Vale!

Well, it has come time to say 'goodbye' to the Copper Mountain station.  Or, at least, as a home operating location.

Having been here since August 2008, and with life progressing in new directions, it's time to move on from this excellent, if extraordinarily windy radio location.

I didn't move here for radio.  It took me three years to think about using the licence I'd held - but had not used - since 1997.  But when I strung-out that first random sloping wire (no counterpoise, so lots of RF burns!), I realised the location was pretty special.  I was encouraged enough to build a copper pipe dipole for 10m!

Early days: copper pipe dipole, 28MHz, plus a 40m dipole hanging beneath it(!)  January 14, 2012.

Excellent, super-mineralised ground, coupled to an elevated position with partial sea views, and essentially absent electrical noise, meant that even simple wires could 'get out' (and pull in) far better than models and others' experiences asserted would be the case. 

I say there was no RFI, but in 2017, an adjoining small farm set about installing kilometres of electric fencing to contain horses.  The tapes ran, at closest, within ~8 metres of my antennas, and were of course badly installed and even more poorly maintained, such that S9 pulses would occur every second, or even clusters of pulses every second from multiple circuits.  

Incompetently-installed and maintained electric fences, 2017.  Noise blanking, mercifully, meant it had no impact on radio.

Whilst this was initially very upsetting, the FT-450 (and the TS480) noise blanker completely suppressed the spark impulses in all but the very strongest signal reception conditions - in which case it remained a non-problem.  Not even the most sensitive WSPR reception was affected, once the NB was on.  Someone eventually seems to have had an argument with someone else about the horses, in the way people in small farms tend to do and, by 2020, they and the electric fences were gone!

In 2013, I drove a round-trip of about 900 miles in a day to collect a tower for a 12m Yagi.  It proved to be excellent value for money.  It could easily be lowered and luffed for hurricane days.  The Yagi went up in March 2014.  I didn't think it would be long before someone went to complain about it, to be honest.

After a lot of digging, I had a 1.5m deep hole for the concrete base of the tower!

Base pouring. I had 1 tonne excess at the end, which I had to hurrily shovel by hand to make some rough garden paths, in extremely hot weather, before it set!  09/07/2013.

But, for four years, to become a lawful structure under UK planning law, the tower, Yagi, and its 30 year old rotator would have to fly through everything the Irish Sea coast could throw at it.  I don't like bureaucracy, and I particularly don't like our local council, which was once described in a national magazine - correctly in most people's minds - as 'a basketcase council'.  So I didn't apply for permission, but used the immunity from enforcement that having something up for so long that no reasonable complaint can then be made brings.  

Tower, 12m LFA and various wires.  A typical scene here, as a strong October storm clears.

The four years were a challenge. At least twice, we saw peak gusts at 135km/h (see video, below).  Even typical winter winds, which might last days without much change, would be around 85km/h.  But it all survived, and nobody did in fact run to the council to complain - or if they did they were not interested!  By March 2018, the whole thing was lawful, as though I had been granted consent in the first place!  As evidence, I had taken photos of my kids, the concrete base pouring, and a smartphone photo every day for at least two of those years.  

12m proved to be more interesting than I had imagined.  I reached every continent at 24MHz, even Antarctica (DP0GVN, 08/09/2014), using the then very popular and extremely capable JT65A mode.  I am really saddened that this mode has now all but vanished in everyday operations.

Simple wires, in the form of vertical deltas and half slopers, kept me busy from 80-10m.  A 2-ele quad provided fun on 6m, including several aurora-scatter QSOs with Scotland and the Faroes.  

First edition of the 14MHz vertical delta, then fed with a 4:1 at the corner.

 

14MHz delta, with reflector, beaming USA.  03/04/2013.  Quite effective, if it isn't windy!

This location also provided fantastic longer-range 2m and 70cm FM operation, especially out over the sea to the Isle of Man - easily visible from here - and Ireland.  Repeaters were fun, but I have to confess, the CB nature, and often idiotic conversations held on VHF FM, was not to my liking, and I eventually gave up there.

Isle of Man (~60km) under moderate supperrefraction conditions - great for low power 2m FM!

 

2m got a revival here in 2019, when I took to SSB, mostly digital operation.  Within a few weeks of getting a suitable rig, I had managed Cape Verde with a 3-ele and 50W only!  Something that many people had waited a lifetime to achieve.  I had just been lucky, thanks to an exceptional tropo duct that formed in late December and early January, 2019/20.  An 8-element took over from then on, but no exceptional propagation was seen since.  Frequent attempts to cross the Atlantic came to naught.

All it took to cross to Cape Verde on 2m (FT8), January 01, 2020!

 I never set out to spend a lot on radio; indeed, I made a point of enjoying it as much as possible, for as little outlay as possible.  But after I acquired the tower, I realised that if, one day, someone installed a solar PV system nearby, or a proposed large solar PV farm was actually built, then one could wake up, turn on the radio, and find the bands badly afflicted by RFI. Sadly, one comes across such distressing situations quite often on the internet and letters pages in magazines, often elderly people who have operated without trouble for decades.  One feels very sorry for them, not least as radio may, for some, be their only contact with the outside world.

In view of all that, I always spent considerable time developing the /M and /P side of the hobby.  Yes, it takes a bit more more effort, but the results from good locations far outstrip what I could ever achieve from home, even though home has a good environment. 

Not quite as comfortable as a home station, but the results are much better!

 

From now on, whilst I may have a stealthy delta or magnetic loop, operations at home will not be on the same level as they have been.  Most operation, I imagine, will be making use of all those /P and /M developments.  Luckily, the coast is only ever a few minutes away, and I still have a shack in a remote field that could sport a hexbeam or similar, one day.

As for the blog, well, things may change there, too.  I don't imagine I will have so much to write about from now on.  That may come as a blessing to many of you!  The blog will remain available, but I think I'll post updates on /P work at my Facebook page, 'Seaside Portable HF Radio', even though FB is perhaps a platform that is slowly dying, now.  Heck!  I may even have a go at a subscription service like Substack.  We'll see.  It will take time to readjust.

The future radio scene, perhaps for a lot more than just me.

 

So, for now, thanks for putting up with my long WSPR reports.  For tolerating my over-excited accounts of some special QSO.  Or casting your eyes skyward at some political outrage related to the RSGB or QRZ.com on occasion. 

Most of all, thanks for your support on Blogger, good luck to your own efforts, and please stay in touch!