[UK-CONTEST] Generators - Adrian Rees

[Ian White GM3SEK]

Cris wrote:

>Hi Adrian
>
>I agree with CKP - you will soon get fed up with the generator option -

Maybe the first thing to do is get a really clear idea of the advantages 
of the remote site compared with home. As Chris SJJ says, no matter how 
good it is, you don't want to be staggering up and down that hill in all 
weathers.

Best of all worlds (other than moving your whole house up there) would 
be some antennas down at the house so you can listen, work a few people, 
and make good decisions about when to head for the hill. But before you 
can do that, you need a clear idea of how much better the signals will 
be up there.

If you are only using the hill when you need to, and for big openings 
and contests, a gene might be the way to go. At the very least it will 
get you on the air sometime soon. And anyway, in that part of the world 
you ARE going to need a gene anyway, as backup for the house (though 
it's no darn good if you're snowed into the house while the gene is away 
up the hill... better make it two genes then  :-)

>suggest
>you get some armoured mains cable and run that out to the shack.  It won't
>be cheap but will save you in the long run (no pun intended!) when you consider
>the ongoing fuel costs and other running costs of a gennie.
>
450 metres is going to be seriously expensive, even at good discounts. 
To see some typical trade prices, go to:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Index/Armoured_SWA/index.htm
l
But then click on their Cable Size Calculator to see what size you 
need...

As for the RF, it looks like a long run of 600 ohm might be a reasonable 
mid-term goal for HF, but VHF wouldn't be feasible. 450m of LDF5-50A 
looks like 5-6dB at 144MHz.

This is beginning to look more and more like a small station at home, a 
shack on the hill to which you take some gear when needed, and an old 
beat-up Landrover with a gene on  trailer. If you're intending to build 
a shack and an antenna farm up there, you'll be needing a LOT of heavy 
transport.


-- 
73 from Ian GM3SEK