the rotor controller’s power off and then turn it back on. This allows the advice to reset.The web power switch is also smart enough to ping any of the devices plugged into and if they stop responding, it cycles the power port to reset the device.

A goal of this system is to make sure that the station can be used locally for contesting operations and when people want to come in and operate. It’s secondary function is to operate remotely. The way this has been engineered is to make sure that both goals are supported without having to switch anything.

Tom stayed later to tie up a few loose ends including updating the firmware on the Alpha 9500 to version 3.03. This drastically improves the auto-tune algorithm. The amp is even easier to operate now. He also connected the serial interface from the K3 into he RemoteRig box so it is accessible both remotely and for local computer control via WriteLog.

The next thing to install is some beefier coax jumpers to replace a few pieces of RG-8X. These will be replaced with LMR-400 UltraFlex. The last major item before we start full remote integration testing is to add a automatic band decoder to allow the K3 to drive the selection of the antennas. This will make local operation too in that no manual switching of the antennas will be required. In the remote operation, this is really a requirement as we need to switch the antennas between the Log Periodic and the dipole.

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