[CQ-Contest] The Station Notebook

[Cooper, Stewart]

I have kept a station notebook for years. I never really thought that it was
something that others did. I am on volume 5 I think. Little spiral bound
notebooks. I keep notes of pin-out connections with drawings, rotator and
other cable colours and connections and drawings, antenna design info
(element length, spacing, taper schedule, etc). Equipment and packet
interconnecting cable pin-outs, etc. In fact a I also have a separate book
just for mic, afsk, control and other pin-outs. It is good to be able to go
back 10 years and check on something 'you think you remember'. I also have
an old filing cabinet full of manuals, circuits, rubbish, etc.

Stewart
GM4AFF/GM0F

-----Original Message-----
From: K4RO Kirk Pickering [mailto:k4ro at k4ro.net]
Sent: 13 August 2004 21:53
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Cc: tcg at k4ro.net
Subject: [CQ-Contest] The Station Notebook


Do you keep a Station Notebook?  I'm talking about
a binder (or perhaps computer documents) where you
keep track of station design and construction.

What parameters do you keep track of?  Which do you
find the most useful for troubleshooting antenna or
station problems?  How do you organize the data?

I am trying to take care of some severe inter-station
interference in my humble one-tower SO2R station. The
number of antenna choices and feedlines is bewildering
for my little station; I can only imagine what it must
be like to keep track of a serious M/M or M/2 station.

To get the answer pump primed, my station notebook is
currently a file cabinet with a myraid of folders, plus
some documents on the computer. I have separate folders 
for tower, antennas, rigs, antenna switching, and non-station 
stuff like DXCC etc.  I have just started logging information 
for each antenna feedline (currently numbering 16, including 
RX antennas.)  For each antenna, I am logging resonant frequency,
SWR curves, and impedance resistive and reactive components.  
One goal is to have a place to start troubleshooting when an 
antenna does not seem to be working properly.

I would be interested in hearing about other's Station Notebooks,
and what information is considered the most important to track.

73

-Kirk  K4RO
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