Building my Shack pt.2 the Room

I started with an empty room that was painted 10 years ago. It wasnt a beauty. 

I decided to mount new lights in the Room because i like it when its well illuminated. I searched alot for lamps that i liked but they were either crappy build or way too expencive.

I decided to build my own lamp out of 6/4“  steel pipes. I kind of like the look of raw steel and the good thing on waterpipes is you can thread them together, adjust the angle and get nice looking standard connection parts. 


Then i bought 2 pairs of lampshades of amazon and mounted all together on a Saturday afternoon. 

The connection of the wires was a little fiddely but it all went well. 


After i premounted the Lamp my collegue came and hepled me mount it on the wall. It became quite heavy. 🙂


When i swithed that thing on the first time i was a little bit shocked. The Light was very good but because of the Lampshades the light came straight down aso the most of the Room was very dark. I needed a second Lamp and my first guess was to buy one „pipelamp“ from amazon. The package was delivered soon but it was a very bad quality. It looked as cheap as it was.

So again i had to get back in the Workshop and build my own lamp. First i ordered some connectors, angles and T-pieces. I used a rectangular insulated wire where the sockets can be clipped on and it fittet perfectly. I glued the sockets in the pipes with some Epoxy glue and let it cure. 


I liked the second lamp more than the first one. I know that this style is not for everybody and on my second thought it might be a little extravagant but i wont make a new one thats sure. 🙂
Best wishes

Hans

Building my Shak pt.1

Since i got my Licence in 2014 being on the air was very difficult for me. If i wanted to do HAM Radio i had to setup my Station in the Livingroom and when i was finished it didnt take much time till my Girlfriend reminded me to put the Stuff away again. 🙂

Mid 2017 I started to think about building my own shack. I had an empty Room right under the Roof and i started collecting ideas on how i would realise this project. I wanted to make a nice looking, functional Shack and in the next few Blogposts i will show you how i did it and why i did it that way. 
Best wishes Hans

Linked Dipole Measuring the right SWR

We are almost done. Now on the last step we have to measure the SWR and cut the antenna to the right lengh.

We will have to put the antenna to some height. I have choosen a 10m fiberglass mast and an Umbrella stand.


You will have to put the antenna up and down a lot so if you are not usig a foldable mast make sure you can put the antenna up and down easily. I have choosen a inverted V setup.

Get your SWR analyser or a radio with a SWR Meter and set it to the 10m band. I have choosen a center frequency of 29mhz.

Tune for the lowest SWR on your Analyser. When the frequency is under (in our case 29mhz) you have to shorten the antenna. If the frequency is over your intended frequency you should make the antenna longer. Wich would be bad.

Now if the antenna is too long let the centerpiece down and cut the same lengh of wire away on both sides. I have began with about 4cm. Just loose the knot a little, make the antenna shorter and tighten the knot again a little.

Not put the antenna up again and measure again.

Do this to get a good swr (i would say 1.0-1.3)

When the first band is ok let the antenna down again. Unisolate both wires on the first isolator and connect them by twisting them together.


Now put the antenna up again. Set your analyser for the 20m band (in my case i choose a frequency of 14.200mhz).

Now again measure the SWR and shorten the wire for a good SWR.

Do this for every band until you have a good SWR on the 80m band.

We are almost done. It took me about 2 hours but it was my first try and i fckd up one time by closing the connection on one band and a different on the other side. 🙂

When you are done solder your connectors on the unisolated wires. I have choosen some small banana plugs but you can also use some crocodile clips or something similar.


Now we are done. 🙂
Wind the wires on the centerpiece and wait for some good weather to try your new antenna in the nature.

Best wishes

Hoonse

Linked Dipole Final Assembly

So we have all the parts and the wires cut to a lengh where we have a little spare lengh. 

Solder on the cables for the 10m Band a Ring and secure it with the nut where the cables from the Balun are mounted. 

Put the wire throu the upper hole and make a secure knot. Make sure you have a little spare wire so there is no force on the ring on the screw. 

Put a knot on the wire like on the picture. 


Now, on the other side of the isolator put the wire from the 20m Band. Go on for every wire from every band until you reached the wire for the 80m Band. 

On the last isolator put about 4m of some kind of string. I have chose some thick fishing wire. On the other side of the string put a loop for fixing it later. 
Best wishes

Hoonse

AOEC All Austrian Contest. 

On may 1st was the yearly All Austrian Contest. The goal in this Contest is to reach as many Austrian Stations as possible. You get multipliers for every new district, for a stations from the state and when you operate with a power supply off the grid. 

This year was the first time i participated in this Contest and it was a Hell of a lot fun. 🙂

The location i have chosen was our small “chalet” on a mountainside where i life. 



The main thing why i have chosen that location is because we have a water turbine on there. All energy needed there comes 100% off the grid wich is nice because of the extra multiplier. 😉

The antenna i wanted to use was a NVIS antenna that i have build according to a pdf from OE7OPJ. I was using i 3d printed Topcap. You can find the designfiles for 3d printing on Thingiverse


The feederline was 45m long Coax Cable. I put the coax cable on some electric fence posts so it doesnt lay on the ground and gets wet.

On 6 in the morning local Time the next day i drove again to my improvised shack to setup my Station. I have chosen to use my “Portable/Emergency Station”. 


In total i have made 57 contacts in the first period and 78 contacts in the second period. I have only worked on 80m because the 40m band didnt work that day. (At least not for me ;))

I dont know if that is good or bad and i would really like some comments from other participants to see their results. 


As said before. It was my first contest and it made a lot of fun. I am looking foreward to next year. =)
Best wishes

Hoonse

The HamRadio “Maker” Challenge

A few Weeks ago i had the idea of making a Challenge for HamRadio operators. Not a Challenge like eating a spoon full of Cinnamon or post a picture from a pen that will stay under your boobs (really?!)

No. I thought of something like:

Scenario: X-Event occured today. There is Y-Problem.
Goal: You will have to find a way to build/make/hack Z
Rules: Because of the X-Event you only have Q-Parts to reach your goal.
Rewards: Recieve something (like a Diploma) for the 3 People with the most points.
Points are given by different factors like speed, creativity, “1337-value”, …

I am not sure if you understand what i mean so let me make a easy example:

Scenario: You made it. You are the only CW guy that will take part to the DX-Pedigion to P5! While taking a Nap on the Airplane you suddenly awake and it comes to your mind that you have forgotten your Morse-key at home. You remember that you put a big piece of Paper over it with the Inscription: “DO NOT FORGET!!”. You grab the Telephone on the seat in front of you, swipe your Creditcard and call all Hamradio shops in P5 but noone has a Morsekey for sale. You realize that you have a big problem and that you have to come up with a solution quick because kenny (the main organizer) is getting suspicious.
Goal: Build a Morsekey with the things you find in your Hotelroom. Special points will be given if you can build the Morsekey with parts from Insode the Airplane (parts you have access as a passanger! Dont rip the plane apart).
Rules: Use whatever parts are in a “normal” hotel/airplane. A normal guest/passanger must have access to these parts. No vandalism! You may also use parts that a “normal” person has in its hand luggage. You can also modify things. The Morsekey has to work with a normal HF Radio/Your Radio.
Prove: Make Pictures/Videos, write a small text what you used and why. Make a Call/QSO. Confirm that QSO with a Video. If you havent learned CW yet Send a Call: “YourCall HAM Challange” and get a video from a receiving station.
Points: Points will be given for speed (time from anouncement to QSO/Call), creativity, “HackValue” by a Jury containing: Me
Rewards: The winner of every Category will get a Printed Diploma and the official Title:”Problemsolver” (issued by:Me)

That is just a small and easy Challange that came in my mind right now but i have a few ideas for interesting and funny Challanges.

So Why should we do that? Why wasting time instead of logging some DX stations instead?: Well i dont know you but i personally think that the HAM Radio Hobby is really special in what it is and what you can do. And it went from “i made all of my own stuff with nothing like a bunch of old stuff” a little bit to “i shopped that VooDoo endfed long wireantenna that can do all bands with just 6.4m lengh”. I dont judge anybody. I fully understand that some people like to build and some people like to use. I am ok with that and i am also one of the electronics consumer and not that big of a electronics builder.

I think the Spirit of HAM Radio is to make and test stuff and its always fun when you have a Problem and solve it. You can solve it quick and dirty. You can hack that thing laying in the corner to something usefull. And you can build something beautifull and good that everyone admires you. It is up to you to choose your path.

The other thing is: (and i really dont want to hop on that survival/emergency train!) What if you have to make something with really a habd full of parts. Very much can be done with very little parts. Believe me.

I would like to publish your ideas to inspire other people. To help them learn and understand the principles of physics and how things work.
Please write me a email or contact me on twitter and tell me your opinion on my idea. I would really like to try this and see if its the fun that i think it is.

Best wishes

Hoonse
Email: oe8hsr [at] oe8hsr.at

Twitter: @MeltdownCore

Linked Dipole Calculating the Wire Lengh

This is the first time that i Calculate an Antenna so i have looked the formula up in an Antennabook that i have.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.57

 

I have put some extra Lengh on the different wires so we can trim them later when we measure the SWR of the Antenna.

The Lenghs from the different Bands are:

L80m: 9.85m

L40m: 3.30m

L30m: 2.25m

L20m: 2.85m

L10m: 2.75m

Please note that the Lenghs are per side so we need 2 of all Lenghs.

 

Best Wishes

Hoonse

Linked Dipole Balun Mounting

So the Balun is on the Centerpiece, Now we want to connect the Balun to the Dipole Side.

Cut the outerside of the Coax Cable from the Cable like shown on the Picture. Note that you should not cut too wide in the Wire.

When you are finished it should look like on the picture.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.08

 

Now use a needle or a small screwdriver to open the outer Conductur of the Coax wire. You do want to take your time on this step. Be carefull so you dont break the outer conductor.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.18

When you are finished wind the outer conductor around and make it nice ant tight.

Cut it about the same lengh as the inner conductor.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.28

Put some heatshrink on the outer Conductor and on the point where the 2 Conductors meet on the Coax cable.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.36

Get yourself 2 6mm Cable connectors and solder them on the ends of the 2 Wires.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.42

When you have finished soldering, take 2 x 6mm Screws with a lengh of about 15-20mm, 4 washers and 2 nuts.

Just put them on the Centerpiece as shown, We need to put the Dipole wires later on the Centerpiece.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-23 um 12.45.49

Best wishes

Hoonse

Linked Dipole The Balun

Our Linked Dipole will have a 1:1 Balun.

I have bought the Toroid and the 13m Coax cable with the attatched connector from SOTABEAMS.

I have used the following Parts:

http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/balun-toroid/

http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/pre-terminated-co-axial-cable-rg174a-u/

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-22 um 21.34.19

On the SOTABEAMS site where you can buy the Toroid there is a really nice “Manual” where it shows how to wind the 1:1 Balun.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-22 um 21.13.12

In our case when we will make a Balun for HF we have to make 7 turns on one Site and then 6 turns on the oposite side as shown on the Picture.

Always remember when you wind a Balun or a Transformer a “Turn” is then the cable goes throu the Toroid.

 

I measured about 50cm from the Coax cable and put it throu the toroid. I fixed the first turn with a small ziptie.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-22 um 21.31.35

 

Then you can wind the Balun as shown on the Picture from SOTABEAMS but with the 7 + 6 Turns.

When you are finished winding the coax you can put the a second ziptie on the outcoming Coax Cable.

Now mount the Balun on the 3D-Printed Centerpiece with 2 Zipties and use another 3 Zipties as a strainrelief for the remaining Coaxcable that goes to the Radio.

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-22 um 21.31.44

 

That is the first Part on our way to the Linked Dipole.

 

Best Wishes

Hoonse

Linked Dipole 3D-Printed Parts

I designed the 3D printed parts in a way so that you can wind the dipole Wires and the Coax Wire on the middle Piece.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2257598

You also will need 8 Isolators.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2256546

 

Bildschirmfoto 2017-04-22 um 21.16.04

 

The Settings of the 3D Prints are not that important.

I have printed my Parts with 20% Infill and it worked fine.

 

Best Wishes

Hoonse