18-09-2016, 12:17 AM
Greetings all.
lets continue on with the experiments on 23cm EME. As you may know there was a long running thread exploring all aspects of setting up a moonbounce station for the quiet 23cm band on the old forum.
23cm is totally different to 2 metres. You can clearly see the trace of the station you are working, and there are very few spurious signals to cause confusion. Noise is very low.
So, who VK stations are experimenting at the moment?
Tonight there was VK3WRE, VK3NFI and VK4UH operational on 1296.075 working me. Dish sizes ranged from 2.5 to 3 metres.
Ralphs signal was audible at -16 and he has a 2.5 metre dish and 100 watts into a septum. Dean was struggling without a LNA at the feedpoint and got the occasional synch but no decodes.
Kevin is working on optimising his feedpoint position. Tonight he was quite a way off the optimum and nothing was heard, but at its previous spot he was only 3dB down on Ralphs signal. He had previously also worked Victor UA9YLU on his first active evening.
Another regular is Phil VK4CDI who has a good signal from his large dish. I get him at -13
In June we had Andy VK5FA doing some experiments and he was -19 using a 2.3metre dish.
We use JT65C for the time being, but there is a new mode out now that we may all move over to.
Equipment.
G4DDK VLNA2+ low noise rx amps are the go, vk5eme Preamps are good too, but need plenty of absorber material to tame them when mounting them in a box.
W6PQL amplifier bricks or the european types are the most used power amps. I have an Alan Devlin 160 watter here and a W6PQL 4 block.
Mount the LNA at the septum feedpoint , and mount the power amp at the back arms of the dish, or at the base of the mast piece (ground mount).
Radios used are IC910h or IC9100, some use transverters. Lock everything to GPSDO or a OCXO. The high stability option for the IC910h is good.
Software , use Joe Taylors WSJT. also use vk1od Owen Duffy's NFM program to do accurate sun noise vs cold sky measurements to optimise your antenna setup.
The best website to see realtime moonbounce activity on 23cm is HB9Q.CH, its where we hang out when actively running our stations to coordinate etc.
More info to follow
73 Dave vk2jds
lets continue on with the experiments on 23cm EME. As you may know there was a long running thread exploring all aspects of setting up a moonbounce station for the quiet 23cm band on the old forum.
23cm is totally different to 2 metres. You can clearly see the trace of the station you are working, and there are very few spurious signals to cause confusion. Noise is very low.
So, who VK stations are experimenting at the moment?
Tonight there was VK3WRE, VK3NFI and VK4UH operational on 1296.075 working me. Dish sizes ranged from 2.5 to 3 metres.
Ralphs signal was audible at -16 and he has a 2.5 metre dish and 100 watts into a septum. Dean was struggling without a LNA at the feedpoint and got the occasional synch but no decodes.
Kevin is working on optimising his feedpoint position. Tonight he was quite a way off the optimum and nothing was heard, but at its previous spot he was only 3dB down on Ralphs signal. He had previously also worked Victor UA9YLU on his first active evening.
Another regular is Phil VK4CDI who has a good signal from his large dish. I get him at -13
In June we had Andy VK5FA doing some experiments and he was -19 using a 2.3metre dish.
We use JT65C for the time being, but there is a new mode out now that we may all move over to.
Equipment.
G4DDK VLNA2+ low noise rx amps are the go, vk5eme Preamps are good too, but need plenty of absorber material to tame them when mounting them in a box.
W6PQL amplifier bricks or the european types are the most used power amps. I have an Alan Devlin 160 watter here and a W6PQL 4 block.
Mount the LNA at the septum feedpoint , and mount the power amp at the back arms of the dish, or at the base of the mast piece (ground mount).
Radios used are IC910h or IC9100, some use transverters. Lock everything to GPSDO or a OCXO. The high stability option for the IC910h is good.
Software , use Joe Taylors WSJT. also use vk1od Owen Duffy's NFM program to do accurate sun noise vs cold sky measurements to optimise your antenna setup.
The best website to see realtime moonbounce activity on 23cm is HB9Q.CH, its where we hang out when actively running our stations to coordinate etc.
More info to follow
73 Dave vk2jds