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triple

Arie Dogterom <pa0ez@...>
 

sorry for using too much space. Suddenly the system sends messages I thought were lost.
arie
Re: RS Yesterday

F6DRO
 

Hi all ,

it is also possible that there was some " ping pong " effect between
scatterers , so the 90deg offset was not real... During my latest xped in
JO10 I noticed a qso between F6DKW/JN18 and F5BUU/JN03. F6DKW turned to
JN38 scaterer and F5BUU to JN05 , looking like there was some chordal link
between JN38 and JN05.....

73
Dom/F6DRO
Re: RS Yesterday

Arie Dogterom <pa0ez@...>
 


Hello Sam,
It is not the s-scale but the people giving reports out of their black hat. I am always worrying about my rx when reveiving s9 from stations I cannot give more than s4
regards
Arie
 

----- Original Message -----
From: Sam
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: [ukmicrowaves] RS Yesterday


I tried my technique of level measurement on DJ5BVs strong RS signal. He measured up to -112dBm, although a little peak energy will have been lost in the Doppler sidebands.
This is interesting as Gerd was getting so many 59s reports. This equates to about 19dB below an IARU definition of S9!

I'm not raising this as any sort of issue but merely illustrating how misleading the current 'S' system can be!

2 new squares on 3cm. I love the rain!

And 2 new squares (and initials) on 13cm EME this morning.

73 de Sam

Not sent from my PC!

On 26 May 2009, at 12:35, "G3XDY" <g3xdy@btinternet.com> wrote:

One thing I noted in yesterday evening's good RS opening was the way that
dog-leg paths that normally don't seem to work were possible. I heard DJ5BV
(JO30) consistently on a heading of about 165 degrees, he would have been
beaming south of West so the path had a near right angle reflection,
similarly F6APE in IN97 (west south west of the scatter point) was worked on
the same heading. I also had a good backscatter contact with Neil G4BRK.
Signals were not huge, indicating that the losses were higher than on the
more direct paths, but it demonstrates that RS will work over significant
distances in any direction if the storm is sufficiently intense, regardless
of the path geometry.

73

John G3XDY

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: RS Yesterday

SAM JEWELL
 

I tried my technique of level measurement on DJ5BVs strong RS signal. He measured up to -112dBm, although a little peak energy will have been lost in the Doppler sidebands.
This is interesting as Gerd was getting so many 59s reports. This equates to about 19dB below an IARU definition of S9!

I'm not raising this as any sort of issue but merely illustrating how misleading the current 'S' system can be!

2 new squares on 3cm. I love the rain!

And 2 new squares (and initials) on 13cm EME this morning.

73 de Sam














Not sent from my PC!

On 26 May 2009, at 12:35, "G3XDY" <g3xdy@...> wrote:

One thing I noted in yesterday evening's good RS opening was the way that
dog-leg paths that normally don't seem to work were possible. I heard DJ5BV
(JO30) consistently on a heading of about 165 degrees, he would have been
beaming south of West so the path had a near right angle reflection,
similarly F6APE in IN97 (west south west of the scatter point) was worked on
the same heading. I also had a good backscatter contact with Neil G4BRK.
Signals were not huge, indicating that the losses were higher than on the
more direct paths, but it demonstrates that RS will work over significant
distances in any direction if the storm is sufficiently intense, regardless
of the path geometry.

73

John G3XDY



------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: Activity List for the First 5.7/10/24GHz Cumulative - Sunday 31st May 09:00-20:00 UTC

Brian Flynn GM8BJF
 

PS My personal beacon is on 10,368.080 +/- a bit of drift and should be audible in Livingston if you find a clear spot to the east.

Brian,
GM8BJF.

--- In ukmicrowaves@..., "Brian Flynn" <brian.flynn@...> wrote:

Hi Dave,

I could try 10 G and even 24 G if you are onTuesday or Weds

I am in Edinburgh (io85jv) but have a very clear take-off towards Glasgow


73s

Brian, GM8BJF


--- In ukmicrowaves@..., Dave Ackrill <dave.g0dja@> wrote:

Eddie G0EHV wrote:
Hello,

Both Rob (M0DTS) and myself (G0EHV) will be out /P on Sunday.
Not looking good for me I'm afraid to say.

Having thought I might be OK, as we wont be having my grand-daughter
over to stay that weekend, it's now less likely as my partners youngest
daughter has decided to 'organise' a party for Kate's birthday (which is
on Friday) involving various members of the family and Kate's
Grandchildren coming to our place over the weekend.

As with all of these sorts of chaotic events organised by someone else
at short notice I'm now not sure what's going to happen on Sunday.
However, I may persuade Kate that what she will want to do is have a lie
in on Sunday to get over the events and I'll nip out for a few hours to
play radio.

However, it's likely to have to be a local spot and not a commanding
altitude.

I also hope to do a trial of the larger dish in the week on a trip for
work up to Ayr, on Tuesday evening, and a place between Edinburgh and
Glasgow on Wednesday evening if I can get the gear sorted out on Monday.

Dave (G0DJA)
RS Yesterday

John Quarmby
 

One thing I noted in yesterday evening's good RS opening was the way that dog-leg paths that normally don't seem to work were possible. I heard DJ5BV (JO30) consistently on a heading of about 165 degrees, he would have been beaming south of West so the path had a near right angle reflection, similarly F6APE in IN97 (west south west of the scatter point) was worked on the same heading. I also had a good backscatter contact with Neil G4BRK. Signals were not huge, indicating that the losses were higher than on the more direct paths, but it demonstrates that RS will work over significant distances in any direction if the storm is sufficiently intense, regardless of the path geometry.

73

John G3XDY
Re: Activity List for the First 5.7/10/24GHz Cumulative - Sunday 31st May 09:00-20:00 UTC

Brian Flynn GM8BJF
 

Hi Dave,

I could try 10 G and even 24 G if you are onTuesday or Weds

I am in Edinburgh (io85jv) but have a very clear take-off towards Glasgow


73s

Brian, GM8BJF

--- In ukmicrowaves@..., Dave Ackrill <dave.g0dja@...> wrote:

Eddie G0EHV wrote:
Hello,

Both Rob (M0DTS) and myself (G0EHV) will be out /P on Sunday.
Not looking good for me I'm afraid to say.

Having thought I might be OK, as we wont be having my grand-daughter
over to stay that weekend, it's now less likely as my partners youngest
daughter has decided to 'organise' a party for Kate's birthday (which is
on Friday) involving various members of the family and Kate's
Grandchildren coming to our place over the weekend.

As with all of these sorts of chaotic events organised by someone else
at short notice I'm now not sure what's going to happen on Sunday.
However, I may persuade Kate that what she will want to do is have a lie
in on Sunday to get over the events and I'll nip out for a few hours to
play radio.

However, it's likely to have to be a local spot and not a commanding
altitude.

I also hope to do a trial of the larger dish in the week on a trip for
work up to Ayr, on Tuesday evening, and a place between Edinburgh and
Glasgow on Wednesday evening if I can get the gear sorted out on Monday.

Dave (G0DJA)
Re: Scotland Trip

Gordon JC Pearce <gordon@...>
 

On Tue, 2009-05-26 at 11:52 +0100, Dave Ackrill wrote:
Gordon JC Pearce wrote:


Hi there, I'm new to the list and new to 3cm ;-)
Thanks for the suggestions and advice Gordon, it's been a while since I
was in Scotland and I've lost touch with the repeaters.

Unfortunately I wont have a car mounted antenna, but I'll look up the
frequencies of the repeaters you mentioned to see what I can hear and
work through.

Just finishing packing and starting out on the 5 hour (plus stops)
journey...
Well, I'll listen out this evening on AY then, if you're going to
Ayrshire first.

Gordon MM3YEQ
Re: Scotland Trip

Dave Ackrill <dave.g0dja@...>
 

Gordon JC Pearce wrote:

Hi there, I'm new to the list and new to 3cm ;-)
Thanks for the suggestions and advice Gordon, it's been a while since I was in Scotland and I've lost touch with the repeaters.

Unfortunately I wont have a car mounted antenna, but I'll look up the frequencies of the repeaters you mentioned to see what I can hear and work through.

Just finishing packing and starting out on the 5 hour (plus stops) journey...

Cheers - Dave (G0DJA)
Re: Scotland Trip

Gordon JC Pearce <gordon@...>
 

On Tue, 2009-05-26 at 10:31 +0100, Dave Ackrill wrote:

I'm not sure of the area, whether there's any good places to operate or
even how long I might have to be on air, but I shall take the 3cm
transverter, a couple of dishes and a small 2M/70cm antenna (the SOTA
beam) plus a couple of small 2M/70cm handhelds, if there are repeaters
that I can use, and the FT817 with me in case there's a chance and a
good spot to go to.
Hi there, I'm new to the list and new to 3cm ;-)

I'm up in Glasgow and I normally have either GB3CS or GB3AY on - AY is
down near Dalry so if you're in or about Ayr you'll get into it no
problem if you want a chat. There's also GB3PA but that's on the "wrong
side of the hill" for you in Ayr. Livingston is in the infamous
"Livingston Dip" where there's a hole in GB3CS's coverage, but you
should be okay with a car-mounted aerial. I'm not really active on 70cm
much, so I can't really comment on the 70cm repeaters.

I'm sure you know that there's GB3TC up near Kilsyth. From my home QTH
I've had only very limited success in hearing its beacon using a Sky LNB
and my TH-F7E with a homebrewed power tee. If I can tidy up the
construction a bit then I might take it out and see if I can hear you.

Gordon MM3YEQ
Scotland Trip

Dave Ackrill <dave.g0dja@...>
 

I'm off on a business trip for a couple of days, starting with Ayr today (site meeting tomorrow) and moving to Livingstone Wednesday night for a second site visit on Thursday and then back home.

I'm not sure of the area, whether there's any good places to operate or even how long I might have to be on air, but I shall take the 3cm transverter, a couple of dishes and a small 2M/70cm antenna (the SOTA beam) plus a couple of small 2M/70cm handhelds, if there are repeaters that I can use, and the FT817 with me in case there's a chance and a good spot to go to.

I will have the PC and access to the internet, as long as the Vodaphone signals are good enough, but experience tells me that using a PC in the car isn't ideal, so I will have my mobile phone with me on 07595 069056. This is my company number, so will be switched off when I'm in meetings but please respect the fact that I can't talk about Amateur Radio when I'm supposed to be at work. :-)

The gear set up isn't ideal either, as I've yet to sort out a decent way of mounting the dishes with the transveter and the IF radio, but I will do my best with what I have got to hand.

I'll be leaving home about mid-day so I'll look at my emails on here before I go in case anyone has any last minute suggestions for hills to go to that are not too difficult to get onto.

Hope to work someone, somewhere, over the next couple of days.

Cheers - Dave (G0DJA)
Re: Rain stops play

Robert Price <g8dtf@...>
 

Hi Richard
 
Well done on the new ODX. I had been a bit tied up in another project to get out yesterday. I have made a start on the preparation for the pump-up mast, which will mean I will be able to operate  from home more. I have made a sleeve for the sqare base of the mast out of UPVC cladding. I now need to dig a hole 1m square and 1.25m deep - then put concrete around the sleeve.
 
I have just been having a look at the weather forecast for next weekend (Cumulative) and there seems to be stable weather over the weekend. Hepburn is showing a good probability of tropo ducting over the weekend.
 
regards
 
Bob
G8DTF

From: Richard Newstead
To: ukmicrowaves@...
Sent: Monday, 25 May, 2009 22:32:41
Subject: [ukmicrowaves] Rain stops play

My plan for today was to make a top-loaded vertical for 500kHz and test it on a hilltop. I made an early start and thus when the rest of the family got up, they were treated to seeing me assembling the new aerial on the back lawn (a rather common sight here!). The aerial required some soldering and, while the iron was heating up, I idly switched the home 500kHz system on. Oh dear, the band was covered in static. Maybe 500kHz was a poor choice today after all. My fallback plan was to do some 2m SSB from a hilltop as DX-sherlock was showing a tropo opening into Scandinavia.

While packing up the aerial I though about the static crashes on 500kHz. It occurred to me that due to the daytime propagation on 500kHz that they must be from less than 1,000km away - probably a lot less. Thus I idly looked at the Met Office rain radar. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw a huge storm over SE England. All thoughts of 2m vanished. This looked like a 10G day instead.

I rapidly logged into KST and saw that DX was being worked from the SE of England and earlier that Gordon G0EWN had had some success. The storm history indicated that it might be useful for me shortly as it was moving north so I scrambled out with the 10G portable system. I had packed very quickly and as I drove into the hills I had the awful feeling that I must have forgotten something.

I soon set up and logged into KST. As I half expected, there was no DX reaching me at all. I hung about, did a few tests and in the end just worked Sam G4DDK and Neil G4BRK. A least it wasn't a wasted trip. I returned home, trimmed lawns etc.

In the early evening I again checked KST and saw an upsurge in activity. I noticed that John G4EAT had worked an OK portable at just over 900km on 10G and Rob M0DTS was out portable and had worked into Denmark. Of course neither of these events meant that there would be any propagation over here. A check of the rain radar showed a more encouraging picture with scattered storm cells. Then I had to decide whether to go portable for a second time or spend the evening watching the TV. For a moment I had a very rare enthusiasm failure. So many of these trips fail to yield anything. But 30 seconds later I decided yet again to pack and go. Five minutes afterwards I was in the car on the way out.

Light rain on the windscreen across the hills was not encouraging. My system is not suitable for wet weather. I arrived at my favourite local site and unpacked. It takes three minutes to set up the 10G portable system. The very first thing I do is power up the transverter so that by the time I have everything sorted out it is fairly stable.

I connected everything up and switched on the FT817. Immediately I heard a strong station calling CQ. I expected it to be Gordon G0EWN but it wasn't. It was Gerd DJ5BV at 59s. Somewhat excited, I dashed back to the car to find the keyer and paddle. For some reason I didn't actually expect Gerd to hear me but he did - first call. We easily completed for a new best DX for me at 688km. I could hear several other stations weakly but sadly no more DX contacts were made although I was heard briefly in France. I also contacted Rob M0DTS/p. Gerd was a huge signal for nearly an hour. At one stage he was so strong he was overloading the receiver and was audible on two frequencies.

Although I made just the one DX contact I was quite happy with the results given that my system is very small and low power (40cm dish and 1 Watt). Even 1,000km now looks quite possible on the right day!

It appears that 500kHz and 10G are quite a complimentary pairing of bands after all. If it is too noisy for 500kHz, 10G will probably be in good shape.

73

Richard
G3CWI
Re: Rain stops play

g0ewn191 <g0ewn191@...>
 

The 25th May certainly produced some interesting propagation. Well done Richard for sticking with it--operating /P is never easy, as those who do go portable will realise. Congrats on your new ODX 3cms.

Good conditions started to form the previous day and I worked stations on 23cms, including DK7QX JO42 and 3cms--PA2M JO21.

On the 25th I woke early and as things looked promising to check conditions. A number of 3cm beacons were 'end stop' including ON0RUG and DB0GHZ. GB3CAM was the strongest yet. Despite excellent conditions I only managed to work a couple of 23cm contacts. The summer months often produce good microwave conditions early in the morning---4.45am!! Only one station was around to test with on 3cms, OZ1FF; we worked at 539 both ways. After breakfast I left operating and, like Richard bussied myself with another 'project'; in my case a 5 element 6m yagi. (I had tested it the day before--first call with 2.5w from the trusty 817 produced EA1CJF via 'E' with the antenna resting on garden trellis just 2m over ground.Too easy!)

I had been watching the weather and knew of the storm system and possibilities for RS. Unfortunately for the early part of the day most of the potential scatterpoints were either too far or outside my azimuth window. However things looked more promising in the early evening. After listening for 30mins or so I located a scatterpoint scp and started to make contacts. For a change this included a number of French stations---normally difficult for this location. Gerd, DJ5BV was an excellent signal throughout the evening and must be one of the most active RS devotees around. The only problem was there were a number of scp's available at the same time. At one point the band was suffering qrm due perhaps a dozen or more people operating from the same scp in the 20kcs above .100 .

I was about to call a halt to operating when I heard a strong ssb sig --- it was Rob M0DTS who at times reached 59 with little if any RS distortion. My antenna was pointing S at the time--completely wrong direction for normal LOS to Rob.(6 degree elevation) Rob like Richard had gone /P on Rosedale in the N. York moors and like Richard Rob had been rewarded with a contact with Gerd.

Throughout the day the tropo signal from DB0GHZ was at 589 or better showing the N. Sea effect was also in place.

Gordon G0EWN
G4BAO 23cm LDMOS PA kit - update

g4bao
 

I have confirmed availability of a further 50 devices for the PA and they should be coming with the second batch of boards in mid June, so I can safely reopen the "interested" list.
Please email me off reflector to be added to the list and I will order a third batch of PCBs if necessary.

I have assembled the first 20 kits from the first batch of boards, and have emailed the first 20 people on the list. If you have enquired and have not been emailed, you are in the second batch.
 
See www.g4bao.com and June RadCom for details

I look forward to louder signals on 23cms soon!

73

John
-- 
G4BAO
QRV 23,3 and 1.2cm
Beacon keeper GB3CAM/24GHz
http://www.g4bao.com

Re: Activity List for the First 5.7/10/24GHz Cumulative - Sunday 31st May 09:00-

Richard Newstead <g3cwi@...>
 

--- In ukmicrowaves@..., "M Vincent" <ukv@...> wrote:

Hi Tony et al
All being well, we'll be QRV this Sunday as follows:-

G3ZME/P. Location Brown Clee IO82QL.

Hi Martyn

Are you able to move your system on Brown Clee to work stations to the west and north west of you? I am considering suitable hills that will work for Tony. A possibility is Tal y Fan, 610m SH729727. This would not be a good direction from your normal spot on Brown though!

73

Richard
G3CWI
Re: Activity List for the First 5.7/10/24GHz Cumulative - Sunday 31st May 09:00-

Martyn G3UKV
 

Hi Tony et al
All being well, we'll be QRV this Sunday as follows:-
 
G3ZME/P. Location Brown Clee IO82QL.
5.7GHz, 10GHz, 24 GHz
Talkback 144.175 MHz (preferred) and KST (likely). Mobile phone 07932 927887
 
For 24 GHz, may also operate a second site if the activity warrants it - late afternoon.
 
73  Martyn G3UKV
 

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 3:09 PM
Subject: [ukmicrowaves] Re: Activity List for the First 5.7/10/24GHz Cumulative - Sunday 31st May 09:00-

Hi,
I'm thinking of heading to Dublin again this Sunday, is there likely to be much activity?
I ask because its a 5-6 hour round trip!
Tony

--- In ukmicrowaves@yahoogroups.com, Dave Ackrill ...> wrote:
>
> Eddie G0EHV wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Both Rob (M0DTS) and myself (G0EHV) will be out /P on Sunday.
>
> Not looking good for me I'm afraid to say.
>
> Having thought I might be OK, as we wont be having my grand-daughter
> over to stay that weekend, it's now less likely as my partners youngest
> daughter has decided to 'organise' a party for Kate's birthday (which is
> on Friday) involving various members of the family and Kate's
> Grandchildren coming to our place over the weekend.
>
> As with all of these sorts of chaotic events organised by someone else
> at short notice I'm now not sure what's going to happen on Sunday.
> However, I may persuade Kate that what she will want to do is have a lie
> in on Sunday to get over the events and I'll nip out for a few hours to
> play radio.
>
> However, it's likely to have to be a local spot and not a commanding
> altitude.
>
> I also hope to do a trial of the larger dish in the week on a trip for
> work up to Ayr, on Tuesday evening, and a place between Edinburgh and
> Glasgow on Wednesday evening if I can get the gear sorted out on Monday.
>
> Dave (G0DJA)
>
Re: Looking for Bob Platt G8OZP

Richard Newstead <g3cwi@...>
 

--- In ukmicrowaves@..., "Paul Bicknell" <paul@...> wrote:

If the interest is for Voice only then don't forget The Microwave >Society
(Glen Ross)

I think their info is in the files section of this group.

73

Richard
G3CWI
Re: Rain stops play

Julie & Stephen <stephen_hayman@...>
 

Best report I have read in a long time Richard,
 
And congrats on 688 km on 3cm....well done! I remember your posting at over 500km..
 
Your thread should have said " Rains starts play" on 3cm...
 
Lesson to be learn't here... stick with it or else the golden momments will be missed...hi
 
73 Steve ZL1TPH

--- On Tue, 26/5/09, Richard Newstead wrote:

From: Richard Newstead
Subject: [ukmicrowaves] Rain stops play
To: ukmicrowaves@...
Received: Tuesday, 26 May, 2009, 9:32 AM

My plan for today was to make a top-loaded vertical for 500kHz and test it on a hilltop. I made an early start and thus when the rest of the family got up, they were treated to seeing me assembling the new aerial on the back lawn (a rather common sight here!). The aerial required some soldering and, while the iron was heating up, I idly switched the home 500kHz system on. Oh dear, the band was covered in static. Maybe 500kHz was a poor choice today after all. My fallback plan was to do some 2m SSB from a hilltop as DX-sherlock was showing a tropo opening into Scandinavia.

While packing up the aerial I though about the static crashes on 500kHz. It occurred to me that due to the daytime propagation on 500kHz that they must be from less than 1,000km away - probably a lot less. Thus I idly looked at the Met Office rain radar. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw a huge storm over SE England. All thoughts of 2m vanished. This looked like a 10G day instead.

I rapidly logged into KST and saw that DX was being worked from the SE of England and earlier that Gordon G0EWN had had some success. The storm history indicated that it might be useful for me shortly as it was moving north so I scrambled out with the 10G portable system. I had packed very quickly and as I drove into the hills I had the awful feeling that I must have forgotten something.

I soon set up and logged into KST. As I half expected, there was no DX reaching me at all. I hung about, did a few tests and in the end just worked Sam G4DDK and Neil G4BRK. A least it wasn't a wasted trip. I returned home, trimmed lawns etc.

In the early evening I again checked KST and saw an upsurge in activity. I noticed that John G4EAT had worked an OK portable at just over 900km on 10G and Rob M0DTS was out portable and had worked into Denmark. Of course neither of these events meant that there would be any propagation over here. A check of the rain radar showed a more encouraging picture with scattered storm cells. Then I had to decide whether to go portable for a second time or spend the evening watching the TV. For a moment I had a very rare enthusiasm failure. So many of these trips fail to yield anything. But 30 seconds later I decided yet again to pack and go. Five minutes afterwards I was in the car on the way out.

Light rain on the windscreen across the hills was not encouraging. My system is not suitable for wet weather. I arrived at my favourite local site and unpacked. It takes three minutes to set up the 10G portable system. The very first thing I do is power up the transverter so that by the time I have everything sorted out it is fairly stable.

I connected everything up and switched on the FT817. Immediately I heard a strong station calling CQ. I expected it to be Gordon G0EWN but it wasn't. It was Gerd DJ5BV at 59s. Somewhat excited, I dashed back to the car to find the keyer and paddle. For some reason I didn't actually expect Gerd to hear me but he did - first call. We easily completed for a new best DX for me at 688km. I could hear several other stations weakly but sadly no more DX contacts were made although I was heard briefly in France. I also contacted Rob M0DTS/p. Gerd was a huge signal for nearly an hour. At one stage he was so strong he was overloading the receiver and was audible on two frequencies.

Although I made just the one DX contact I was quite happy with the results given that my system is very small and low power (40cm dish and 1 Watt). Even 1,000km now looks quite possible on the right day!

It appears that 500kHz and 10G are quite a complimentary pairing of bands after all. If it is too noisy for 500kHz, 10G will probably be in good shape.

73

Richard
G3CWI
Re: Looking for Bob Platt G8OZP

Paul G8KFW
 

Hi

There is a lot of interest in wide band 10 G

Is this for voice  or TV  or both ?

 

A request for information on gun mod 2 by Bob Platts  has been posted

 

For your information one of Bob’s first articles on the subject was in February 1988

In CQ-TV 141 this is available from the BATC web site or I can send it as it is to large to go on the file area

 

If the interest is for Voice only then don’t forget The Microwave Society  (Glen Ross)

Produced a set of PCB,s and these I think where designed by G6DCL and made by RAMAR

 

All the best  Paul G8KFW

 

From: ukmicrowaves@... [mailto:ukmicrowaves@...] On Behalf Of Matt
Sent: 25 May 2009 01:36
To: ukmicrowaves@...
Subject: [ukmicrowaves] Re: Looking for Bob Platt G8OZP

 





>
>2c. Re: Looking for Bob Platt G8OZP
> Posted by: "g8gtz" noel@noelandsally.net g8gtz
> Date: Sun May 24, 2009 1:36 am ((PDT))
>
>Hi,
>
>Apparantly Bob no longer does ATV components. However, I have a
>cicuit of the Gunmod 2 if it helps?
>
>73
>
>Noel - G8GTZ

Thanks Noel I'll take that off you. Please contact me off list so we
can organize it. mycall @arrl.net

> 2d. Re: Looking for Bob Platt G8OZP
> Posted by: "Dave Ackrill" dave.g0dja@tiscali.co.uk g0dja
> Date: Sun May 24, 2009 3:45 am ((PDT))
>
>g8gtz wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Apparantly Bob no longer does ATV components. However, I have a
cicuit of the Gunmod 2 if it helps?
>
> Yes please, I have one old Gunn only Solfan in the garage which I might
> resurrect.
>
> Cheers - Dave (G0DJA)

Umm that's why I am asking around Dave... To replace what I
sold. Please don't start collecting what I was hunting for... (;

Matt -VK2DAG-
Rain stops play

Richard Newstead <g3cwi@...>
 

My plan for today was to make a top-loaded vertical for 500kHz and test it on a hilltop. I made an early start and thus when the rest of the family got up, they were treated to seeing me assembling the new aerial on the back lawn (a rather common sight here!). The aerial required some soldering and, while the iron was heating up, I idly switched the home 500kHz system on. Oh dear, the band was covered in static. Maybe 500kHz was a poor choice today after all. My fallback plan was to do some 2m SSB from a hilltop as DX-sherlock was showing a tropo opening into Scandinavia.

While packing up the aerial I though about the static crashes on 500kHz. It occurred to me that due to the daytime propagation on 500kHz that they must be from less than 1,000km away - probably a lot less. Thus I idly looked at the Met Office rain radar. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw a huge storm over SE England. All thoughts of 2m vanished. This looked like a 10G day instead.

I rapidly logged into KST and saw that DX was being worked from the SE of England and earlier that Gordon G0EWN had had some success. The storm history indicated that it might be useful for me shortly as it was moving north so I scrambled out with the 10G portable system. I had packed very quickly and as I drove into the hills I had the awful feeling that I must have forgotten something.

I soon set up and logged into KST. As I half expected, there was no DX reaching me at all. I hung about, did a few tests and in the end just worked Sam G4DDK and Neil G4BRK. A least it wasn't a wasted trip. I returned home, trimmed lawns etc.

In the early evening I again checked KST and saw an upsurge in activity. I noticed that John G4EAT had worked an OK portable at just over 900km on 10G and Rob M0DTS was out portable and had worked into Denmark. Of course neither of these events meant that there would be any propagation over here. A check of the rain radar showed a more encouraging picture with scattered storm cells. Then I had to decide whether to go portable for a second time or spend the evening watching the TV. For a moment I had a very rare enthusiasm failure. So many of these trips fail to yield anything. But 30 seconds later I decided yet again to pack and go. Five minutes afterwards I was in the car on the way out.

Light rain on the windscreen across the hills was not encouraging. My system is not suitable for wet weather. I arrived at my favourite local site and unpacked. It takes three minutes to set up the 10G portable system. The very first thing I do is power up the transverter so that by the time I have everything sorted out it is fairly stable.

I connected everything up and switched on the FT817. Immediately I heard a strong station calling CQ. I expected it to be Gordon G0EWN but it wasn't. It was Gerd DJ5BV at 59s. Somewhat excited, I dashed back to the car to find the keyer and paddle. For some reason I didn't actually expect Gerd to hear me but he did - first call. We easily completed for a new best DX for me at 688km. I could hear several other stations weakly but sadly no more DX contacts were made although I was heard briefly in France. I also contacted Rob M0DTS/p. Gerd was a huge signal for nearly an hour. At one stage he was so strong he was overloading the receiver and was audible on two frequencies.

Although I made just the one DX contact I was quite happy with the results given that my system is very small and low power (40cm dish and 1 Watt). Even 1,000km now looks quite possible on the right day!

It appears that 500kHz and 10G are quite a complimentary pairing of bands after all. If it is too noisy for 500kHz, 10G will probably be in good shape.

73

Richard
G3CWI
48221 - 48240 of 67941