
Table of Contents
Overview
Due to the excessive, and increasing, levels of man-made interference being experienced at my home QTH, I decided to create a remote shack in a more rural location that would, hopefully, experience better conditions. I have documented the process of building the remote shack on my blog. This is the current configuration.
Radio Side
- ITX Mini PC running Microsoft Windows 11 for local station control and digital modes (see later)
- Flex Radio 6400 100W HF Transceiver (Now superseded by the 8400) connected to
- 12V power injector to feed the Antenna Disconnect and the ATU
- 50m length of RG213 to reach the
- 12V power extractor providing power to
- Paradan Antenna Disconnect and
- SGC SG-230 ATU
- 12m Spiderbeam Pole with a 21m wire
- 5 off 5-7m above-ground wires to act as a counterpoise
Control System
- Raspberry Pi 4 with SSD in a fan-cooled Argon 40 metal case and running
- Home Assistant (see later)
- ESPHome mains plugs to control the 240V for:
- The Radio PSU
- The Windows PC
- The 60W Heater for winter use
- ESPHome flashed SONOFF 4ch switch for:
- Switching the Flex on and off
- Toggling the PTT on the Flex (needed occasionally)
- Controlling the 12V power to the Antenna Disconnect and ATU
- ESPHome flashed ESP32 with:
- Dallas 1-wire temperature sensors for
- outside air temperature
- outer cabinet air temperature
- inner cabinet upper shelf air temperature
- inner cabinet lower shelf air temperature
- DHT32 Temp/Humidity sensor for the inner cabinet middle shelf
- 2 PID controllers for the inner and outer cabinet fan speed controls.
- Dallas 1-wire temperature sensors for
Home Assistant
The brain controlling the remote shack is Home Assistant. I also use Home Assistant to augment my home and I know it very well.
Operating autonomously, Home Assistant will
- Monitor and control the environment in the inner cabinet using the heater and cooling fans
- Monitor the state of the local 240V supply and Internet access – and send me a Pushover alert if the UPS kicks in or primary Internet connection goes down – using the 4G modem on the Teltonika RUT-951 router if necessary
- Keep an eye on local windspeed and lightning and take action to shut the radio side down if necessary – as well as sending me an alert via Pushover.
- Poll external services to main a local record of appropriate propagation data, and present them via the UI.
Using the Lovelace dashboard I designed, I can:
- Sequence the power up and power down of the Flex, Antenna Disconnect and ATU
- Ditto for the Windows PC
- Manually toggle the PTT on the Flex – needed occasionally for SmartLink.
- Manually override the state of the system where necessary
- Monitor propagation and environmental data