[CQ-Contest] N5ZC - November SS CW - Remote Control

[Richard Thorne]

I've been going through several variations of a remote controlled hf station 
over the years.

The first setup was the Kachina 505dsp which was controlled via a telephone 
line.  This one had some advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

- The control head was located here at the house while the rig/rotor 
control/antenna switching was located at the office.  This was nice as the 
control head was the interface to the rig and I was able to connect my pc to 
it for cw keying or voice keying ect.

- Easy to setup as it was a turn key opeation

Disadvantages:

- CW sending speed was proportional to the connection speed via the 
telephone modem.  If I recall the best connection speed I could produce 
(before going to an ISDN line) was around 18 wpm, not nearly fast enough for 
most contesting and chasing dx.

- When ever I would transmitt on the low bands rf would get  into the modem 
and disconnect me.

- Audio (both transmitt and receive) was raspy as the phone line just did 
not have the bandwidth to handle both data and audio.

As you can assume the disadvantages out weighed the advantages.  It was a 
neat setup and really did work well for ssb but even ssb was disrupted on 
the low bands due to disconnects.

Along the way the internet was continually improving and high speed internet 
was becoming available and affordable prices.  This made it possible to 
control the rig but audio was a problem.  At the time the only decent audio 
program was net meeting but it was always a hassle due to firewalls ect. 
One could setup some uhf rigs to get audio back and forth but that was going 
to be quite the project to get it working and the cost of additional uhf 
rigs/antennas was prohibitive.

At this point I gave up and put up a stealth vertical in the backyard to say 
some what active.

Fast forward to the last 2 years.

Rig control software has become a staple.  Lots of authors out there 
writting neat control software for rigs rotors ect. Still the trick was 
getting the audio back and forth.  I discovered a program called Skype along 
the way.  What a great free program.  I have no idea how it works but 
firewalls don't bother it and the audio, especially for SSB, is out 
standing.  CW is another matter.  While it works well it could use some 
improving.  There is another program called Gizmo that uses a different 
protocol and handle cw much better.  I just havn't used it yet as it does 
not have an auto answer function like Skype has.  This is a must, the remote 
needs to be able to answer the incoming call while no one is there.

That being said here is my current remote setup.

 - TS-480hx (one of the few rigs that can be turned on and off with a 
software command)
 - Microham Band Decoder for auto antenna selection
 - DX Engineering 8 port antenna switch connected to the band contoller
 - Hygain T2X with the Idiom Press rotort control card for computer control
 - Win Key for cw generation

 - Lantronix ETS8P Device server which extends my home computers com ports 
over the net
 - My rig/rotor/winkey are connected to the ETS8P so a computer is not 
needed at the remote
 - The next step will be to install a VOIP device via the router so a 
computer is not needed at all at eh remote site.

 - TRX Manager for rig/rotor control for chasing dx and general radio
 - Logic logging software as it has an interface with TRX (general logger 
for award tracking)
 - N4PY's software for rig control during contests as it has an interface 
with Writelog
 - Writelog for logging contests.
 - N8LP's software for rotor control and a foot switch connected to a serial 
port for ptt control

This past weekend I used the above hardware and N4PY/Writelog combo for Nov 
SS CW.  I'm attaching what I posted to 3830.  While my cw skills are not the 
best I'm happy with the results.  It sure was nice being able to sit at home 
in my pj's in the comfort of my own home v.s. going to the office to 
operate.  By the way this is all done to get around 1- a small city lot with 
not much room for antenna's and 2 - not being able to put up antennas in the 
first place.

____________________________________________

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: N5ZC
Operator(s): N5ZC
Station: N5ZC

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: WTX
Operating Time (hrs): 21

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:
   80:   29
   40:  141
   20:  383
   15:  252
   10:
------------
Total:  805  Sections = 80  Total Score = 128,800

Club:

Comments:

Operated Remote Control.  N4PY did a nice job interfacing his software with
Writelog.  I was able to control the rig located at my office with the N4PY
software and send cw with Writelog via a WinKey.

When I got up Sunday morning I needed a few VE's along with NNY. It took a 
while
but I finally found VE4VV for the sweep.  Believe it or not the next qso was
VE4XT, an MB insurance qso.

My station is located at my office 7 miles away.  I use a high speed 
internet
connection to control the station and get the audio back and forth.

Rig - TS-480HX
Antenna - F12 C3 at 75' wires for 40 and 80.
Rotor - T2X with an Idiom Press computer card.
MicroHam Band Decoder for auto antenna selection
K1EL Winkey for CW
N4PY's software for rig control
Writelog for logging and rotor control
Skype for audio

The remote has been working great for chasing DX, now its setup for some 
decent
contesting.  Now if I can just improve my cw skills.....

Rich - N5ZC


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: 
http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score