The latest 70cm, 23cm, 13cm, 9cm & 6cm EME activity from G4CCH
11th August 2013

Quick update

Hyperlinks on callsigns are to audio clips of signals (will add clips later)

3rd and 4th August 2013 - 6cm EME

After a bad start on Saturday with all kinds of problems:

I had no elevation control to start with – turned out the jack screw was jammed at the end of its travel, and the motor would not turn it.
took some time to figure out what was going on.

Couldn’t remember how I wired my lash up of a system – before I dismantle next time I will keep notes..!!! Took most of the day to get going.

Heard an electrical crackling sound in the shack followed by a nasty burning smell – turned out to be my HP436 power meter – will have to find out what has burned up, but the meter still appears to work

I had a much better day on Sunday….

Activity was not quite as good as for the Dubus contest in May, but I made 15 QSO’s of which 7 were initials.
See log below...

WX was calm on Sunday morning, but the wind increase during the day with gusts >20mph. Signals were in and out as the dish moved +/- 0.5 deg in the wind due to backlash in the azimuth gearbox. That’s just one of the many things I need to improve somehow.

Sun Noise = 16.5dB (SFU = 106) and Moon Noise = 1.5dB

I have made no attempt to optimise the feed position yet. I may have got lucky and iit could be OK where it is, but at some point I would like to check.

The system here is 5.4m h/b mesh dish, scaled N2UO feed, 30W SSPA at feed point, MGF4919 LNA 0.6dB NF.

Haven’t checked how the figures stack up in EMECALC yet.

I will leave the system in the dish until next Sunday, so if any on wants a sked or test I will be available weekdays after 1800z or anytime over the weekend.
 

StartDate StartTime FREQ Mode Callsign RSTOut RSTIn QSO_SQUARE INITIAL INIT_A INIT_D FIRST COMMENTS
03/08/2013 15:02 5760 CW PA3DZL 569 559   No        
04/08/2013 04:12 5760 CW PA0BAT 569 549   No        
04/08/2013 04:46 5760 CW SQ6OPG 559 559   No        
04/08/2013 05:03 5760 CW JA1WQF 559 559   No        
04/08/2013 05:12 5760 CW JA8ERE 569 559 QN02QX Yes 26      
04/08/2013 05:26 5760 CW JA6CZD 569 559 PM53FM Yes 27      
04/08/2013 06:06 5760 CW G3LTF 559 569   No        
04/08/2013 07:01 5760 CW DL7YC 579 559 JO62PK Yes 28     2.4m dish, 125W at feed
04/08/2013 07:08 5760 CW G4NNS 569 559   No        
04/08/2013 07:49 5760 CW SM6PGP 559 459 JO67BK Yes 29     1.8m dish, 80W
04/08/2013 10:03 5760 CW ON5RR 569 529 JO10XR Yes 30     3.7m dish, 90W
04/08/2013 10:39 5760 CW ON5TA O RO JO20ET Yes 31     3.6m dish, 10W
04/08/2013 11:37 5760 CW SV3AAF O RO(539)   No        
04/08/2013 12:18 5760 CW VE4MA 569 549   No        
04/08/2013 15:25 5760 CW VE6TA O RO DO33GS Yes 32      

11th August 2013 - 6cm EME
Had more problems with the elevation jack - this time the motor was seized.
On further investigation I discovered that water had got into the motor - looks like I need another QARL 3636 actuator.
I cleaned it up and managed to get it going again - how long for is unknown..!!
Despite heavy wind, managed to make two more initials with PA7JB and G3WDG.
See log below...
Later in the day dropped and I did some echo testing  both on CW and SSB.
Echoes are really good with the new SSPA and approx 30W at the feed.

Hyperlinks are to audio clips of signals

StartDate StartTime FREQ Mode Callsign RSTOut RSTIn QSO_SQUARE INITIAL INIT_A INIT_D FIRST COMMENTS
11/08/2013 14:46 5760 CW PA7JB 549 539 JO22KJ Yes 33     2.4M offset dish, 30W
11/08/2013 14:58 5760 CW G3WDG 569 559 IO92RG Yes 34     3m dish, 70W
11/08/2013 15:05 5760 SSB G3WDG 53 43   Yes       3m dish, 70W
11/08/2013 15:50 5760 CW G3LTF 569 569   No       6m dish 22W at feed

You can find more details of my Initials and standings here

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