We purchased a small acerage in Charles Mix County, South Dakota. Grid Square EN03. Becky and I plan on this being our retirement home. With my M2 satellite array taking up half of my backyard in Sioux Falls, they will have plenty of air to breath out in the country. Our new home sits up on top of a small bluff overlooking the Missouri River Valley.
With Winter coming on quick, my first goal with the new station is to get my 43ft Zero Five vertical antenna installed along with its radial field. I am really excited for the opportunity to finally work the low bands with a lower noise floor.
Building a home sat station takes some research, design, cash and work. The new sat station will not be on the air until next summer. I don’t want to just bale wire it together and have issues. i will go through the full design stages, do it once and build it to last. My biggest challenge is going to build the support system for the M2 sat antennas. It is not uncommon for us to have 60+ mph winds here. When we do have windy days, I need to be able to lower them and tuck em away.
The HF vertical will go to the right of our home about 75ft from my ham shack. Wind the wind blows from the west or north, it will feel the full effects of it. I have been a ham operator for 36 years. This hobby never gets boring. The opportunity to start over and build a solid station is exciting and a great project.
I plan to blog my progress with the new station build here. So if you are bored or want to learn something new, follow along!
Chad/KG0MW