VE3CRG (SK)

In January I lost one of my oldest friends, Brian VE3CRG. His passing was not unexpected since his medical challenges were accumulating and he was just shy of his 88th birthday. Nevertheless it is a sad reality. The family held a celebration of life a few weeks ago.

I won't make this article too long. It is my opportunity to share a few reminiscences of a fellow ham of an older generation, a person who was dear to me. Those who are active on the HF bands may have heard him as he rattled away on CW, often at speeds above 40 wpm. The CW sub-bands are a little quieter today.

We first met in 1980 when the multi-op contest team at VE3PCA was looking for CW operators. Brian had already been an avid CW DXer for more than 20 years, first licensed as MP4BCV in 1959 when deployed by the RAF to Bahrein. You can read more about him at his QRZ.com page, from which the above composite photo was retrieved.

I had been a ham for 8 years with a penchant for CW DXing and contests. Our 20 year age difference was no barrier. We paired up well since (as we often laughed) he liked to talk and I liked to listen -- an introvert and an extrovert. We did many road trips (Dayton etc.) where he did almost all the talking. We also both had careers in Ottawa's high tech industry -- mine had just begun when we first met -- and we shared an oddball sense of humour. No matter how many times he retold some stories they were still enjoyable.

He had an extraordinary exuberance for life, even recently when his prospects were dimming. When opportunities arose during his life, he jumped, whether it was marriage to Mollie (for 67 years!), moving to Canada, a business opportunity, or an invitation to visit hams elsewhere in the world. It was easy to convince him to pamper himself with some modern equipment, which he enjoyed immensely in his final days and months.

I had been working on towers for several years before meeting Brian, although my knowledge was modest and my safety practices abhorrent. When his family moved to a small acreage in the early 1980s it was an opportunity to learn and do. Being single, young and eager I stepped up to help make his antenna dreams come true. 

I was over there many weekends, even during winter, for a few years doing tower and antenna work. Mollie was always ready to seat me at the table to share meals with them and their teenage sons. For a single young man far from home those home cooked meals were really appreciated.

The 100' tower on the right was erected in the mid-1980s. (I took several photos of the prints in his pictures albums.) Since both of us came from very modest beginnings, we enjoyed getting the job done as cheaply as possible. The total spent for the tower, concrete, steel and antennas was about $1000 (not adjusted for inflation). 

A local ham, a retired welder, helped us fabricate parts needed to assemble and strengthen the old 80' windmill tower, and the 20' of tower we fit on top. The Hy-Gain yagis (204 and 155) were purchased used for a good price. The tower also supported wire antennas, including 2-element delta loops for 40 and 80 meters. He enjoyed operating this station for many years. 

The tower was still standing when the property was bought by a developer almost 15 years ago -- it had badly rusted and collapsed into the trees on then now vacant lot about 2 years ago. He took the smaller tower and hex beam to their new house some 20 km to the west, escaping the relentless expansion of urban sprawl. It's hard to believe that the busy residential thoroughfare used to be a quiet county road and that the neighbour's horses come up to wood rail fence to see what we were up to. That's all gone now.

There were 3 of us who did almost all of the work, with the third being Dave, now VE3KG. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. I have to say that I learned lessons about how not to build large guyed towers! But nobody was injured and I came away with knowledge and skills that would come in handy later, for helping others and more recently for myself. 

For example, instead of using hand tools I rented a pneumatic breaker to cut through the shale to plant my tower in 1985. Another was making a gin pole to lift 20' long 200 lb tower sections!

I still remember the exhilaration when I first stood atop the tower with nothing more than a steel mast impeding my view of the countryside. The reinforced top section was so narrow that my work boots overlapped the bearing plate. 

That's me 40 years ago posing with the 15 meter yagi after assembly. I notice that I still have that toolbox. Raising the yagis did not go well. I was still a little unclear on how to construct and operate tram lines (to lift yagis over the guys) and mistakes were made. Nothing was seriously damaged but it took us far longer to get them up the tower than it should have. More lessons learned.

One thing about Brian was that he was easily distracted. His acreage was littered with my tools, which he frequently put down or dropped on the rough ground and in the bush, to be lost forever. Oh well. I saw it as an opportunity to buy better tools! 

Often it was safest to put a hardhat on his head, sit him down in the shade with his favourite lawn chair and elect him supervisor. That brought smiles all around and the work would then proceed quite smoothly.

Brian was never a serious contester. For him the joy came from working lots of DX, teamwork and sharing good times with friends. He especially enjoyed keeping track of country multipliers -- well, he was a DXer! -- and cheer leading. Had we had online scoreboards back then I'm sure he'd have tracked the competition and constantly urged us to work harder.

He would enter contests from time to time after our multi-op VE3PCA group disbanded in early 1984, but never seriously. Dave operated from his station in a few contests although I never did. I was happy enough with the smaller station I built at my first house. I believe the SB220 near Brian's elbow is the one I have stored in the next room!

In recent years he came over a few times to help with the antenna work to, as he said, repay the help I'd given him over the years. Unfortunately that's hard to do when in your 80s. He occasionally operated my station and surprised his regular QSO mates with a signal far louder than usual. Most times he and Mollie would simply come to visit.

One of his final objectives was to gather the cards he needed to apply for DXCC Honor Roll. He was one short. Unfortunately cards had gone missing over the years and he couldn't get replacements, despite his efforts to follow the leads to those who held the logbooks for DXpeditions from years ago. 

While he didn't succeed at that quest he did achieve one last goal: the 2500 endorsement for the DXCC Challenge award. In mid-December he emailed me a picture of the LoTW screen showing that magic number. Mollie is waiting for the endorsement to arrive so she can paste it onto the plaque. The plaque and lots of rare QSL cards were prominently displayed at his Celebration of Life.

Brian was operating high speed CW or talking to old friends on SSB until the end. We spoke often on the phone and I periodically visited when I was in the area.

He was in the hospital for a week after the final crisis without regaining consciousness. I wasn't able to have that one last eyeball QSO with him.

His shack is now empty and the equipment will be sold. The tower and beam will be taken down when the winter weather relents. I'm glad that I can help in this final stage of his long ham career.

73 my friend.

Update: GPIO Protection

Followers of this blog may have noticed that I confess my ignorance about circuit design, and especially solid state circuits. I understand enough to build, test and repair well-designed circuits but without deep understanding or the ability to design my own. There is a wide gulf of expertise between design and repair, be it transceivers, cars or any technology product. I can design software, antennas and other technology devices, but not electronics.

In that light I will admit that I spectacularly failed at a circuit design attempt last year. I needed a way to protect the GPIO pins of an Arduino microcomputer since an out-of-range voltage will destroy it. Something is needed between the voltage source and the Arduino to reliably protect it from damage, and it must do so without disturbing the linear signal.

If you look at that earlier article you will see that I made the effort to characterize the linearity and under- and over-voltage clamping of the circuit. It's pretty simple, a diode to block negative voltage and a Zener diode to shunt current to ground when the voltage is too high. Within its operating range it is linear.

Despite all that, it does not work in its intended application. The application is the digital prop pitch motor controller that I designed and is under construction. You can see from the article date that it's been under construction for a long time. I set it aside when I ran into difficulties with the combined circuit of the op-amp differential amplifier and the GPIO protection circuit. Each works well in isolation but not when connected together.

I was reluctant to pick it up again until recently. For months it seemed to taunt me, demanding my attention every time I looked at it. Finally I accepted the challenge and snipped the connection between the circuits. Once again both halves of the circuit worked well: the op-amps linearly tracked the inputs and the protection circuit behaved the same as the prototype.

Those of you with greater knowledge can probably guess what I did wrong. For me it was a journey of exploration. The key was realizing that op amp linearity depended on the network of resistors surrounding it. The protection circuit disturbed that network so that the linear range became unacceptably narrow; that is, it was a non-constant load.

Diodes are not on-off devices. The transition zone across reverse and forward bias (zero crossing) is quite complex. Zener diodes add a further wrinkle in that their reverse polarity behaviour mimics a variable resistor that adjusts its value so that the current increases as the applied voltage rises. The result is a variable voltage divider with the tap point at the Zener's specified voltage (5.1 volts in my circuit). The load seen by the op-amp is therefore voltage dependent and that degrades its linearity.

The solution is obvious: a buffer amplifier. All I had to do was pick one from a long list of available options. These ranged from unity gain op amp to single transistor amplifiers. The criteria include:

• Unity gain
• Linear
• Negligible loading of the differential amplifier
• Reverse polarity protection (negative voltage)
  
• Over-voltage protection (greater than 5 volts)
  

The last two are what my first protection circuit accomplished. I thought I might have to keep that circuit in addition to the buffer amplifier. That posed a problem because the tiny proto board (PCB) I selected has no more room for two of these circuits, and I really didn't want to redo the entire job.

The picture on the right shows the main PCB for the direction pot interfaces after the old Zener-based protection circuits were removed. The areas are at the upper left and right between the op amps and the 10 kΩ level control trimmers. The 2.2 μF capacitors smooth short duration direction pot glitches. 

There are several resistors and wires on the underside of PCB since there wasn't enough space on top. That said, I'll leave a description of the PCB and circuit for a future article where I discuss the completed controller. I hope that will not be too far in the future.

After hunting around the internet for alternatives I was attracted by an emitter follower circuit utilizing an NPN transistor. It has unity gain, is linear and has a high input impedance. Further, since the interior junction acts as a diode between base and emitter it offered the possibility of negative voltage protection. That would eliminate the diode. So far we've satisfied 4 of my 5 criteria.

That was enough to send me to my workshop to breadboard the circuit. I tapped into the PCB to carry the output from the 741 op amp to the breadboard so that I was using the actual circuit rather than a proxy that might not behave identically. The only other connections from the controller were ground and power for Vcc. The linear 10 kΩ 10:1 pot at the lower left is identical to those on the towers. It serves to emulate the tower pot.

Yes, it's messy! However, 90% of what you see on the breadboard is left over from a previous project and not used for this circuit; it was easier to leave them than clean the board. Messy though it was, it was good enough to test the circuit. The forward voltage drop across the internal transistor junction measured between 0.62 and 0.64 volts. That agrees with the approximate 0.63 volt drop in the circuit model (see below) within the DMM measurement uncertainty.

Now we need to address the fifth criterion: over-voltage protection. I could use the original Zener diode circuit, which would require two more parts per circuit. I wondered what would happen if I set Vcc to 5 volts. Well, what do I know, so I tried it. To my surprise it seemed to work. However, appearances can be deceiving, as I've learned to my dismay many times in the past -- my intuition about electronic circuitry is unreliable.

I downloaded and installed LTspice. Just as there are great benefits from modelling antennas there are similar benefits from modelling circuits. This was new for me. Luckily it was quite easy to set up the circuit needed to validate what I measured with my breadboard circuit. The full range of input voltage, from -15 to +15 volts (op amp power supplies), can be conveniently explored without risk.

Rather than design the complete circuit, I substituted a voltage source (V1) for the op amp output. In practice this works because the emitter follower has a high impedance input, much higher than the 10 kΩ (trim pot) loading the op amp. Measurements confirmed that. It was interesting that using a 5 volt regulated supply for Vcc (V2) limited the amplifier's output to 5 volts. However, there is a catch.

R2 is needed in the unlikely case that V1 soars toward the +15 volt rail and the tap on the trip pot is set close to the op amp output side of the pot. In this case, the model shows high current flowing between V1 and V2. That destroys linearity and is likely to damage the op amp and Q1 due to power dissipation. Setting R2 to 10 kΩ works well but I varied it in the model to better characterize the circuit. R1's value seems to work well and is typically shown in emitter followers utilizing a 2N2222A. A Darlington transistor (2 × NPN) might be more elegant but, as already said, a simple circuit fits better on the PCB. The final design uses a 3.3 kΩ resistor, as shown in the circuit above.

R3 represents the approximate analogue GPIO pin input resistance. Its value isn't critical since the Arduino GPIO input resistance is much higher than R1. A pull-up resistor should not be selected when declaring the GPIO pin as an analogue input: pinMode(pin, INPUT);

Once the circuit was designed, modelled and tested it was time to implement it; that is, fit the components for both direction indicators, hook them up to the Arduino and do a full system test. The picture shows the completed PCB. I ran out of pads for the transistor collector pins so I wired them above the board to a new connector for the 5 VDC power supply. The connector is for possible future use since there's already 5 VDC on the PCB for the LCD.

I began with a linearity test. That is more accurate than reading the ADC values in software (see below). The software algorithm on the Arduino calculates the antenna bearing from the GPIO pin's ADC output. Due to the different linear range the software must be updated.

Above is the complete circuit. There are two of them on the PCB, one for each rotator. Op amp gain is fixed so the gain level is set via a trim pot. Once again the Bourns 10 kΩ 10:1 pot emulates the direction pot on the tower. Power for the 741 differential amplifier is ±15 VDC. It is important to keep the tower pot near its centre so that the input voltages do not get close to the supply voltage and disturb op amp linearity.

The linearity test was a success: the voltage to the Arduino GPIO (blue) is linear and tracks the direction pot (green) in the range 1 to not quite 5 volts. I adjusted the direction pot in 0.5 volt steps from 0 to 5.5, measured with a DMM at the transistor emitter. I then made the other 4 measurements. The direction pot voltage ranged over a wide positive and negative range so I applied the noted arithmetic to ease visual comparisons.

The direction pot wiper voltage was measured with it in circuit  (yellow) and with no connection (N/C green) since op amp feedback alters the measured voltage. The green plot is the important one. I am not certain why the yellow plot wiggles as it does, but it is repeatable and not a measurement artifact. My guesses aren't worth mentioning. For completeness I included the voltage measured at the 741 output pin (red).

Over the linear output range, the measured Vbe across the 2N2222A varies between 0.66 and 0.69 volts. That is slightly higher than the 0.63 to 0.65 volt range in the LTspice simulation. Likely reasons include device variation and DMM counting error in the least significant digit. It isn't relevant to the application since the response is linear.

The 360° rotation range will be set to use the most linear part of the curve from 1.5 to 4.5 volts. Small excursions outside the range will be supported since the prop pitch motor has no stops and it is occasionally useful on the air. The centering pot sets the north (0°) on the display (3 volts on the GPIO ADC input). It can be easily adjusted if the tower pot slips. The level pot is set to accommodate the ratio of mast to pot rotation. In my case, one is 1:1 and the other is a little over 2:1.

The next step is to complete the Arduino software to drive the direction display. Sampling, smoothing and glitch algorithms are needed. For example, the ADC output (values from 0 to 1023) regularly vary by a count while the direction pot is static. Flickering numbers on a digital bearing display is annoying.

After that I move the tower pots to the new controller and use it instead of the old breadboard op amp circuits that drive a panel meter. The final step, a big one, is relay activation of the motor power supply using direction controls buttons. With luck I'll have it completed before spring. It isn't difficult work but I have other projects and obligations and this project isn't the highest priority.

Everyone Needs a Receive Antenna on 160

With the CQ 160 meter contest coming up this weekend I thought it worth a brief article on the importance of receive antennas. That is, antennas with directivity that improve reception (RDF - receive directivity factor) in the favoured direction(s). Top band big guns have them, and must have them, but too many others do not. 

Allow me to give you a perspective on receive antennas that you may not be familiar with, especially if you are a little pistol on 160 meters. I know operators that venture onto top band during contests and fail to do as well as they might. It's not because of a poor antenna -- an effective and efficient transmit antenna on 160 meters is very difficult for most hams.

This is the scenario. I have a very effective omni-directional vertical as my transmit antenna. I also have several long, reversible Beverage receive antennas. When I hear a weak station and call them, they often don't hear me. Many of those stations are little pistols with small antennas and no more than 100 watts. They ought to be able to hear my big signal since an inefficient antenna is no detriment to reception on top band -- both band noise and signals are similarly attenuated on receive, and therefore do not affect the SNR (signal to noise ratio).

The problem is one of reception reciprocity, or rather its lack. If the other station had a means to improve RDF, we would make the contact. It would only require a few db since in many cases they hear something but not enough to copy me. We both miss adding another contact to our logs.

I can't easily remedy the issue from my end. I run the legal limit and a transmit antenna with directional gain may never happen. A gain antenna is not a perfect solution since 2 or 3 db will put me in the logs of more stations, yet there would then be another layer underneath that I will hear and which won't copy me. Other than running more power, beyond the legal limit -- which I won't do, I like to play and win by the rules -- I'm stymied. .

If you are among the multitude of small top band stations, do not fall into the trap of thinking that a receive antenna is of no benefit. Other than those with exceptionally bad local man-made QRN, even a little receive directivity will help. The hams I've spoken to about it believe that there is no point to a receive antenna since they are pessimistic about their ability to be heard.

Don't assume stations you could only hear with a receive antenna won't hear you!

You might be surprised by how effective a receive antenna can be, and many stations have them. They'll hear you. Even if they're weak, they could be a little pistol as well assisted by a peak in the highly variable propagation. I've worked a surprising amount of DX with QRP on 160 during contests. There are pretty good receive antennas that can fit into a small space.

Always call the weak stations, no matter your antenna or power. They will often surprise you. You can't know in advance whether they have good receive antennas.

Be optimistic and make the effort to hear better. It might only take a small loop with a sharp null to drop a particularly bad noise source by 10 or 20 db to hear many more stations. You only need one in this particular situation. If the problem is noise from all over, a switchable multi-direction receive antenna can boost SNR by 6 db or more in each of its directions. 

Examples of very small antennas include the WD8DSB portable loop (March 2021 QST) or a fixed/rotatable loop with bidirectional nulls. Examples of larger but still modest antennas include the K9AY array, short Beverages or BOG (Beverage on ground). If a short Beverage is still too long, other options usually fit nicely into most suburban backyards.

Once you have a directional receive antenna with multiple available directions you will have a new challenge: constant switching, in my case by endless clicking of the mouse. 

The need arises because you almost certainly have an omni-directional transmit antenna. On 20 meters and up this is rarely an issue since a single directional antenna (e.g. yagi) is used for both transmit and receive. If you call me and I don't reply, call again. It may be because I missed you while listening in the wrong direction or hadn't yet determined the correct direction.

Unless the 160 meter opening is decidedly in a single direction (fairly common at sunrise and sunset) you will find yourself having to check multiple directions for stations. You have to do it whether running or hunting, though more frequently for the former case. It's worth the effort to add those precious contacts and multipliers. 

Speaking of the terminator, you will find that your omni-directional transmit antenna has an improved apparent RDF at sunrise and sunset. The reason is that one half of the "sky" is lit. The ionosphere's D-layer ionizes within minutes of sunrise (and a little longer to de-ionize after sunset) so that the hemisphere towards the sun goes quiet. That's a gift worth of 3 db or more of RDF towards the darkness, and that's where the signals are found. Little pistols without a receive antenna have this narrow window twice a day. If there is no serious competition for the DX station when the terminator crosses your QTH, you can copy them better and, hopefully, they will hear you. The transition doesn't last long so be quick!

If you are sufficiently motivated by your experience with a small receive antenna, there are better ones you can build. You'll just need the space for them: 1 acre or more for vertical arrays and perhaps more for Beverages. Vertical arrays perform better while Beverages are simple and highly effective. 

I have toyed with the idea of putting up a vertical array but not for the additional 2 or 3 db of RDF. My concern is maintenance. Those long wires through the bush take a lot of abuse from trees, animals and lightning. 

If you don't have a directional receive antenna and you are intrigued, you probably can't put one up in time for the CQ 160 contest this weekend. But you can do something in time for the next contest, or just for DXing. If you haven't yet taken the plunge I hope this article has given you food for thought.

Desktop Redesign for Better SO2R

SO2R is hard and 2BSIQ is harder. When I say hard, I mean hard to do well; anybody can dabble, but dabbling won't boost your score by much. These are difficult skills to master and there is no alternative to lots and lots of practice. 

We should strive to remove obstacles that slow or limit our ability to perform at our best, whether we are novices or experts. Making changes to your station will not on their own make you a better SO2R contester but they remove barriers to operator skills improvement.

A lot of that can be achieved by organizing the operating position. The ideal 2BSIQ operating desk has to be effective, not necessarily pretty or compatible with non-contest operating. Hardware and software choices also play a role. This is a subject I've been contemplating for several months. Technology changes take more time and can be expensive but rearranging the operating desk is cheap and easy. The challenge is making the right changes.

I received good advice from a couple of other contesters. I hesitated to act for some time because their suggestions felt uncomfortable or violated my beliefs about what is best. However, they're better at SO2R and 2BSIQ than I am so I could not easily dismiss what I was told. The time had come to do something.

The picture shows the changes I made this month.

• The two rigs (Icom 7610 and 7600) are placed up front. They used to be off to the sides.
  
• The new shelf is for the PC monitor and rotator controllers. The old prop pitch motor controller on top of the Acom amp takes a lot of room but it will be replaced by a smaller controller that is currently under construction (far past the planned mid-2024 completion date).
• The monitor can lower the screen to just 4 cm (1.5") above the shelf. The low height reduces head and neck motion as my eyes move among the screen, rigs and keyboards.
• The amplifiers are placed on the outside since they not often manipulated yet are fairly easy to glance at to ensure all is in order. Broadband solid state amps with automatic band switching don't have to be on the desktop at all.
• The left BPF was moved behind the amp since it operates automatically. I haven't yet moved the right BPF from its perch on the Drake L7. I plan to move both BPF below the desktop. That will free up space for more monitors if I find the need (e.g. to monitor contest scoreboards, and software rotator controllers).
  
• The mouse is an obstacle that must remain where it is until other changes occur. One of those is a touchscreen for antenna selection.
• Other peripherals are out of sight. These are a WinKeyer, SO2R Mini, antenna switches, power supplies and PC(s). They are positioned for rapid access when problems arise.
  

That's the what. Now it's time to talk about the why.

Situational awareness

This is the primary reason in my opinion. There are so many things to keep track of when for SO2R and 2BSIQ that you need excellent visual and audible cues to keep track of each QSO to avoid mistakes and to maximize QSO synchronization. This has been a big struggle for me, and most SO2R operators have had similar struggles. There are highly talented individuals who do well at even in poorly optimized stations, but the rest of us need all the help we can get.

Let me begin with the N1MM entry window as configured for SO2R. Since I've never done SO2R with DXLog I will not speak of that. I don't know which might be better, and I can only mention that the best ops prefer DXLog to N1MM. One day I may give it a try.

Contest loggers provide a variety of visual cues to assist the SO2R operator. I've highlighted the important ones on the N1MM entry window.

I'll be blunt. I do not like N1MM's visual cues: they're insufficiently prominent. Particularly annoying are the small circles that indicate the receive and transmit focus and whether you are actively transmitting or have exclusive (mono) or dual (stereo) receive focus. You have to look directly at the indicators and interpret subtle colour shades (e.g. dark green vs light green). They ought to be so large or attention-getting that they are unambiguous and also visible in peripheral vision.

I don't often pay attention to the shaded function keys that show the next message to be sent during ESM (enter sends message). If my understanding of QSO state is so uncertain that I need that cue I am probably doing something wrong, such as accidentally pressing the wrong key. The information is useful and important even if I actively use it very little.

The frequency text at the top and the scrolling CW message at the bottom are too small. Again, eyestrain is the result if you rely on that information. I need to swivel my head and eyes to look directly at the scrolling text to time my actions on the radios. For example, extending a CQ to keep the QSOs in sync. With the rigs now up front, I use their displays to read the frequency, not the small text on the entry window.

Visual cues are especially important when using OTRSP commands to switch to mono on the rig with receive focus while the other is transmitting. Although mono provides more reliable copy, it is easy to lose track of which radio one is listening to during 2BSIQ. I have enough difficulty with it that I returned to stereo and manually select mono as needed. 

Practice will help, but better cues could help to improve situational awareness. It is for the same reason that I use two keyboards. The increased situational awareness is worth the cost of more physical motion of the hands, eyes and body. A swivelling office chair is some help with avoiding aches.

It is for these reasons that I reluctantly moved the rigs in front from off to the sides. Effective situation awareness requires it. I try to control the radios by keyboard alone but I need the larger visual cues of the rig displays. These include frequency/band and receive/transmit state. Losing track is a too frequent occurrence during 2BSIQ.

Distractions and obstructions

Some contesters like distractions and other hate them. External distractions that a few contesters like are windows or a muted television. They supposedly serve as a connection to the world outside the contest. I eschew those distractions. Moving around, talking and checking the weather and news during breaks is enough for me. To each their own.

Distractions that interfere with operating should be avoided. Too much information on too many displays can be distracting. I am a fan of minimal information and screens. If I'm looking at any of that information it means I am neglecting the opportunity to make more QSOs and hunt for multipliers. Remove the extra monitors and you remove the temptation.

Grabbing hold of the mouse is a distraction. Yes, it is necessary at times but the operator position should be configured to minimize the necessity. Keyboard shortcuts may be difficult to remember yet they are essential to avoiding the mouse, and keeping your fingers on the keyboard where they belong. I plan to migrate my custom antenna selection software to use small touchscreens to replace the mouse with what is essentially an extension to the keyboard.

This brings up another problem: desktop crowding. The biggest reason I was reluctant to move the rigs up front is that I have to reach over the keyboards to press buttons and spin the VFO. More than a few times I have inadvertently tapped overly sensitive keys. Raising the rigs a few inches would help. The downside is that the monitor must also be raised and that increases neck strain as our heads and eyes constantly shift up and down.

In the first picture you will notice that the paddles are on the desktop. During contests they are placed just under the right side of the monitor. Desk space is freed since it is rarely used (the less the better) and there is less chance of keyboard contact when reaching for the paddles. I know operators that remove the paddles during contests and rely on keyboard CW in the rare cases where it is needed. Examples include saying hello to a friend or to tell an intruder "QRL". I'll keep the paddles for now.

Ease of re-configuration

The front and rear of the rigs project beyond the narrow (10") shelf. Not only does that allow more room lighting to illuminate the buttons (I hate the poor contrast of light gray lettering on an all black Icom front panel), it eases access to the rear panel connectors. The shelf was designed for maintenance and configuration, not for appearance. A boxed console is pretty but a dreadful idea in a contester's station.

There are many more interconnections in an SO2R station. These include the OTRSP box (SO2R Mini in my case), receiver audio, WinKeyer with its PTT and keying cables to both radios, microphone audio, computer audio, foot switch, monitor cables and possibly others. There are endless possibilities for loose connections and other faults that must be dealt with quickly. The desk is about 1' from the back wall so that I can slip in without having to lean over the stacks of equipment on the desktop -- it helps to be slim.

How it went (NAQP)

The contest did not go according to plan. I operated for just one hour. The reason is in my 3830 report, if that interests you. I may have more to say about what happened in a future article.

During that hour I did about 30 minutes of SO2R and less than 10 minutes 2BSIQ. That is not a fair test but it's all I have for now. I'll give the setup a better test in a future contest.

Based on my too brief experience I will make a few tentative observations:

• Situational awareness improved. The radios up front helped with that, as intended. I did not use them very effectively to understand which radio was receiving or transmitting. That can be addressed with more practice.
• I stuck with stereo reception except for stations where the SNR was poor and both ears were needed. As usual for NAQP, the call history file saved a lot of effort copying every last dit. However, also as usual, many names and states did not match call history. Call history should never be used as a crutch when copy is difficult or inconvenient.
• I had no difficulty spinning knobs and pressing buttons on the rig despite having to reach over the keyboards. There were no stray key presses as has occasionally happened before. Perhaps I'm just being more careful.
• I can't comment on the amp positions since this was a low power contest. Placing them out of easy viewing means that mis-tuning and faults (protection circuits) can go unnoticed for a while. This has happened numerous times during both single-op and multi-op contests.
  

I will update my conclusions and make station adjustments when I gain more experience with the new SO2R desktop design. I have no intention of competing with best; my objective is to improve my skills and results. Never allow the rut you've fallen into become your permanent home.

A Day in the Life...

There are good reasons why few hams have big stations. It is easy to think of a few: expense, effort, amount of land, expertise, conflicting priorities (family, career) and maintenance. Let's focus on the last for a moment. As much as we try to build things to last, there is only so much that is practical. We make up for the lack of durability with maintenance. In a big station like mine there is a lot of maintenance to be done. I wouldn't be able to do it were I not retired.

Routine maintenance includes but is not limited to the following:

• Corrosion
• Loose fasteners
• Weatherproofing
• Wind damage
• Damage from flora and fauna
• Discovering and fixing what was previously overlooked
• Upgrading equipment and technology
  

Some problems are noticed but I don't react immediately. I am a serial procrastinator and my mental notes rarely make it to paper. Time is the enemy when forgotten problems deteriorate and eventually become a crisis at the worst possible time. For the cases in this article, it's during a cold northern winter with many upcoming contests on the calendar.

For a lighthearted start to the year I'll take you through a recent day: January 3. It started off ordinarily, by monitoring 6 meters for DX openings (it was open but there was no interesting DX) and the upper HF bands. I then went outdoors to inspect and hopefully repair one of the Beverage antennas. In this case it was the east-west reversible Beverage that failed to operate in the reverse (west) direction the previous evening. 

The weather, a relatively balmy -3°C. It was accompanied by winds of over 30 kph for a nasty wind chill. On the ground and in the bush, the weather was not a problem. I bundled up accordingly and took a fibreglass pole to use as a walking pole over the rough ground and as a tool to test wire tension and to straighten any tangles in the overhead open-wire Beverage line. I could come back with tools later in the day if that was necessary.

As I approached the head end I thought "uh oh." A 25' tall tree had fallen over. I had known it was dead but, as often happens, I made a mental note to deal with it and then lost the note. When I looked up to inspect damage to the antenna there was none! The fallen tree (now covered in snow) missed the antenna by inches. The trouble lay elsewhere. I walked along the 165 meter length of the antenna, periodically checking wire tension and for threatening deadwood. 

About ⅔ of the way to the east end I discovered the fault. The wind had caused an oscillation that twisted the wires between two supports. It can also happen when wire breaks but in this case the wires were fine. This type of fault is a regular occurrence so that I'm used to dealing with it. I inserted the pole between the wires and walked forward to reverse the twist. Within two steps I heard a "sproing" sound and the wires snapped back into place. That was easy.

I continued my walk along the Beverage to the east termination and all was well. On the way back I stopped where the northeast-southwest Beverage crosses the east-west Beverage and all was not well. Towards its termination one of the wires was slack. I followed it and found a break near its termination. An inspection of the break suggested a simple mechanical failure of the wire rather than being struck by a tree or animal (typically deer).

After one failed attempt that saw the splice pull apart, the repair was completed. It's a matter of loosening the tension, twisting together the aluminum wires and re-tensioning, taking care to avoid snags in the supports. Shifted wire spacers and supports are pushed back into position during the walk back.

As easy as these repairs are, I'm growing weary of the need. I'm contemplating replacing the fragile open wire reversible Beverages with coax Beverages similar to the north-south Beverage and the more recent short Heliax Beverage. I would use inexpensive RG6 taped to a steel messenger wire; RG6 with an embedded messenger wire is relatively expensive. Although there would be no more risk of twisting, repairs due to falling trees and deer antlers would be more expensive. The positive trade off is that the latter occurs less often.

During my walk back to the house I passed through the hay field containing my tall towers. There was a rhythmic metallic banging. It took a while for it to catch my attention because it wasn't loud. At first I thought it was from a neighbouring farm; mechanical sounds can carry long distances over terrain in winter. I paid it more attention as I continued walking and realized that there was a distinct high frequency component to the sound. That's evidence that the source was nearby; obstructions such as trees behave as low pass filters for sound.

I looked up at the nearest tower and saw nothing amiss. The sound repeated once every 10 or 15 seconds. I lifted my toque to hear it better and confirmed that it was coming from far up the 150' tower. I walked across the field to see the other side of the tower and looked up. With growing alarm I saw a problem far more serious than a twisted or broken Beverage wire.

The picture was taken a few hours after the repair was complete; I was too preoccupied and cold to take one before or during the repair work. Two of the Heliax runs up the tower (⅞" LDF5) from 70' to 140' up had broken all their cable ties and were swinging loose in the wind. That could not be ignored. Any delay would wreck the cable and damage the side mounted yagis (3 of them) and the 80 meter inverted vee. In short, it was an emergency.

How could it happen? I have had multiple poor experiences with cable ties over the years. Many so-called UV-resistant black (carbon infused) products discoloured and failed within months. Others broke despite being well within their load capacity ratings, or fractured from bending stress around the formed triangular tower legs and angular struts, or became brittle in winter's deep chill. 

When I climb towers I take note of broken ties and I may wrap the cables with tape if that's what I have in my tool pouch. I then take a mental note to deal with it later. As already mentioned, I tend to lose those mental notes. I climbed that tower only a few times this year so I was unaware of how much the deterioration has progressed. 

When a cable tie fails there is additional stress on the adjacent ties. Then they fail and an even greater stress is put on the ones adjacent to them. That's why a wholesale failure like this can appear so suddenly. 

I've avoided purchasing professional grade cable ties due to their expense. I've confirmed the brands and models with the tower pros of my acquaintance and I know where to buy them locally. I am now paying for that neglect. My only excuse is that there are so many maintenance tasks and new projects in a large station that many things get pushed aside or forgotten. But that's an unacceptable excuse so please don't ever use it!

Well, I had an emergency on my hands and I treated it like one. I went inside to warm up with a coffee and plan the work. 30 minutes later I was on the tower, wearing another layer of clothing, carrying a new bag of 100 14" cable ties and tools. It was a late winter afternoon with a cold air mass rolling in so the temperature was quickly falling. It was -5°C when I started the climb and the wind and wind chill increased the further up I went.

I worked from bottom to top. The bundle of loose Heliax cables had a lot of horizontal force on them due to the high wind; at their maximum the cable arc bowed outward more than a meter; it was really that bad. I had to fight the wind load to hold the cables against the tower face while encircling them with a cable tie and threading the tie through the socket with my bare hands. Worse, there is only one climbing face on these ancient LR20 towers so it took some gymnastics to position my body and fall restraint equipment to work on the adjacent tower face.

It was miserable work. Meter by meter I worked my way up the tower, working around the various antennas until I finally reached the top. It was fortunate that the hangers at the top had loosened but held firm against the stress of the weighty Heliax. There was no damage to the Heliax, rotation loops or phasing lines (10 meter stack). That was very lucky indeed.

On the way down I tightened the ties to hold them fast against the tower. It was now far easier to flatten them against the tower. The process was slow since by then my hands were half numb. It wasn't only due to the need to work the ties with bare hands. Even with well-insulated gloves the chill of the tightly held tower steel is penetrating. The only relief is to tie on and let go of the tower. As warmth returned to my hands I would resume working.

There was a lot of litter on the ground. Snow flurries gradually covered the broken ties that I let rain down. Scraping the ground with my boot the following day uncovered one of many. That sufficed for the picture. I can collect the rest after spring thaw. I prefer to carry down broken hardware but not when I'm fighting that frightful weather!

Back on the ground I dumped my gear and raced indoors. My fingers recovered after holding them under the hot water tap for a minute. That was a miserable job and I was happy that it was done. It should have not been necessary, but it happened and I dealt with it. After the current bout of very cold weather abates in a week or two I will climb the tower to tighten the cable ties, perhaps add a few more and confirm that the hangers at the top are in in good condition. In the spring I'll look into replacing all the cable ties with the expensive ones the pros use.

After all of that my day wasn't quite done. That evening I confirmed that the Beverages and the yagis were working fine. However, the 80 meter vertical yagi was not. There is an intermittent connection that I repaired twice last year. The next morning I visited the antenna with a screwdriver to chip away the ice from the base of the tower and tighten the retaining strap for the radials. That worked but I'll have to come up with a proper fix in the spring.

January 3 was an unusually hectic day but I've had others like it and (unfortunately) more are likely in the future. The bigger the station, the more things there are to go wrong. No matter how diligent you are, mistakes happen -- Murphy never rests. Errors by design are legion since time and money are limited -- what appear to be acceptable choices turn out otherwise -- while temporary repairs are forgotten until they fail. I hope when my climbing days come to an end (hopefully many years in the future) that the station will have have enough inertia to take me across the finish line. 

It's two days later and the temperature has plunged. Tower work would be dangerous in this weather. Luckily I can contemplate the enormity of the undertaking in the warm comfort of my house. Big stations are impressive to visit or operate from when they're owned and maintained by others. It is no surprise that only a small minority of hams build a station as big or bigger than mine. 

There are days that I pine for the simpler time when I operated QRP with wire antennas. It was fun and I did pretty well working DX and with my QRP contest entries. The majority of hams I know seem perfectly happy with headache-free small stations for which maintenance tasks are easily dealt with. That said, I would find it difficult to return to those days. 

Performance has a price that I'm willing to pay. One day that might change. I wouldn't be the first to make that decision.