My QRP-Labs Si5351 based synthesizer came in this morning. I expected it to come from Europe, but it was mailed from Japan. Looks like a good quality kit.
Not sure when I'll get a chance to build it; I'll probably soldier on with what I have for now, and then take a look at the QRP-Labs synth when it's time to think about a control head. It looks like that could be a while, though.
No other tinkering of any kind - acquired a few parts that I want to try some things with, but that's about it.
Win W5JAG
Not sure when I'll get a chance to build it; I'll probably soldier on with what I have for now, and then take a look at the QRP-Labs synth when it's time to think about a control head. It looks like that could be a while, though.
No other tinkering of any kind - acquired a few parts that I want to try some things with, but that's about it.
Win W5JAG
DISASTER
The MOSFET board again. 45 MHz MOSFET amplifier; MOSFET Mixer to 9 MHz. Pot is for gain control since I don't yet have an AGC line. Might replace the LC tuned circuit with another 45 MHz xtal filter. Easy to switch stuff around - the only difference between an amp and a mixer is that in a mixer, there is an extra bias resistor on gate 2, and gate 2 takes the LO through a cap. For an amp, gate 2 is at AC ground through a cap, and bias is a bit different.
Blah, blah, and blah.
Took a lightning strike last night. Haven't heard that big a boom since one of the big trees in the yard took a lightning strike - went down the tree, hopped out over to the ham radio antenna on the Pontiac GTO ( Holden Monaro ) parked next to it, went all through the Monaro, blew out the front wheel ABS to ground. As in, literally, blew out. Six months of consultation with Australia and the Monaro ran again. Traded it on the Pontiac G8 ( Holden VE Commodore ). Never killed the tree, but the lightning skunk stripe down the side of it is visible to this day.
Didn't kill the G8 this time. Killed a cable modem in the house proper and knocked some stuff off line. The garage door ( on the regular house AC ) - opened and then killed the motor.
Appears to have wreaked havoc on my radio room, tripped the breakers on the 220 line I ran to it. Apparently everything fried in a perverse cascading sequence protecting the breakers until the last moment. The surge protector that all the high $$ SteppIr control circuitry was hooked into is fried. SteppIR control box appears fried. Hopefully the motors aren't fried. Interestingly the homebrew 2 meter rig hooked to the antenna on top of the tower appears to be just fine. Score one for DIY. Visually, the antennas look fine.
The MOSFET board may or may not be fried - the FT-950 was hooked to the other end of it as the 9 MHz IF. The SteppIR was hooked to the antenna end of it. It looks OK, but the FT-950 is - you guessed it - FRIED. The radio appears to have fried, thoughtfully protecting the twenty five cent fuses in it's power line. The power supply feeding it is fried. The AL-811 amp seems OK. Haven't checked any of the test equipment, except for my audio signal generator, it's all junky last century tube stuff so hopefully survived. Hopefully the DHT SSE survived.
I've never liked that FT-950, but darn it anyway. I do like the StepIR. I'm grinding my teeth over that.
Win W5JAG
The MOSFET board again. 45 MHz MOSFET amplifier; MOSFET Mixer to 9 MHz. Pot is for gain control since I don't yet have an AGC line. Might replace the LC tuned circuit with another 45 MHz xtal filter. Easy to switch stuff around - the only difference between an amp and a mixer is that in a mixer, there is an extra bias resistor on gate 2, and gate 2 takes the LO through a cap. For an amp, gate 2 is at AC ground through a cap, and bias is a bit different.
Blah, blah, and blah.
Took a lightning strike last night. Haven't heard that big a boom since one of the big trees in the yard took a lightning strike - went down the tree, hopped out over to the ham radio antenna on the Pontiac GTO ( Holden Monaro ) parked next to it, went all through the Monaro, blew out the front wheel ABS to ground. As in, literally, blew out. Six months of consultation with Australia and the Monaro ran again. Traded it on the Pontiac G8 ( Holden VE Commodore ). Never killed the tree, but the lightning skunk stripe down the side of it is visible to this day.
Didn't kill the G8 this time. Killed a cable modem in the house proper and knocked some stuff off line. The garage door ( on the regular house AC ) - opened and then killed the motor.
Appears to have wreaked havoc on my radio room, tripped the breakers on the 220 line I ran to it. Apparently everything fried in a perverse cascading sequence protecting the breakers until the last moment. The surge protector that all the high $$ SteppIr control circuitry was hooked into is fried. SteppIR control box appears fried. Hopefully the motors aren't fried. Interestingly the homebrew 2 meter rig hooked to the antenna on top of the tower appears to be just fine. Score one for DIY. Visually, the antennas look fine.
The MOSFET board may or may not be fried - the FT-950 was hooked to the other end of it as the 9 MHz IF. The SteppIR was hooked to the antenna end of it. It looks OK, but the FT-950 is - you guessed it - FRIED. The radio appears to have fried, thoughtfully protecting the twenty five cent fuses in it's power line. The power supply feeding it is fried. The AL-811 amp seems OK. Haven't checked any of the test equipment, except for my audio signal generator, it's all junky last century tube stuff so hopefully survived. Hopefully the DHT SSE survived.
I've never liked that FT-950, but darn it anyway. I do like the StepIR. I'm grinding my teeth over that.
Win W5JAG
Attachments
Lightning has a mind of it's own that defies logic. My neighbor in Florida had a ham radio system with a 3 element HF beam and a two meter Isopole on the top of his tower. The beam rotated on a Ham M rotor. Both radios, an Amp Supply Company (non) Linear Amplifier, and the rotor control box were on a bench in the garage.
He had a steel electrical box mounted on the concrete garage wall with a piece of steel electrical conduit going through the wall to a ground rod pounded into the ground. There were several SO-239 connectors on the electrical box with the center pins shorted to ground. When he was not using the radio equipment he removed the antenna cables and screwed them onto the grounded SO-239's.
I had a push up mast on my house, up about 35 feet. Both were on the opposite ends of the houses affording about 140 feet of distance between the antennas. I had a DIY 902 MHz repeater up on top of the mast to avoid feedline losses. There were two cables going up to the repeater, 12 volts from a linear power supply, and phone line for the autopatch. There was also a 2.2 GHz dish for TV reception, and a wire dipole for 20 and 40 meters. The dish has a single coax for power / IF out, and the dipole had 300 ohm twinlead.
Lightning scored a direct hit on my neighbors Isopole. The aluminum cones were melted and aluminum spatters were all over the place. The rotor was internally welded, the motor tried to run, but the antenna would not turn even if forced. Both radios, the linear and the rotor control still worked.
My repeater was dead, the phones in the house were dead and my then new 286 PC would not boot. There was no visible electrical damage on the outside of anything. The 2.2 GHz DIY TV receiver still worked. The dead phones were due to an internally fried GE answering machine. Upon retrieving and opening the repeater I found it fried, plating burned off the PC board, coils blown in half.....I trashed it.
The PC would be the weird one. The cable carrying phone line up to the repeater was plugged into the modem phone line output on the back of the PC, and the input of the PC's modem went to the phone jack in the wall. This makes it obvious that the jolt came down the phone line from the repeater, and through the modem to get to the answering machine. other phones on the line were OK. Why then did the modem function perfectly but the WD chip on the hard disk controller board had a crater blown out of it. Nothing else in the PC was damaged and no data on the disks was lost? The changeover relay in the modem still worked.
He had a steel electrical box mounted on the concrete garage wall with a piece of steel electrical conduit going through the wall to a ground rod pounded into the ground. There were several SO-239 connectors on the electrical box with the center pins shorted to ground. When he was not using the radio equipment he removed the antenna cables and screwed them onto the grounded SO-239's.
I had a push up mast on my house, up about 35 feet. Both were on the opposite ends of the houses affording about 140 feet of distance between the antennas. I had a DIY 902 MHz repeater up on top of the mast to avoid feedline losses. There were two cables going up to the repeater, 12 volts from a linear power supply, and phone line for the autopatch. There was also a 2.2 GHz dish for TV reception, and a wire dipole for 20 and 40 meters. The dish has a single coax for power / IF out, and the dipole had 300 ohm twinlead.
Lightning scored a direct hit on my neighbors Isopole. The aluminum cones were melted and aluminum spatters were all over the place. The rotor was internally welded, the motor tried to run, but the antenna would not turn even if forced. Both radios, the linear and the rotor control still worked.
My repeater was dead, the phones in the house were dead and my then new 286 PC would not boot. There was no visible electrical damage on the outside of anything. The 2.2 GHz DIY TV receiver still worked. The dead phones were due to an internally fried GE answering machine. Upon retrieving and opening the repeater I found it fried, plating burned off the PC board, coils blown in half.....I trashed it.
The PC would be the weird one. The cable carrying phone line up to the repeater was plugged into the modem phone line output on the back of the PC, and the input of the PC's modem went to the phone jack in the wall. This makes it obvious that the jolt came down the phone line from the repeater, and through the modem to get to the answering machine. other phones on the line were OK. Why then did the modem function perfectly but the WD chip on the hard disk controller board had a crater blown out of it. Nothing else in the PC was damaged and no data on the disks was lost? The changeover relay in the modem still worked.
The fork tailed devil in the first picture appears to be the lightning rod. Again. It would be even taller, but for an ice storm about 15 years ago that took about twenty feet off the top. My primary antenna system at this house is modest by anyone's standards - small Glen Martin roof tower, two element SteppIR ( three on six ), modest 3 dB gain fiberglass vhf/uhf vertical about eight feet above the tower top. On this hill, I don't need much. The backup system is even more modest. Neither is a lightning attraction.
The S-10 was parked under the lightning tree, and has some electrical system damage. The passlock system was engaged, preventing it from starting. I was able to reset that, but it is still showing some electrical system damage .... It has the security light set, but it is starting okay now. The fuel gauge and temperature gauge are dead. The parking brake / brake alarm is false, maybe, the ABS alarm is accurate, the ABS is now inoperative. The alternator flag I'm not sure of. The volt gauge is working, but won't go above 14.5 volts. The system is charging at least some, because I've loaded it enough to kill the battery if it weren't. The electric oil pressure gauge works perfectly.
The truck is no stranger to drama, I've owned it since new, it's been stolen three times and recovered every time; once it was gone for about a year. I normally keep it in the car shop at the warehouse of junk, but got tired of having it stolen and all of the collateral property damage that goes along with that, not to mention the ransom you have to pay once the cops release the stolen vehicle to a "recovery" company. I had just got everything back to nominal working order after the last theft.
In the house, it killed the cable modem and the telephone attached to it. The attached router was fine. It tripped a few surge protectors, and reset a few clocks - that seems to be about it.
Once the garage door motor cooled off for most of the day, I was able to roll the door back down, but the motor hums like Hades when it is plugged in, so will need to be inspected and probably pulled and rewound, or replaced. Probably lucky it didn't burn the place down.
The Yaesu antenna rotor and controller on the SteppIr still work. I've powered up a few pieces of test equipment and they seem OK. The FT-950 is dead. The 50 amp DC power supply attached to the FT-950 is dead. The SteppIr controller may be dead. I really haven't had a chance to try to inventory all the damage in the shack.
Spring is always exciting in Tornado Alley.
Win W5JAG
Attachments
Last edited:
Modern charging systems mostly won't go far over 14V, because that annoys modern no-maintenance batteries. I'd call 14.5V plenty high. My Honda rarely goes past 13.1V. (It is obsessed about avoiding the part-horsepower needed to full-charge the battery.)
But with the rest of the troubles, and the history, I'd gingerly take the truck to the crusher. Not even save the seatcovers or manual.
One new glitch noted with the truck - the DRL system is not functioning, instead of DRL activation, it goes to full lights on at all four corners.
It goes through the correct ABS self test cycle, but locks up a wheel failing the test. The ABS flag is real.
The charging system is fine - on cold startup this morning, it went up to 15.1 volts to quickly recharge the battery, then settled to a normal 14.1 ish. This is nominal behavior for this system. The alternator flag is false.
Wait, .... what ? With only 56,000 miles on it? How often do you find something that can survive multiple instances of being driven like it was stolen, AND a mega jolt from the heavens? No. Just no. I've seen FUBAR or near FUBAR on a lightning hit car. This isn't it .....
Haven't put my code reader on it yet, but this looks to be very minor damage. All I've done so far is reset the security system ( which the BCM took ) so I could start it and drive it and see what else was wrong. I didn't disconnect the battery at that time to do a system reset because it wouldn't fix that particular problem - the security info is in non volatile memory.
A battery disconnect to reset the bcm might fix it all, if not, possibly some cheap sensors, maybe just fuses or fusible links, worst case scenario possibly a replacement BCM.
The SteppIr controller powered up this morning. Because of the violent and unpredictable wx around here in the Spring, I always home the elements when it's not in use. I set it to 7 MHz, and walked outside to try to hear the element motors running ( 7 MHz only activates the driven element motor on the two element beam ). It sounded like it was running, but when I went back into the shack, the controller was dead, and the smell of electronics gone seriously awry hung heavy in the air. It smelled like R, rather than C or Silicon, so may or may not be repairable. I'll have to open it up and look at it. For a small box, it's *^%& expensive to replace. And the antenna is useless without it.
Not sure what I want to do with the 950. My opinion of it varies from meh, at best, to "SDR totally sucks" at worst, so, while I hate for it to be a possible complete loss, I'm not going to miss it.
I found this pic of the display of the prototype DZ from the 2005 Hamvention, may be time to go ahead and build it.
Win W5JAG
It goes through the correct ABS self test cycle, but locks up a wheel failing the test. The ABS flag is real.
The charging system is fine - on cold startup this morning, it went up to 15.1 volts to quickly recharge the battery, then settled to a normal 14.1 ish. This is nominal behavior for this system. The alternator flag is false.
Wait, .... what ? With only 56,000 miles on it? How often do you find something that can survive multiple instances of being driven like it was stolen, AND a mega jolt from the heavens? No. Just no. I've seen FUBAR or near FUBAR on a lightning hit car. This isn't it .....
Haven't put my code reader on it yet, but this looks to be very minor damage. All I've done so far is reset the security system ( which the BCM took ) so I could start it and drive it and see what else was wrong. I didn't disconnect the battery at that time to do a system reset because it wouldn't fix that particular problem - the security info is in non volatile memory.
A battery disconnect to reset the bcm might fix it all, if not, possibly some cheap sensors, maybe just fuses or fusible links, worst case scenario possibly a replacement BCM.
The SteppIr controller powered up this morning. Because of the violent and unpredictable wx around here in the Spring, I always home the elements when it's not in use. I set it to 7 MHz, and walked outside to try to hear the element motors running ( 7 MHz only activates the driven element motor on the two element beam ). It sounded like it was running, but when I went back into the shack, the controller was dead, and the smell of electronics gone seriously awry hung heavy in the air. It smelled like R, rather than C or Silicon, so may or may not be repairable. I'll have to open it up and look at it. For a small box, it's *^%& expensive to replace. And the antenna is useless without it.
Not sure what I want to do with the 950. My opinion of it varies from meh, at best, to "SDR totally sucks" at worst, so, while I hate for it to be a possible complete loss, I'm not going to miss it.
I found this pic of the display of the prototype DZ from the 2005 Hamvention, may be time to go ahead and build it.
Win W5JAG
Attachments
My cute little wife called to let me know that really stinky smoke started coming out of the cassette port on the radio and out of the dash on the truck.
I've sort of been expecting that. I told her to roll the windows down ..... Hopefully both will be cooled off by the time she gets home.
PRR's solution still hasn't gained much traction with me ( yet ), but it might find a more receptive audience with her.
Win W5JAG
I've sort of been expecting that. I told her to roll the windows down ..... Hopefully both will be cooled off by the time she gets home.
PRR's solution still hasn't gained much traction with me ( yet ), but it might find a more receptive audience with her.
Win W5JAG
Last edited:
wow sorry to hear that w5jag
Makes me wonder weather or not an anti-static strap on the car would have helped in this case. Does your car have one?
Sounds like the lightning bolt went down in through your car radio antenna, through your BCM module and then made its way through the ABS sensor in the front tyre.
Seeing as BCM modules are connected to factory car radios through a harness its not that far from fiction to think that this is what happened.
Makes me wonder weather or not an anti-static strap on the car would have helped in this case. Does your car have one?
Sounds like the lightning bolt went down in through your car radio antenna, through your BCM module and then made its way through the ABS sensor in the front tyre.
Seeing as BCM modules are connected to factory car radios through a harness its not that far from fiction to think that this is what happened.
Last edited:
The body count to date.
Deader than a doorknob:
MFJ 50 amp DC supply
SteppIr antenna controller
Yaesu FT-950
cable modem
telephone
Damaged, but some remaining function:
R. L. Drake SW-8 general coverage receiver
1999 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck
Craftsman Garage Door lift assembly
Unable to determine:
SteppIr antenna drive motors
I worked some on the FT-950 last night. Found an open diode in the power control circuitry - wired in a substitute for testing. One or more parts downstream from the diode immediately let out more stink, they are apparently too small to smoke .....
The cratered board is out of the SteppIr controller.
Win W5JAG
Deader than a doorknob:
MFJ 50 amp DC supply
SteppIr antenna controller
Yaesu FT-950
cable modem
telephone
Damaged, but some remaining function:
R. L. Drake SW-8 general coverage receiver
1999 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck
Craftsman Garage Door lift assembly
Unable to determine:
SteppIr antenna drive motors
I worked some on the FT-950 last night. Found an open diode in the power control circuitry - wired in a substitute for testing. One or more parts downstream from the diode immediately let out more stink, they are apparently too small to smoke .....
The cratered board is out of the SteppIr controller.
Win W5JAG
Attachments
Not that I'm aware of. Even the light aircraft I've had did not have static wicks, although they are sometimes seen with them.
I think what would help is getting rid of those trees, but the wife won't have any of that. Anyone who says lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place has never been at my QTH.
Win W5JAG
All SMD / SMT.
The SteppIR situation looks to be somewhat expensive, so I am considering getting equipped up for SMD to just repair that blasted board, since everything is going SMD anyway. If I'm going to be dragged into this century, might as well go all the way.
In the meantime, I'm reading Dr. Rohde's first edition book, which is pretty dated - it illustrates dual gate FET mixers! So, it's good for me ....
It looks like CoilCraft has some through hole RF transformers in 1:1 and 4:1, that are pretty reasonable in price, especially in the 1:1 xfmr. Mouser is carrying them. Has anyone used them, or am I going to be the first?
Win W5JAG
edit: Pretty sure that tree took another strike as a super cell rolled through last Friday. It sure sounded like it. I don't know how it keeps surviving these things. One more power supply has died in the meantime.
Last edited:
Nah, stuff like that are annoyances; fun to complain about, but inconsequential in the big picture .....
The real irritant in my life right now is some abandoned underground storage tanks - and whose property they are actually located on: mine, or a sovereign state. They might be ( probably are ) overlapping the respective property lines. Not sure how this will sort out.
BTW, the .pdf above is not a rick roll, it is the data sheet for those Coilcraft xfmrs.
Win W5JAG
The real irritant in my life right now is some abandoned underground storage tanks - and whose property they are actually located on: mine, or a sovereign state. They might be ( probably are ) overlapping the respective property lines. Not sure how this will sort out.
BTW, the .pdf above is not a rick roll, it is the data sheet for those Coilcraft xfmrs.
Win W5JAG
Sorry about these lightning strikes, where I am, it is not that exposed.
The coil craft transformers are inside just like the SMD ones, it's just that
the box is bigger. The originals are probably made by Mini Circuits, we used them
already 40 years ago.
Make the switch to SMD! You need a microscope anyway, even when your vision
is still better than mine. It is so much faster and easier.
I do all my boards on double sided expoxy. The bottom side is usually only GND.
I print the layout to foil on the laser printer and then do a contact copy to
pre-sensitized FR-4. The boards are as good as the laser printer. MSOP-10 is
no problem.
Digikey sent me a LTC2500-32 ADC yesterday. That one is probably
too ambituous for my soldering...
Last weekend I built a Colpitts oscillator, published by some $DEITY.
It turned out that the published circuit and the simulations / measurements
had not much in common. :-(
(It can oscillate on every overtone, but not on the intended one. Trap was deleted.)
But it was a weekender. Oh, this cell phone camera is so unforgiving!
Attachments
Last edited:
Agreed. I was surprised to find through hole broadband xfmrs.
In the meantime, to make some lemonade from the lemons, I think I am going to take / make the opportunity to build a "replica" of a mobile HF antenna system so that I won't have to rely on guess work as to whether or not a particular configuration will have adequate sensitivity / signal handling on receive, or ( in) stability into weird loads on xmit ( if I ever get that far ).
I had a pet Raccoon ( long story ) for about a decade, and still have her pen outside - about an 8' x 8' x 10' (feet) contraption, covered in strong wire mesh, that I will make sure the pieces are all bonded together, and use to simulate an automobile body ground plane. I will attach a mobile antenna mount to this for an HF mobile antenna. Hopefully, this will give me some real world information on available signal strength.
I have been looking for through hole broadband xfmrs, since I would like to try to make some broadband or push / pull rf amplifiers and mixers. I can wind my own, but no way can I do it as well as a factory made part. Or as small.
I think the unbalanced mixer board ( if the FET's aren't fried ), is close to being usable. I don't think I need the hi pass filter - that can be pulled and should free up space for a switched rf amplifier. Maybe a pin diode attenuater, also. I think the second mixer will benefit from a single or double tuned circuit filtering the second LO. It occurs to me that AGC can probably be applied to the mixer FET's - not sure whether or not that is a good idea, though.
This is the time of year when I spend a lot of time mowing, so I'll have plenty of time to think on it.
Win W5JAG
I have found a box full of test boards, most unpopulated, but a few with parts. These all followed me home from work one day. It would be really cool to fire some of that stuff up and play with it, but I have to get past step one......
An antenna that will deliver some usable signal to my workbench, for HF and beyond.
Friday I mowed our acre yard, and the 80+ year old couple's acre plus next door. As I am pushing the Honda, or riding the Cadillac around the place I'm looking a trees and other solid places to hang wire from. I can visualize a 160 meter dipole, unfortunately it would be parallel to the 7200 volt power line that traverses the property. If I was say 50 years younger and fit enough to scale the cliff behind the house I could run a 160 meter vertical! That's how far we are down in a hole.
It remains to be seen if there is any usable signal at all here. A few outdoor experiments with some wire, a 30 foot pole and a spectrum analyzer haven't yielded much hope. I have tried the SDR Play outside on a laptop and can't hear a 2 meter repeater about 10 miles from here and about 600 feet higher.
Mother nature has gone off her meds and become quite bipolar. We had 3 days of 80+ degree weather last week followed by a bunch of rain for the weekend. Yesterday it snowed all day long and I woke up this morning to 23 degrees F. By lunch time it was sunny and 55F, went for a 2 mile walk in the park. Tomorrow morning it will be snowing again.
An antenna that will deliver some usable signal to my workbench, for HF and beyond.
Friday I mowed our acre yard, and the 80+ year old couple's acre plus next door. As I am pushing the Honda, or riding the Cadillac around the place I'm looking a trees and other solid places to hang wire from. I can visualize a 160 meter dipole, unfortunately it would be parallel to the 7200 volt power line that traverses the property. If I was say 50 years younger and fit enough to scale the cliff behind the house I could run a 160 meter vertical! That's how far we are down in a hole.
It remains to be seen if there is any usable signal at all here. A few outdoor experiments with some wire, a 30 foot pole and a spectrum analyzer haven't yielded much hope. I have tried the SDR Play outside on a laptop and can't hear a 2 meter repeater about 10 miles from here and about 600 feet higher.
Mother nature has gone off her meds and become quite bipolar. We had 3 days of 80+ degree weather last week followed by a bunch of rain for the weekend. Yesterday it snowed all day long and I woke up this morning to 23 degrees F. By lunch time it was sunny and 55F, went for a 2 mile walk in the park. Tomorrow morning it will be snowing again.
Even in a holler, high angle HF will get in and out. You might try just a simple inverted vee, and adjust the center point height to get the take off angle you want. It won't be a DX machine, but you'll have a really strong signal in that first hop radius.
The super cell that rolled through here last Friday afternoon threw off 11 confirmed tornadoes. The local storm chasers ("twisters") were pretty busy - a few places about 15 miles north of me got flattened. In an unusual turn of events, we are ahead of Oklahoma, 22 - zip, in tornadoes this Spring. Then we had the second latest freeze on record.
Tornado Alley in the Spring - never a dull moment!
Win W5JAG
Hi George,
Too bad you couldn't put a smaller antenna up on the cliff and an amplifier, drive an antenna pointed towards your house so you would have your own personal repeater for whatever frequencies you needed. You certainly have the knowledge and skills to do it. The FCC would probably freak out.
-Chris
If you look at it another way, you have a quiet RF environment to work in if you wanted to work on your own RF circuits. Very little interference.
Too bad you couldn't put a smaller antenna up on the cliff and an amplifier, drive an antenna pointed towards your house so you would have your own personal repeater for whatever frequencies you needed. You certainly have the knowledge and skills to do it. The FCC would probably freak out.
-Chris