Month: March 2016

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere. That means we will be entering the thunderstorm season in Minnesota – a dangerous time for remote base station equipment due to the risk of damage by lightning strikes. Even nearby lightning that does not strike the station antenna can damage station equipment.

In the case of nearby lightning – within 25 miles of the station – it is prudent to take the station offline and disconnect the antenna. But the hosting of an HF remote is a tricky business, since one cannot always be at the station location to take it offline when lightning strikes are nearby. Sometimes bad weather is predicted, but may not arrive for many hours. If the station owner cannot be available during that time frame, the station may have to be offline for an extended period. Since the service is offered by volunteers who share their stations, we all need to manage expectations. While I want to have the station available as much as possible, I cannot be available all the time!

You may contact me at wa0tda@arrl.net if you have questions about when the station is available.

Happy Spring!

A substitute IC-7200 is in place, so the station is once again operational. There is no set schedule, and the station is only running periodically due to the risk of front end receiver damage from nearby W0ZSW, also running remotely.

The W0ZSW Handiham Club of Minnesota station is up and running with the Remotehams.com RCFORB software. The station features a Kenwood TS-480HX 200 watt transceiver and a 270 foot extended double zepp (W0OXB Special) antenna at the WA0TDA QTH.

The WA0TDA IC-7200 is offline while the radio is in for service. There was a receiver front end issue that needed to be resolved. In the meantime, please consider other RCFORB controlled stations like W0ZSW (also at the WA0TDA QTH) and W0EQO (in northern Minnesota, near the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River.)

Once I get the rig back, I’ll probably also look at adding a broadcast band filter. Here’s a good article on the subject:
http://www.dxing.com/tnotes/tnote06.pdf