The AM Forum

A month or two ago, I read in a QST article, that, with the internet becoming so much part of our lives, that it is possible to operate one of 5(?) Ham Radio Superstations.
Reference this link:

http://www.remotehamradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RHR-ARRL-REVIEW.pdf

I think its way over the top!!
Fred

I'd rather go to the islands and rent someone's house and normal station.  Operate in between beach, bar and refreshments.  The Dx location will more than make up for station accoutrements if your interested in such.

...and apparently for about the same money.  ;D

It does work well!  I got an email from a Ham friend in California and asked if I wanted to get on 75M and have a QSO.  I said sure and we picked a frequency.  I just assumed he was in the area and was visiting a Ham friend.  We got on and he was about 30 over 9 with a very good sounding signal.  I asked him where he was and he said Palm Springs California!  Then he told me what he was doing!  He was working me thought one of the super stations up in upstate NY.  The signal sounded fantastic.  He then switched from SSB to AM and was running legal limit on AM.  Again, very good quality.  Then he was switching between various Bi-Square antennas and we picked the one where he was the strongest.  He was using a special Elecraft K3 without the RF guts ultimately going into the internet to his choice of a particular super station.  He had complete control and was able to do everything that the RF version of the K3 would do.  With the beams, he I guess was using the computer to  rotate the various arrays on 10/15/20.  It appeared that he was having all the fun of operating from a mega station while living in a HOA restricted area.  I think that is who the service is  catering to.  The signal sounded totally transparent and I thought I was working him direct.  So at least they have done it well.  Somewhat expensive, but if you have the bucks and want to get on the air with a very loud signal from an area where you can't put up big antennas and towers it does offer a great solution. 

Joe, GMS     

Yeah Joe. That would be kind of startling; getting answered with strength of the Almighty.

Well I can see the need.  Perhaps an alternative would be somewhat simpler rentable stations with you providing your own k3 shell and Internet hookup stuff.  Rent by the minute, first come, first serve with suitable time blocks to prevent someone else from jumping in control in the middle of your SriLanka qso.

I guess it would cater to a well heeled Ham op. who lives in a communist community. The RF-less K-3 reminded me how the system is configured.
Glad that the one superstation is taking care to provide top notch audio. And nice effort to have access to antennas and rotors. Kinda like a little pay-back for the Super owner to get back something from his investment.
Of course, Rich has an excellent approach too.
Fred

I think my friend out in California pays around 300 per month.  Some people pay that amount for a car payment so yea its some bucks, but for the Ham that has little choices for a big rig and property its an alternative.  I understand the corporation that owns the operation is doing well financially.  That's good, since it means the service will be around for awhile.  They are constantly on the look-out for suitable properties to build more super stations. 

I was most impressed with the quality of the signal including the audio.  Also these remote locations tend to be very quiet on receive.     

Joe, GMS   

The Elecraft setup does not need to be a K3/0 (non-RF unit).  The K3/0 was introduced to reduce the cost of a remote setup.

A friend of mine uses his K3 to 'run' my K3, using the gizmos found here: http://www.remoterig.com/wp/ (http://www.remoterig.com/wp/)

Mine is certainly no super station, but I do have antennas for 160 thru 10 and capable of running legal limit. I had already 'automated' all the antenna switching so adding the remote control stuff was pretty simple. It is kind of weird to watch your station getting used by someone that's not there!

I  forgot to mention but the digital non RF K3 you do not have to buy.  They include it with the lease of air time. I guess if you stop leasing air time you just send it back.

Joe, GMS

Aye.

Here, now.

Door's open, rig's on, come on down.

I might pay once as a lark, just to try it out. It seems a novelty and I would not pay on an ongoing or repetitive basis.

I guess I'll be the wet blanket.   ???

I see this as a worrisome trend.  Now an antenna hating community can say "We're going to ban antennas and a 'reasonable accommodation' will be for amateurs here to operate a remote controlled station."

Sorry, but to me, running a rig via a computer seems about like operating VOIP and Echo-Link or Skype or QSO-Net--there's a lot of computer but not much radio.  Dave W9AD does this part of the year and does it well but I'm not sure he'd want to do it all the time.  I'll have to ask him next time I work him. 

I want to hear relays close and see anodes turn orange.   I'm not blasting hams who do it--you do what you have to do to be QRV and it's better than collecting salt and pepper shakers, but we need to fight these jackass towns so hams don't have to resort to this stuff.

I dunno, seems like a remote deal for hire is like wearing someone else's underwear... :P

73DG

Accommodations were not great here:

(http://www.passion-radio.org/images-blog/scarborough-reef-bs7h.jpg)

These are un-manned Ham radio stations? I thought the host Amateur was a typical operator living in his his/her home and makes the station available in the 'network'. Is there a link to the company that is sponsoring these super stations?
Fred

So, this would be the "virtual reality" version?

Hmmmm.. maybe I should rent out Rattlesnake Island (with the "man cave" - 2nd cottage -> guest quarters and ham shack - almost completed!!!) all equipped with a 1kW class E rig and antenna system for 160 and 80 meters... Swim, boat, sail, kayak, hike, look at the eye candy all day and whoop it up with the "boys" on the air at night  ;D ;D

Of course you also realize the next step is renting a Waldo to operate the remote shack or whatever.  Hmmm.? Better lock up your whimmin.

And you'll get a grand audience, but all will have to get in line after B. Brother.

Next step is to hire an operator to operate the leased superstation for you during a contest.  Make 5BDXCC and get a high score without station investment while relaxing on the beach :(

This will probably become increasingly popular with the hands-off types leading to the rise of the "uber appliance op"

This could be the ham radio version of "Barbarella", sex using pills instead of physical contact.  Second thought, with some of the sightings at hamfests this would be more important than the leased station :)

I'll bet for the average "hands on" AMer on this BB, operating a remote station exclusively thru a computer would get old real fast. Environment too sterile - no risk of electrocution or falling!  ;D

A few examples:  

About five years ago a group of us did Skype with cameras. After three nights there was mostly silence and the cameras were pointed at the rigs. Many got bored and never signed back on. Too easy.

I once did a remote control of a telescope  in a nice location in the NM desert. After one night - boring!  I use my own scope with real photons striking my eye regularly, even though my location is not as good as NM.

What if we called all our ham buddies every night on Skype and axed: "Joe, how's it going? How's the family? FB here. You're 59 + 60 on the Skype computer tonight.  Bye" ... click. Do this ten nights in a row and they will finally axe you why the heck you're bothering them every night -  and then hang up.  But do this on the radio every night and it's OK. We stay interested cuz it's our own thang and a challenge.

I suppose in this day and age there are plenty of folks who are thrilled using a web-linked computer to communicate over the radio. Some may not have the real estate to do radio up right. I can appreciate that. But for those who do, there's nothing like direct receiving and transmitting of electrons or photons, even when using a simple, modest setup. Pride of ownership and DIY may have something to do with it too. For many of us, operating a leased remote station is too easy and gets old real fast.

T

the only way I would be interested in operating a remote station is if it was mine and I did all the setup. I doubt I would use it much, but I would enjoy the torture of getting it to work perfect.

You make a good point, Brandon.  It might be fun to put our own second remote station on a cliff by the ocean and work the Euros like ducks.  Imagine 30-40  years from now living in a nursing home being able to continue the hobby.

The owner of HRO lives in a strict housing area in LA. He can't put up a big antenna. Maybe his XYL says no too, I dunno.  Anyway, back about 15 years ago he pioneered a remote system using microwave linking. He put up a 75M three element rotary Yagi on a high mesa at 120'. He would get on and hold court from CA into Eu and SA on many nights. What a signal, and all controlled from his hi-hi FB home in the suburbs.

Then there are some Euros who refuse to work an internet-based remote station. They frown upon it. I've heard it happen several times on 75M...  ;D

Whatever gets us excited and holds our interest is FB by me.

T

Here's da link
http://www.remotehamradio.com/

Pretty cool video.

Operating the K3 rig makes all the difference for simulating reality.  Quite seamless and impressive, actually.


T

I note two very serious stations in the northern Catskills, just to my south...

Which makes me wonder who is it that had the $$ to put up serous stations there, bit towers, etc. plus a house, both in this general area? They are great locations, fwiw...

And, I could just drive over and operate the one in Windam, no problem, wonder what the price on that might be? :D

                            _-_-bear

There are quite a number of "serious stations" around the country and a sizable number here in the Northeast. Pull up the recent ARRL or CQ contest results and look at the "multi-multi station section list.

There are also some very serious multi-multi stations outside of the country like HC8N:  http://hc8n.info/

Beautiful and geographically great for contesting.

BEAR I know where you are coming from.
Here is a link to another multi-multi off of I80-W, before the Ohio border. World Wide contest station

http://www.k3lr.com/

The owner is Tim Duffy, RF engineer and CEO of several cellular companies. There must be easily $1 Million invested. Every band Every possible combination of antenna.....TX...RX. Legal limit amps that were designed and built by Tim, if memory serves me. Single band 8877. And the usual commercial offerings for HF rigs.

Yea. Check out 4O3A. Down hill to everywhere. Achim did it up right.

http://www.4o3a.com

All of this for CQ CONTEST, CQ CONTEST, HELLO CONTEST

Clearly this is not something that I would currently use, but it does have its place.  Some of our most senior Ham op's do not have the real estate or opportunity to have a station where they live.  So its pretty good when they can sit in front of this special Elecraft K3 digital box and have a very similar interface that they are accustomed to.  Those that have saved, the money is really not an issue.  I see it as much more than Echo link or IRLP. 

Some people are into Ham Radio just to talk to people and they really don't care about the equipment unless it doesn't allow them to talk!  Just tune across the bands and many op's are into Ham Radio for the social aspect alone. 

Joe, GMS       

Yep, Achim is a DX animal.  We've been friends since the late 80's, mostly from 75M DX window.  He's the same guy who strung up a 4el 75M Yagi at 300' high between two apartment buildings in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

On 75M, he always said, " I am running a four element wire Yagi between two skyscrapers at 100 meters."  That was quite a message.


To install it, he went over to the twin apt building in a suit - and acted like a serious KGB agent on a mission. Nobody said anything. He did have occasional RFI problems from the hundreds of occupants, but was on the air for years. Once in a great while someone cut it down... ;D


Yep, there's nothing like a Euro DX station saying to us in broken English: "Oh my God Old Man!  You are like local station! What is your antenna?"


Funny thing about that remote K3 video. They have the choice of running barefoot,  linear at 1/2 power or full power. I wonder how many guys, after paying $300 / month and having big expectations, are going to choose to run barefoot?  HA!

T


 

QRP aficionados who rely more on the power of the antenna then on the power in the box.

no no, it is much more important than that.  It's for "your FIVE NINE YOUR FIVE NINE"  or "599 599 5NN"

super super important.

But, on the scale of buzzworthiness, it's all pretty pretty low and sad.   W1AW used to be slightly buzzardly and was the real deal back in the 1930s, but even they have sunk to the depths of plastic radios and worse, Ameritron leenyars. 

While the slopbucketeers may drool over the high dollar plastique, an example of the ultimate AMishtivation would have to be a gallery of bc rigs such as the BC1F, with 51J1s and AR88s on the op table and a few OWL fed AWG 8 sky wires held to the heights of buzzardly tall shipdom by a pair of 100 foot Vesto towers.   That gets the buzzidated juices flowing far more than any bunch of overgrown TV antennas on a bunch of guyed towers.

Maybe we should all pitch in and rent one of these superstations and run it exclusively on AM during CQWW.

Looks like some high power FM stations up there too. I wonder what RFI issues there are up with commercial communications and microwave and the Ham station?

Wasn't Nicky involved with that?

If all goes well there will be a station for rent in Maya Beach,Belize this winter.Just need to figure out what to take and how to ship it.It almost looks like doing a 40 foot shipping container is the way to go.If anyone has any suggestions let me know.Joe.WB2G/V31WG