    
Tech237
Moderator
Username: Tech237
Post Number: 1838
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2015 - 10:58 am: | 
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Station Documentation
It’s 7:45pm on a Friday night. Its dark and raining, the Umpteen DX Contest is due to start in 15 minutes. Your turn your radio on and..... Nothing, zilch, nada, just a quiet background hiss.. Quickly you check your SWR and it is sky high. You look outside and see that your coax is flapping in the wind roughly 10ft below your beam antenna. What do you do??
Sound improbable?? Well I can tell you something similar has happened to me. The only difference was it was an Emergency Services Repeater site and it was during a declared disaster. Fortunately I was prepared and it only took me 20 minutes to get the repeater back operational? How was I prepared and how does this relate to a Ham Shack??
Documentation. At all the commercial sites, I was responsible for, I had folders containing every bit of information about that site that could possibly be required. In my situation above, it told me what type and length of coax I would need, as well as what connectors were on it. It also allowed me to confirm I had a suitable length, pre-terminated, in my truck..
Now, let us change the scenario slightly in that instead of a broken cable, you have an antenna dangling from the coax because the mounting bolts have broken. How many of you know what style and size bolts are used on your antenna? Is that a 1-3/4“ spaced u-bolt with 1/2“ nuts or a 2“ one with 5/8“ nuts?? What do you mean “No bolts, and that you cabled tied it up there, temporarily, 5 years ago”?
It’s an unfortunate fact, but very few of us seem to have this information readily at hand, and we rarely even think about it until the real need hits. It is a lot easier, and generally more accurate, if you create the shack documentation as you actually set the shack up, instead of waiting till later. Without digging behind the radios, can you remember what brand, length and type coax you used for that new antenna last year?? How about the ones you ran three or four years back?
What should be included in documentation?
To some extent this is a pretty personal decision, based on what you think you might need, but I can and will suggest what I believe is the minimum.
1) Equipment manuals, specification sheets and schematics.
2) List of nuts, bolts and other fasteners used to assembly station both shack and antenna ends.
3) Length, type and connectors used for every cable (coax, power, ground etc) used.
4) Graph or table of antenna SWR, Bandwidth (plotted) - as of installation and checked at regular intervals. (see more on this later on).
Equipment Manuals, Spec Sheets and Schematics.
I recommend having these for several reasons, the least of which is being able to check how a function/feature works and is accessed. They are also great for noting the Serial Number on the front cover (great if the item is stolen), making notes in of any repairs, upgrades or modifications done to the item. It is always nice to know when something has been modified. Over the years, I have purchased several used radios that had been modified by the prior owner(s), but for which no information was given. I found out when, I needed to repair, or tune these radios and some areas did not match the specified tuning steps.
An example I’ll give, is a used HT I bought that unbeknown to me had been modified for expanded coverage. I spent several hours trying to get Repeater Calls to show on the display, only to find out that the expanded transmit mod had removed that function. Knowing it was modified, and what side-effects these changes had would have saved me a lot of time.
On items I have bought used, I will always try to get a letter form the seller, stating what it was I purchased, and when I purchased it. I needed this recently, when I radio I had packed up for shipment back to the manufacturer (it was beyond what I had the equipment to fix) was stole. I was able to report the theft, with full information including serial number to both the police and the manufacturer’s repair shop. Later when the radio was recovered and sent in for repair, I was able to prove it was legally mine by including the letter and the sellers contact details. Most manufacturers will only return a reported stolen radio, back to the original purchaser, without some proof of having legally changed owners.
I photocopy the letters/receipts and glue them inside the front cover of the manual, and file the original in my filing system. The manual itself is also filed separately in the system. IN the same file, I’ll have copies of any mods done to the item, information on any adapters and interface cabling I have created, including wiring colours, pins numbers used and what the signal on each wire is.
Again, having a schematic can save a lot of time, if you ever need to repair the item or simply need to make an interface cable. Yes, I know. You may not be able to actually repair the item yourself, but being able to supply a schematic can often make you a good friend from the technician who does. He may not have one himself. By the way, if you ever have a radio repaired by a tech, please make sure you advise him of all known modifications done to the item - it does help, and we greatly appreciate it.
I try to keep both a hard-copy and a computer version of these documents. It’s nice to be able to whip out you e-reader, while at an event, and check something in a manual.
Hardware List.
Simply put this is a list of all nuts, bolts, studs, staples, cable supports etc that you have used during the construction of your shack. Trust me, from experience I can tell you it is nice to know EXACTLY what you need to replace that damaged hardware BEFORE you climb the tower. It saves carrying a ton of spare parts and tools. If you think climbing a 50ft tower several times to fix a problem is bad, try doing it on a 150 or 200ft one..
In the ones I’ve used in the past, I recorded number required, material, length, thread type (course or fine), diameter, and grade, alongside what it actually held in place.
...to be continued
Tech237
N7AUS
God made me an athiest, who are you to question his wisdom?
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