Monthly Archives: September 2016

Trip to SM2EKM and RX-array work

Posted by on September 26, 2016 Comments Off on Trip to SM2EKM and RX-array work

I spent a couple of evenings at SM2EKM last week helping him with some tower work. It should only have been one trip but since I managed to mess up it needed to be two. I was going to disconnect one of his 5el for 20m since he has got a problem with one of them and extend the cables down to the ground so he could work on them himself. Unfortunately I mixed up the cables and ended up attaching the two antennas together and the coax leading into the shack was left hanging 🙂 So I went back the day after and fixed that. We also concluded that the top 20m yagi has got an issue which needs to be fixed, this will however be done next year and I believe I can do it in the tower by tilting the yagi without needing to take it down to the ground.

I have also spent time working on the RX-array. I got most hardware installed such as preamps, ground rods, coax etc. I also got the RF-link tested and it switches the array properly so now all that is left is to install the cabinet and pull out the 300m of coax needed to reach the array.

It was also very nice to get a visit from SM3JLA and his girlfriend and we concluded that he should start coming up more often again, at least I did 🙂

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SM2OAN, RX-array and carpentry

Posted by on September 26, 2016 Comments Off on SM2OAN, RX-array and carpentry

Since we hadn’t finished up all work at SM2OAN I ended up going up once more. We first pulled up the 20m yagi (5el) into position and after that the 5el for 15m. When this was done we removed the tram wire and we lifted the 2el 40m a bit higher (as high as we could). The work has gone very well and I believe SM2OAN is now very happy about his setup, especially getting the 2el 40m added plus getting a stack on 15m as well. I also built a stackbox for him so that he can switch it. After we were finsished, we went to SK2HG since they had a meeting and it was very nice to meet some friends.

I have also spent quite a lot of time at SJ2W lately. I am trying to work in hours so that I can go down on Thursdays which gives me a whole day more. Normal weekends are way too short but this gives me another day. I’ve done a lot of work on the Hi-Z RX array building Bias-T to get DC power there, finishing up the RF-link to switch it etc. I used 16mm water tubing to protect the RG-6 coax going from the cabinet in the middle out to the verticals and I will have about 50-70m of it so that I can have the coax on the ground close to the RX antenna. Further away I will put the coax up in the trees as it protects it better.

I have also built some more protection for the rotors of the different towers, the military tower still need some work before its finished but I believe I’ve done pretty good progress on it at least.

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Various work

Posted by on September 26, 2016 Comments Off on Various work

I got to borrow and ACOM 2000A from SM2OAN when I was up helping him, so I have built a shelf for it so it doesn’t stand on the floor. I have also painted a few things, such as the rotator cabinet for the moskojärvi tower and also the cabinet I built for the inband tower. Hopefully I will get this cabinet moved to the proper location next weekend and installed partly.

I also changed the power supply to the WIFI-link. I am trying to remove all the switched supplies that are not really needed and can be replaced by linear ones. I bought a few linear ones from SM2RHL during the SKRA flea market which I put to use.

Me and SM2XJP also talked to the power line company about a potential noisy transformer that is currently not in use. So they were kind enough to remove the fuses before the SAC CW contest and man the bands are quiet now. There is still at times some noise from the power line so we will need to try finding that and telling them about it.

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SAC CW 2016

Posted by on September 21, 2016 Comments Off on SAC CW 2016

I had a blast, everything worked great and claimed new SM record plus claimed #1 Scandinavia

Scandinavian Activity Contest, CW

Call: SJ2W
Operator(s): SM2WMV
Station: SJ2W

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Burtraesk
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   80:  317    40
   40:  787    61
   20: 1071    73
   15:  207    47
   10:    7     5
-------------------
Total: 2389   226  Total Score = 1,296,788

Club: Worldwide Young Contesters

Comments:

This was really fun. I wasn't sure if I would operate the contest but felt
pretty motivated so I decided to do it. I did DUAL CQ for most of the contest
and I need to practice a lot more, even though I felt it worked pretty well. I
managed to do the best CW rate hour I believe we have had at SJ2W with 194 QSOs
and this really makes SAC a blast to operate. I have never really been fond of
the contest since normal SO2R operation with hunting mults does not work. DUAL
CQ has been done for a long time by operators in SAC including myself, but this
was my first time I did it pretty much all the time regardless of rate and I
felt it helped my mults. I didn't move that extremely much mults (I think 14
successful moves but a lot of tries) and still had pretty decent mults. However
I expect that my UBN will suffer from this type of operating but hopefully not
too much.

As usual it was a blast to see the progress at cqcontest.net, especially the
battle with Kim, OH6KZP @OH2BH who I before the contest thought would be
unbeatable but propagation's were good enough to have good enough US runs on 20
and 40m to be able to get enough point advantage towards him. JAs were very
active on especially 15m with tremendous signals. Rumors say that OH0Z placed
in the middle between me and Kim, some day I hope the OH0s will join the fun
with the online scoreboard as well :) I am happy that OH0V was not QRV :) 

Station worked flawlessly, only wish I didn't have shared towers for 20/40m,
makes you a little handicapped but I guess I could always put up a bit more
aluminum.

DXLog with two keyboards used and it workged great!

The D1 prefixes were not recognized so I expect the score to go up by a few
points after those are scored by the SAC robot.

Seems like a new SM record too which is surprising considering 10m, but the
lowbands were really good instead.

Antennas
80m: 4-SQ
40m: 3/3el + 2/2el + 4-SQ
20m: 6/6/6el + 5/5el + 4el @EU
15m: 6/6/6/6/6el + 6/6el + 5el
10m: 6/6el + 6el @46m

K3 + ACOM 2000A (Sponsored by Ojojoj Music AB)
TS590SG + ACOM 2000A (Borrowed from SM2OAN)

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