Category Archives: Radio Ranch

Radio Ranch antenna Upgrade – 3 Ele Steppir

September 29, 2016K2ADA News, Radio Ranch, Steppir, Tower/Antennaandy

The KIO hex beam has worked well here at the K2ADA Radio Ranch. Now that we are here most days, I began thinking about an upgrade. Since my primary rig here is a Flex 6300, a multi band yagi or log periodic interested me. Both would “listen” to all bands with a single coax run and I could open multiple slices on the Flex. However, both also have compromises. A mono band antenna for every band would of course be the ultimate, but I didn’t want the multiple towers and switching that would be required.

A dynamic antenna. The Steppir has been around for awhile now. The 3 element (w/ 40m option) will not pose a problem for my Universal 50ft tower and Hygain rotor, and after several months of thinking and rethinking, I pulled the trigger.

Assembly is really straight forward but the instructions could use some attention. Steppir has updated the documentation of each option and sends each as an addendum to the basic build. This is a little confusing and requires a lot of extra work to assemble the antenna correctly. A phone call to one of the Steppir techs cleared everything up and the build took me about 3 days. Working several hours a day.

Here are some photos (thanks Annie) of the assembly, and the removal of the hex and raising of the Steppir:

Steppir needs to rethink their assembly documentation

a 60ft lift was used to retrieve the Hex antenna and replace it with the 3 ele Steppir

the completed Steppir is visible in the foreground

Thanks to help from a neighbor, we raised the Steppir, and attached it to the existing mast

I’m getting use to the time it takes the Steppir to “remodel” itself for each frequency change. Signals have been strong and reports have also been good.

Flex 6300

June 30, 2014Radio Ranchandy

I have been interested in SDR (software define radio) for years. Several companies have been marketing radios for a while now and FlexRadio has been the most aggressive in America in demoing their offerings at hamfests and on the web.
I recently saw a demo of an Anan 100 which was very impressive. Apache labs makes the Anan line of SDR radios and you should take a look before plunging into this world.
When FlexRadio introduced the Flex 6300 at the Dayton hamfest (2014) I could resist no longer. The price point was in my range and the feature set is perfect for my style of operating.

So now, the Radio Ranch station is complete. When I’m on Merritt Island, I can remote into the Radio Ranch via the Kenwood TS-2000/Remote Rig set up, and work with the SDR radio when we visit the Ranch. Flex has promised some remote capability in a future software update.
Switching Antennas
Two rigs, one set of antennas. A simple set of switches handle the task. I use a KIO hex beam for 20m – 6m, and a Buckmaster OCF dipole for 80m – 40m. The Kenwood auto switches antenna based on the operating band. Since I have a 600 watt amp in line with the Flex 6300, I have to switch antennas on the MFJ 998 manually.
No problem since I am right in the control room when I operate the Flex.

RemoteRig configured and Fully Functional

February 18, 2014Radio Ranchandy

RemoteRig control box and the RC-2000 control head

Big step forward. The RemoteRig units arrived and, after a struggle with ip set up and port forwarding, they are functioning at the Radio Ranch and in the condo on Merritt Island. The two locations are 140 miles apart. Connected by the internet, I can now control the Kenwood TS-2000 at the Radio Ranch from the condo. Audio – both ways – and radio control are controlled by the RemoteRig units (one on each end) and I’m controlling the rotor by a remote desktop app called LogMein. Audio reports have been good, no packet drop outs reported.

I have an Icom IC-7200 with a Buckmaster 6 band OCF dipole at the condo. This station is still in place and it’s very interesting to run both stations side by side. I have even used the two stations together, listening on the Icom and transmitting from the Radio Ranch with success. The difference in what I can hear between the two locations has also been surprising. The dipole at the condo runs north-south, favoring signals from the east-west in theory, and the Radio Ranch is a hexx beam, favoring the direction in which it is pointed. Early tests have shown the hexx beam into Europe and Asia is very strong. I’ve been able to work many stations on both stations and difference in signal reports have been significant. More to follow as I get more operating time.