Moonbounce on 1296 MHz

[VK3WRE]

Its on the move !
The new project is on the way to the new site. it will still be a while before we get it operational but its a big step in the right direction.
The dish is a 4.5 m Earth Station Antenna. sorry cant seem to rotate the pic.
Ralph VK3WRE.

[VK2ZRH]

Great news, Ralph.

Never mind about being unable to rotate the preview pic, so long as yoy can rotate the dish at the new site !

I guess you're looking forward to "big" things.

[VK3WRE]

Yes, Rodger we have a plan for the "rotating" and it appears easier than rotating pictures

Cheers Ralph.

[VK2ZIW]

Tks Dave 2JDS,

Rotator thoughts:

With the Raspberry Pi being so so available, have a look at:
URL:
https://jkry.org/ouluhack/PiRotator
Ville Jussila OH8ETB
wilho (at) jkry (dot) org

I emailed him and he gave me his current code.

23cm needs better than 0.5deg pointing accuracy so I asked him to look for
a better protocol than the GS232 (Yaesu 1deg) protocol. EasyCom II is 0.1deg.
I've also contacted the HamLib developers with our (EME) needs.

My suburban block is a bit limiting, but our Men's Shed block at Orchard Hills is very inviting.

3C39 'cause a 73 hasn't a hope.

Alan VK2ZIW

[VK2JDS]

Over the last week the moon conditions have improved, with higher declination, and moving away from the sun over the last 3 days.
Its setting in the evening which is convenient for us listening for the dx from Europe, particularly good for stations here without elevation control on their yagis.
There has been plenty of activity on 23cm and especially on the 6cm band with the Dubus activity weekend.
Contacts into JA and Europe have been good with Norway and Italy being highlights. The smaller stations just getting started is who I prefer to talk to.
HB9Q logger is the go-to place to see whats happening.
I have been doing some experiments with LNAs whilst working them. No CW , its all been JT65C.
73 Dave vk2jds

[ZL3RC]

I've put up 4 x 28 ele DL6WU's on 23cm and currently run 150w. Whats the chances of eme with that ?

Simon you will be easy able to work a number of stations is my guess, why because Ive done just that.
I have 4 G4CQM 60 element Yagis and run about 400w out. I didn't have any elevation and easy worked 4 stations over two days.
Broke the OZ1 to ZL record that stood for 34 Years I think.
You may want t start with a QSO with HB9Q. If you can't work these guys then something is wrong! as they have what can only be called a huge signal off the moon.
TX is just about power but RX you need a good preamp like Sam's (G4DDK) kit. Ive built several of these and most of them will do .25NF if you build them as per the assembly instructions.

Good luck and look forward to working you off the moon and also tropo up the coast.

Roger ZL3RC

   

[VK2FAK]

Hi all...

Wonder what would be a minimum setup to start Rx off the moon. Has anyone tried multiple preamps with none dish antenna.?

John

[VK2JDS]

Looks like another great weekend of moonbounce on 23cm coming up. The declination is high, which means at moonset we have a good window into europe, and moonrise is great into the US and Canada.
The moon is trailing the sun at the moment so you wont have to get up at odd hours of the morning to work some dx, just wander out to the shack after dinner and you can see the moon after sunset
Tonight I have just worked France and Norway near moonset, both stations at -13 and clearly audible, one has a 3 metre dish, the other a 2.4metre.
Even after the moon had set on the horizon I was still faintly decoding the french guy.
You can get by with a single long yagi and a G4ddk lna, (preferably 2 yagis) to work the big stations, or better still an old C band 2.4 metre ex tv mesh dish.
Aiming accurately is very important, though you don't need any fancy expensive tracking device if you can sight along the antenna.

email me if you need advice     vk2jds@hotmail.com
73 Dave vk2jds

...

[VK2ZIW]

Eclipse 28-07-2018 5am

http://www.unixservice.com.au/moon/DSC00896.JPG

Alan VK2ZIW