SITREP
Where ALAMO is at right now — what is running, what got fixed, and what is planned next.
ALAMO is working very well. The focus now is expanding the antenna capability and completing the planned upgrade to the Aurora 510.
Current state
The station is working very well.
An Antenna Genius is installed, giving the capacity to connect and select between as many as nine antennas.
ALAMO sits on a live, working ranch, with Texas Longhorn cattle occupying the surrounding fields. That is not a detail — it shapes how the site can be built out.
Resolved — the shed fan Largely solved
When the station was first brought online we were surprised by the amount of QRM present at the site. Investigation eventually identified a large shed fan — appropriately sold under the name “Big Ass Fan” — as a major source of interference. It generated an extraordinary amount of radio noise, particularly on the 40-metre band.
A movement-activated switching system is now being developed for the fan. It will let the fan run automatically when someone enters the shed, while retaining the ability to activate it remotely when required. In practical terms the fan-related QRM problem is now largely solved.
Planned work
- Additional antennas. This is the main area of future development. The Antenna Genius already provides the switching capacity; the antennas are what comes next. Designing, building, testing and experimenting with antennas is a particular passion of Ed, K5YZW, so antenna development will be a continuing feature of this station rather than a one-off task.
- Burying the feed lines. With Longhorn cattle in the surrounding fields, antenna feed lines need to be buried so the cattle cannot interfere with, damage or become entangled in them.
- FlexRadio Aurora 510. Ed is currently working towards this upgrade. The changeover should be relatively straightforward — the existing FlexRadio 6700 will be removed and the Aurora 510 installed in its place.
- More local site monitoring. A few temperature and humidity sensors are going in, so conditions inside the shed are measured rather than assumed. Ed’s appetite for telemetry is increasing, which is how these things tend to go.
- A dust-proof housing for the equipment. Graford is a fairly dusty environment, so a purpose-built enclosure is being purchased from DustFreePC to keep it out of the gear.