Monthly Archives: August 2015

Meteor Scatter Experiments

This weekend was very close to the peak meteor shower from Perseid. This gave us an ideal opportunity to try meteor scatter for the very first time, using a 9-element G0KSC antenna at 10m and 100w amplifier. The antenna had G7UVW‘s LNA adding a further 20dB of gain to the receive path at the mast-head.

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Using WSJT we were able to decode a number of stations, although it took some reading, and trial and error to make our first QSO. The first QSO was with OK1UGA in JO80dd, some 1137 km. Through the course of the evening we completed the following QSO.

Callsign QRA Locator Distance (km) Freq (MHz) Mode
OK1UGA JO80dd 1137 144 FSK441
DF5NK JN59PM 812 144 FSK441
SP2FRY JO83WR 1215 144 FSK441
S56P JN76PO 1225 144 FSK441
OK1DQT JO70IB 1027 144 FSK441
YU7TT KN05FW 1662 144 FSK441
M1BXF JO02FE 71 144 JT6M
F8DYR JN07WL 487 144 JT65A
I6BQI JN72AK 1456 144 FSK441
SM7FWZ JO78MM 1134 144 FSK441
IZ3WQO JN65CL 1110 144 FSK441

 

Since the use of WSJT is not much of a spectator sport, we also had a 20 metre beam up to shout on HF, which was later changed to 17 metres to avoid the ongoing CW contest. Full log breakdown here. Best DX was CE6SAX (12320 km) and YB3HJM (12280 km).

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In the afternoon, John M0UKD arrived with a homebrew 4 metre beam which he built on the Saturday (8th Aug 15) to a DK7ZB design.

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We worked 40 stations in 2 hours, which I think is good for 70MHz. Our best DX was PA4VHF at 449km.

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Portable Weekend

The weekend of the 1st and 2nd of August 2015 saw an informal activation at the Bunker.  Dave M0TAZ operated in the 2m low-power contest, while George M1GEO and Fred G3SVK operated in the European HF Championships.

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The event gave us an opportunity to dry out some of the equipment from the previous weekend (RSGB IOTA) where we packed away in heavy rain.

A simple station setup consisting of Icom IC7100, SB200 amp and 3-element monobander for 20 metres. This was later swapped for a 4-element monobander for 15 metres.

A breakdown of the European HF Championships log can be found here, for those interested, and some maps here:

Screenshot - 100815 - 21:30:21

 

 

Meanwhile, Dave M0TAZ operated the 144 and 432 MHz low power contest (anything up to 25w from the transmitter), using a 12m mast and the 9-element portable Tonna beam.

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The weather was ideal for sitting outside, and the activity levels were best described as moderate. Not as busy as the shorter UKAC contests, but the first 1 hour did coincide with the backpackers contest.

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We managed to work into IN88, a first for M0TAZ. A few French stations, We didn’t hear any GW, GM, GD or GI.