Like many hams, I am deluged with RF noise.
I live on a residential estate and I am surrounded by solar panels, TVs, the (to my mind) rule-breaking VDSL, and many, many Switched Mode Power Supplies.

I’ve gradually been ground down by the challenges of operating from my home QTH and decided that I either needed to take radical action or hand in my license and sell all my equipment.
The options for radical action were:

• stop operating from home and only operate /M, /P or /A; or
• setup a remote station in a quieter location.

I do operate /P a lot more than I used to, but this post is the first in series on setting up a remote station.

Requirements – Mandatory

So, what do I want to be able to do?

• Full HF capability: 160m – 10m
• 100W
• Single multi-band antenna
• Full remote control of radio and power
• Remote access over 4G
• Support for all modes
• Partial protection against local mains failure (I.e. ability to shutdown in an orderly fashion)

Requirements – Desirable

• Remote access over local WiFi
• Ability to recover from station failure
• Multiple antenna options

Requirements – Future Possibilities

• 6m
• Rotator control
• Access by other (authorised) hams
• Extended operation in the absence of mains power
• Solar charging of batteries

Requirements – Other

• Physically secure cabinet (weatherproof if necessary)

The next few posts will cover the design phase and the bench top building phase. Let’s see how it goes.