Swiss Remote DX Amateur Radio Station at 1'660m

Aktueller Vortrag (2024) "Jagd nach DXCC-Punkten, erfolgreich DXn" [21’030 KB] und anlässlich des USKA HAMWebinar

Have a look at the WebCam
Frédéric HB9CQK provides additional information.
Article in German about our Remote DX-Station from Jörg (DD8JM)

Since summer 2020, we have a 100 Mbit/s fiber optic Internet connection at 1'660m for our remote Flexradio connection !

On May 17, 2022 we installed the new OptiBeam OB9-5 extra heavy duty version in hopes that this beam will now stay in tact for longer than just one year. Since 2019, 3 beams have been lost due to the extreme weather conditions at this location at this height.

Our new Rigi Dashboard (April 2023) works now with a Node Red Solution running on a Raspberry Pi 4. Two 34" Screens for the Rigi-Dashboard and a Shure SM58SE Studio MIC with the Scarlett Solo MIC preamp for an excellent remote audio completes the solution.

18.12.2023 - after problems with the potentiometer in the PST61D rotator, we have now installed the Genius Rotator solution from 4O3A with the magnetic azimuth sensor. Due to RF interference on 15m and 17m with more than 200W, the magnetic sensor failed in each case. With a home-made remote sensor switch solution, we can restart the sensor remotely since 20.3.24.

After several Flexradio SmartLink service outages we have now installed a Softether VPN-Server on a Raspberry Pi3 with the following benefits in June 2023:
- Indpendent from Flexradio SmartLink Server Service (AWS-Cloud)
- Fast & reliable
- Under own control
- Low maintenance
- No SmartLink Login anymore

Softether VPN-Server Documentation [1’627 KB] in order to avoid SmartLink Service outages in the future as a backup solution

Final Equipment

Flexradio 6700 High End SDR Transceiver with 8 VFO's with SmartSDR v3.4.23
OptiBeam OB5-6 for 6m,
OptiBeam OB9-5 extra heavy duty beam for 10m, 12m, 15m, 17m, and 20m,
54m Wire-Antenna with JC-4s Stockcorner Tuner for 30m to 160m and 1kW,
Expert 1.3k Amplifier as Antenna-Switch and Tuner,
Prosistel PST61D Rotator,
Genius Rotator solution with magnetic Azimuth sensor from 4O3A
Home Made Genius Rotator remote Sensor Switch (ON/OFF) due to HF issues
Airspy HF + with Spyserver powered by a Raspberry Pi4,
WebSDER Server (Linux Debian 11 Server) with 7 Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR Receivers for HF (80m up to 10m),
WebSDR Server (Linux Debian 11 Server) with two Nooelec R820T2 USB SDR-Dongles for 2m/70cm,
KiwiSDR with Wellbrook Loop ALA1530LN
NPort 5410 serial port Mulitplexer for remote control of the Expert 1.3k amplifier,
Winradio G33DDC Excalibur Pro professional SDR-Receiver with Wellbrook Loop ALA1530LN,
RadarScape FlightRadar Receiver,
Gas Lightning Protection from Huber+Suhner with three Coax-Relais,
Remote 230V Power ON/OFF for 8 devices,
4G/SMS-Box to switch ON/OFF (230V) the main Internet-Router,
Remote Web-Relais to Switch ON/OFF our HAM-Devices,
Home-Made Stockcorner JC-4s Tuner-Protection Box
WEB Temperature Monitor-Device with 4 temp. sensors in the cabinet,
1:1 5kW Choke from Balun Desings,
LPF-1 Low Pass Filter for OptiBeam and Wire Antenna,
SoftEther VPN-Server on a Raspberry Pi3 to avoid SmartLink Outages,
Active Antenna Splitters ELAD ASA15 and ELAD ASA16 for our SDR-Receivers with the Wellbrook Loop,
Node Red Dashboard running on a Raspberry Pi4 (4GB),
Lenovo ThinkPad L580N Notebook with Windows 11 for local maintenance of our devices,
150 watt heater for the winter season
Main 13.8V / 40A Power-Supply PSU-1250
Main 5V / 7A Traco Power-Supply for all Raspberry Pi

Node Red Remote DX-Station Dashboard

Dashboard Overview/Function:
More Details [2’710 KB] about our Node Red Dashboard
Node Red Introduction [11’443 KB] from Kyle AA0Z

- Rotor Control for Genius Rotator with magnetic sensor (4O3A)
- KM-Tronic temperature device with 4 sensors in our RIG-Cabinet
- Live local weather station at Rigi Scheidegg
- Live weather from Rigi Scheidegg openweathermap.org
- Solar and DR2W Propagtion Information
- Band Activity from DX-Heat.com and DX-Spots from My Summit
- KM-Tronic 8-Port Relay Board
- Detail Weather Diagrams from openweathermap.org
- Raspberry Pi4 (4 GB) System Information
- Lightning warning with Audio Notification (<25km)

Genius Rotator Solution with magnetic Az. Sensor

The sensor uses a magnetic compass that reads azimuth. This insures you will never have problems with pulse, pot meter sensors, broken indicators or innacurate readings.

- Accuracy within 1 degree
- No need for initial calibration
- User programmable true north and magnetic north correction
- The sensor can now be used independently from the motor control unit
- Windows application, Android App, and integrated into the SmartSDR App for iOS and MAC

Genius Rotator Solution from 4O3A

Below some audio examples: 20m in SSB, from SDR receiver K3FEF in Milford, Pennsylvania, USA with a G5RV antenna. Distance: 6366.42 km (3979.012 miles) and from Brasil on 10m.

Bad news:
Our great OptiBeam OBDYA12-5 suffered a broken boom due to very heavy ice/snow load combined with high wind speeds (2. Feb. 2022). It looks like no regular antenna design can survive the exteme WX conditions that we encounter on Mount Rigi. However, the 6m 5 element OptiBeam ist still doing fine and the 54m longwire although torn apart by the broken antenna was an easy fix and works OK. The OBDYA12-5 was a fantastic antenna and we already miss it a lot. We hope Tom from OptiBeam will be able to create an antenna for us with a much stronger boom that has a chance to suvive these storms, although we are very much aware that this will not be easy. Sadly below you can find the "final pictures - RIP" from our OBDYA12-5.