2022: Chasing Loose Ends

It is time for my annual look back on the year that was and year that has begun. You'll find that this is a tradition when you look back in this blog for January of each year.

Undertaking the construction, maintenance and use of an amateur radio station of the size that mine has become does not happen by accident. Well, you might accidentally arrive at a worthy destination by directionless wandering, but I'm getting too old to waste time. So I plan.

A plan is worthless unless it has clear and measurable milestones to track your progress. That makes many people so uncomfortable that they conveniently forget their stated intentions or they "move the goalposts" and hope that no one notices. People do notice, though in most cases they will remain diplomatically silent. I am too honest with myself to engage in self-deception. Putting my plans in the blog at the start of each year helps to keep me honest.

So, how did I do in 2021? For those with time to waste and a penchant for fact checking have all the raw data at hand: my stated plan and where I ended up on December 31. I am not surprised that my success rate for the line items is not high. I like to aim high but I won't sacrifice my life to get there.

What is important is that the major projects were completed. The items in my plan are not intended to be equally weighted. The following statement from my 2021 plan remains valid:

"Beyond 2021 no major antenna projects are planned. There will continue to be refinements and improvements, and I will likely dabble with experimental antennas and related projects."

By far the largest project was designing, building and raising the 3-element 40 meter yagi. The 5-element 10 meter yagis were a lesser challenge that consumed more time than I anticipated. Difficulties getting the rotatable, side mounted TH6 working properly took time I'd have preferred to spend elsewhere. Nevertheless the year was reasonably successful.

One important change to the plan was that the rotatable side mount was done for the TH6 and not the XM240. I left the small 40 meter yagi where it was because I determined it was more productive to have it fully rotatable (360°) and the TH6 was really only needed for the shorted North American paths and as a rapid choice to work Caribbean and Central America multipliers and to work South America. By doing it this way I was able to avoid building the more complex swing arm (300° rotation) for side mounting the XM240.

Lesser projects completed in 2021 included:

• New amplifier for high power SO2R (with BPF) and 6 meter DXing
• Correcting the mismatch of the upper 5-element 20 meter yagi
• Reversible east-west 156 meter Beverage
  

Of these, the only one I have yet to discuss is the BPF (band pass filters). There is a reason for the deferral, and I hope to correct the omission in the not too distant future. Numerous repairs are omitted from the list since those are unavoidable maintenance tasks for those with large stations. There's always work to be done. 

To give examples of the maintenance that must be done, this week I repaired a Beverage that a tree fell onto. A dead limb of that tree is hung up in another tree, out of my reach, that is certain to fall in the near future. On the 15/20 meter tower the prop pitch motor has become unreliable in cold weather. It will need service (again), but I will live with the problem until warm weather returns.

2021 projects that were deleted or deferred included:

• Stack switch for the 10 meter yagis
• More radials for the 160 meter antenna
• Efficiency improvements for the 80 meter vertical yagi
• VHF antennas: longer boom 6 meter antenna, and an antenna for 2 meter DXing
• Antennas for the WARC bands: 30, 17 and 12 meters

The 10 meter yagis were raised late in the year while the 40 meter yagi was under construction. The latter was the priority so the 10 meter stack switch was put aside to the new year. All the parts are on hand and construction is straight forward since it is no different than for the 15 meter and 20 meter stack switches.

Laying more radials for the shunt-fed tower on 160 meters is easy enough, if I had the wire on hand. I didn't so it didn't happen. Eking a fraction of a decibel on 160 meter was not a priority. Of even less urgency was improvement to the 80 meter array. I have alternative ideas to mull.

The same lack of urgency applies to VHF and WARC antennas. Maybe in 2022.

I previously published an annotated version of the following photo on the blog and on my QRZ.com page. It will be interesting to compare how different the station looks a year from now. I doubt that it'll looks very different from this visual perspective. Most of the changes will be in the shack, electronics on the tower and antennas, and relatively minor antenna changes or additions.

Many hams have told me that it is impressive. I suppose it is, however I get exhausted looking at it. It was a lot of work over the past 5 years since moving to this rural QTH. What I can celebrate is that the bulk of the big projects are now done. All of it must be maintained, and that is a never ending job. 

I didn't get here with a firm plan from the outset, as long time readers will know. There were too many uncertainties in my mind about what I really wanted and what I could realistically accomplish. I wanted "big" with no clear definition of what that meant. There were too many alternatives to explore. 

Each next step was well considered but not always the step after that. This is not a commercial enterprise so I allowed myself to be influenced by whims and opportunities, and by the adventure of exploration. Every ham with a large antenna farm has their own story.

Future projects will be less arduous. I am contemplating the addition of a small tower in future to avoid interaction and mechanical challenges of antennas on the existing towers. I also want a small tower with few encumbrances for antenna experiments. The station will not reach stasis for a long time since there will be new antennas to explore and improvements made to existing ones.

With a sigh of relief that I've made it this far, let's look at what I have planned for 2022. Although the projects will be less visually impressive they will have a impact on contest competitiveness, among other advantages.

• Prop pitch rotators: I am having more difficulties with the motor that turns the 15 and 20 meter yagis. The gearbox is the problem this time. Service will wait until warm weather returns. I must also finish building the direction pot for this rotator and improve the one for the chain drive prop pitch motor on the 40/10 tower. Once those are done a new controller in the shack is needed to make them ergonomic and more reliable. The controller will be home brew, including software.
  
• 160 meters: There are two options to improve my top band signal. One is to shunt feed the other tower and feed them for switchable end-fire and broadside configurations. The second is a parasitic array using a wire driven element between the towers or adding wire elements to the existing antennas. There are pros and cons to be weighed. A large consideration is for ease of deployment each fall and removal in the spring for haying.
  
• VHF: At minimum I need a 2 meter yagi suitable for DXing and occasional contest use. It will go on the Trylon, just below the 6 meter yagi. A superior 6 meter antenna is possible this year but may be deferred to 2023. Extending my DXCC count on 6 meters will not be easy.
  
• WARC band antennas: My primary interest is chasing band-countries for general DXing on 30, 17 and 12 meters. I have no specific plan at present and there are too few major DXpeditions expected this year due to the ongoing pandemic. I use a tuner on the XM240 for 17 meters and the 80 meter vertical for 30 meters, and on 12 meters I load whatever high band antenna is broadside to the station I'm calling. While far from ideal at least it works well enough, for now.
• 40 meters: The matching system for the 3-element yagi needs work to improve the SWR and it needs a switchable network to make it more usable on SSB. It's just a matching problem since performance is excellent.
• 80 meters: I am contemplating a reversible 3-element wire yagi with a rope catenary strung between the towers. A horizontal yagi could pay dividends by being more efficient and to exploit high elevation angle DX paths. It would point northeast to Europe and southwest to cover most of the US. The main lobe of a 3-element yagi is broad enough to work well for most stations I can expect to work. A second 80 meter antenna provides a backup in case one fails before a contest.
• Station automation: I am making slow progress on the hardware and software. Some of what I need should be complete by early spring. The rest can wait until I can begin inviting others to do multi-op contests. COVID's resurgence will delay multi-ops for a while longer.
• Station modernization: A new SDR transceiver will replace the FT950 which has long overstayed its welcome. More extensive software control of equipment and antennas is planned. Other equipment changes are being contemplated.
• Receive antenna: The Beverage system is performing well, although it demands regular maintenance. Completion of the desired 8 directions with a future NW-SE reversible Beverage is doubtful because it's benefits are at best incremental. These antennas are not so directional that more than 6 directions are strictly necessary. Instead I would like a second receive system, probably a multi-direction vertical array. The benefits are diversity reception and for low band multi-op contests. Planning and design can proceed this year, and construction to follow in 2023.
  

This list is vague in comparison to those I've made in previous years. That's deliberate. From here on I will be more relaxed about my station plans. Major projects were never intended to continue forever! Speculative projects for fun and for experimentation will be undertaken when I feel the motivation and interest. 

I will spend more time this year and in subsequent years for non-ham retirement activities.

With that I will end the annual retrospective and look forward. I hope to meet more of you on the air. It's always enjoyable when a contact, during a contest or other times, tells me they read and enjoy the blog. Thank you for following along in my journey. Major contests are on the horizon, the 6 meter summer sporadic E season is only 4 months away and the sunspot count is climbing. Pandemic or not, 2022 will be a great year.