KD7I - World of Ham Radio

Second Generation EmComm Station

lhutah — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:35:18 +0000

The newly finished second generation emcomm station is a big success. The enhancements the second time around include:

. a built-in antenna tunner

. tuner button on the control panel

. internal speaker

. a Doc Wattson battery analyzer.

K7DDS and K7GPA teamed up on this effort. Great job!

EmComm is Contageous

lhutah — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:06:37 +0000

Those of us whose main focus in ham radio is emergency communications look for opportunities to be better prepared. We get excited about things like the EmComm station in the last post and we can’t help telling other hams about it. I told a few people. They got excited! Now I am helping to build a second one. My role this time is to help gather up some of the parts. I spent days, maybe weeks, researching and shopping for my own station. This time it took only two hours to drive to five different stores and pick up most of the parts for the new station. It’s exciting and much easier the second time around.

Already the design of the new station is superior to the first one. I’m sure that some time down the road I will re-do the control panel in my own station. That idea was percolating in my mind even as I was finishing up the final assembly.

I thought I’d post a preliminary look at the parts gathered up so far. It’s amazing that all of this plus two batteries, two radios, a tuner, a dozen switches, meters and a mass of wiring will all fit in the box.

Shopping The Second Time Around is Easier

Emergency Communications to Go

lhutah — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:10:47 +0000

They go by many titles including emergency stations, grab-n-go stations, go boxes, portable stations, communications boom boxes and ARES stations. There is no standard design or list of required components. Each is as unique as those who build them. Their main purpose is to enable communications during emergencies, which makes them especially appropriate for organizations such as ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service). Basic design criteria usually includes features such as portability, self contained power and quick deployment.

This is my version of a portable, self-powered communications station. The design is not original with me. I borrowed much of it from other pioneers on the internet. Because I frequently take my radios and equipment to locations outside of my home and am involved with an active ARES group the need for grab-and-go portability is constant.

The ARES station closed and ready for deployment.

ARES station open and fully operational with UHF, VHF and HF.

Features built in to the station:

Operates from AC utility power, internal batteries or external DC source
Built-in battery trickle charger to maintain batteries while on AC power
Protected by circuit breakers instead of fuses
Audio jack for external speaker or headphone operation
High-output fan to cool the container
Low power LED lighting
Weatherproof container. The container comes with a rubber seal in the lid. All mounting holes are protected with neoprene washers.
Andersen Power Pole outlets for external equipment such as handheld and cell phone chargers, automatic antenna tuners, GPS etc.

Two radios are mounted in the station. They are a Yaesu FT-857 and Yaesu FT-8800. The FT-857 covers all bands and all modes. The FT-8800 has dual receive and covers 2Meters and 70cm. It also has the ability to be configured as a cross-band repeater thus greatly extending the range of a handheld radio.

All of the construction was performed using basic shop tools. The most sophisticated device used was a Dremel. Others wishing to build their own stations need not be concerned about a lack of machining equipment or a computer aided design (CAD) tool integrated with a CNC automated punch machine. (Although if you have those available all the better!)

The parts and pieces came from many sources. Some had to be ordered on the internet, many are available at local Radio Shack, Lowes and Home Depot stores. Much of the material was already in my “junk box”. All hams have a box of spare, left-over, or decommissioned goodies from previous projects.

This entry will not contain detailed construction notes or parts lists. However, if you would like you can leave your email address in a comment and I will email the information to you. Be sure to disguise your email address by using the word “dot” for the period and the word “at” for the @ sign.

Finally, credit must be given to the pioneering work of N2MPT and his very detailed construction notes on his ARES station. Click here to see his station. Thanks Jim!