Andy Allen Ocala, Florida USA 147.21 Repeater
The 3 element Steppir has been replaced by a JK Navassa 5 and the Buckmaster OCF Dipole comes down in favor of a 80-40m fan Dipole. This completes the update to Tower 1. The station can now take full advantage of the FlexRadio 6600. I can now listen, and operate on 4 bands (slices) at the same time.
The new tower project is complete and in use. The 2 meter repeater antenna has been taken down and replaced by several antennas. At the top of 70ft Rohn 25g is a dual band VHF/UHF vertical at 80ft. Below that, a JK Antennas Mid-Tri-40 at 73ft. This is a quad band Yagi with 2 elements on 40m, 3 elements on 20m, 4 elements on 15m and 5 elements on 10m – all on a a 26ft boom. The Yagi is turned by a Yaesu 2800 rotor. Side mounted on the tower, is a stack of 6m Par Electronics Omniangles. Also installed, an arm to support a 80m dipole.
The tower was originally erected for the 147.21 Repeater. The repeater has been moved to another location and the tower repurposed. Here’s a video of the tower build:
I have always been a “Mac” guy, but it has been difficult to do all the things you want to do in amatuer radio and stay in the Mac environment. Running a FlexRadio 6300 has meant a windows computer needs to be the centerpiece of the shack, until recently. I have the Maestro control head and that makes it possible to run the Flex without a pc. However, if using a logging program with rig control, a pc is back in the picture. Now – with the addition of a dynamic antenna that needs band data info to model the elements, additional pc programs are needed (ddUtil) to send band data from the Flex to the Steppir control head.
Enter MacLoggerDx and dogparkSDR. Don Agro, VE3VRW, has now created a complete solution for the Mac user that wants to run a FlexRadio, Steppir dynamic antenna and stay in the Mac environment. Logging and station control, including rotor control, all seamless. No PC (windows), no driver nonsense, no windows port configuration, no intermediate virtual software to facilitate comunication. It all works over ethernet.
Ham Radio Mac/Flexradio/Steppir users Rejoice!
