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Remote Antenna

Mar 14th 2014, 21:40

KZ6B

Joined: Oct 28th 2013, 22:03
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
I have a 40 foot tower on which I am going to have a tri-beam, dipole and a 2 meter antenna. My rig is a couple of hundred feet away with no way to run coax due to local restrictions and physical impediments.

Could someone point me in the right direction as to how to feed the antennas remotely?

Thanks. Alan
Mar 15th 2014, 15:51

aa6e

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Alan,

Do you have power and equipment space at your antenna location? Maybe you need to set up a remote base operation with a WiFi (or VHF/UHF) link to control from your home location.

73 Martin AA6E
Mar 16th 2014, 00:40

KZ6B

Joined: Oct 28th 2013, 22:03
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Yes, Martin, I do have room for equipment and power at the antenna. How do I go about doing a vhf/uhf link? We have WiFi already at the house.

Alan
Mar 17th 2014, 19:02

aa6e

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Depending on exactly what you want to do, things can get complicated and/or expensive fast. The simplest remote, if you can do it, is to use your WiFi network, maybe with directive yagi antennas to get the distance you need. Then you could work with a rig that offers remote capability via Ethernet. I think the Ten-Tec Omni VII and the Elecraft K3 offer this, for example. You control your rig from your home computer. If you need rotator control and more complicated switching, this can be done. There are commercial systems that support this if you don't roll your own.

If you are willing to run a computer at your remote site, you could use software like Hamlib to control your rig. (Hamlib supports many different types of rigs.) You would still need to provide two-way audio, which could be through the computer or through a VHF/UHF audio link.

Running over a UHF link can be similar to Ethernet, but the digital networking is not a standard product so far as I know. (One exception: the high-end forms of D-STAR.) Running audio on UHF with DTMF-style commands is not too hard. It's basically how many repeaters are controlled. There is also the Kenwood Sky-Command system that you might look at.

Good luck & 73 - Martin - AA6E
Mar 19th 2014, 15:51

KZ6B

Joined: Oct 28th 2013, 22:03
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Thanks, Martin. Appreciate your input and help on this.

Alan.

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