>At 10:06 AM 10/8/2010, Sebastian wrote: >>After being on 2 meter EME for about a month, I tuned my rig to 432 >>MHz this morning and copied OK1DFC at -20dB. I posted on the N0UK >>logger and Zdenek asked me to call him. I had nothing to lose so I >>obliged. Much to my surprise, we had a QSO, my first 432 EME contact. >> >>Next, DL7APV, Bernd asked me to look for him on 432. Bernd and I >>had a sked on 432 a few weeks ago, but neither one of us was able >>to be on the air at the time. Today, I copied him at -22dB and >>started to call him, he copied me and sent me my report, but then >>his signal was lost. Bernd said he had a problem with his power >>supply, as smoke was coming out. I do believe that is a >>problem! So we just missed completing the QSO. >> >>Finally, WA4NJP asked me to look for him on 432 as well. I copied >>him at -25dB but lost his trace. >> >>Many might be wondering why I'm posting this. Well it's because I >>didn't think I had any chance of anyone ever hearing me on 432 EME. >> >>My station: Kenwood TS-2000 with 50 watts output, into an M2 >>436CP30 single antenna & mast mounted preamp; this is a circularly >>polarized antenna which I use for satellite >>contacts. Unfortunately I'm in an area of the country where 50 >>watts is the maximum on 432 without special permission. >> >>So don't congratulate me, congrats go to OK1DFC, DL7APV and WA4NJP >>for having fantastic stations that can hear such faint weak signals! >> >>73 de Sebastian, W4AS EL95 > >But I will congratulate you for trying 70cm-eme with a small >station. Sebastian's example should encourage more non-eme'rs with >432 stations to try eme. > >I have only four contacts so far running 24w and 85w. I do have >more gain using my 4.9m dish, which is not exactly optimum at this >frequency, but may have about the gain of four yagis (est. 24-25 >dBi). I would not have tried it on 432 except the challenge of >receiving Arecibo prompted me to look around for a suitable >antenna. I would have used my M2 436CP42 (big brother to >Sebastian's antenna), but could not point it since I burnt out a >circuit in the az-el rotator. The M2 is part of my satellite >antenna system. BTW I copied HB9Q with that antenna a couple years ago. > >I hastily built a two element quad from insulated #12 house wire and >a short section of 1-inch pvc pipe for my feed. I installed my >Mirage D3010 on the back of the dish alongside my 60w 23cm PA. I >get 24w drive from the shack to drive the amp to 85w with about 79w >at the feed. > >But my first two contacts were with DL7APV and UA3PTW running my >FT-847 barefoot (24w at the dish). All my contacts are with larger >stations (as expected), but so what. If you get a few contacts and >like this, then maybe this will encourage building a larger station >for eme. Even if not, you can have some fun and provide new >contacts with the "big guys"! > >432 is currently the only band I am QRV (only temporarily). I have >some issues to work out on my 144 HVPS to be back on 2m-eme. I am >waiting delivery of a new 1296/28 xvtr to complete my station on 23cm. > >73, Ed - KL7UW >Bold face text my emphasis
73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-winter? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [email protected] ====================================== *temp _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
