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NEWS INDEX
(many thanks to the North Texas Microwave Society for this item)
During the second Saturday of the 2000 ARRL 10GHz & Up Cumulative Contest, K6GZA and AD6FP completed a 24GHz contact from Mt. Olson in northern California to Frazier in southern California. The calculated distance from CM97hm to DM04ms of 375 KM is a new North American distance record.
The contact at 10:45 AM PST on Saturday, September 16, 2000, was completed on SSB with signals peaking to S7 on the Frazier end and S5 on the Oso end of the path. At the time, conditions on 10 GHz over the same path were excellent with S9+30 dB signal levels. Signal levels were good enough for K6GZA and AD6FP to converse for several minutes before each went back to working other stations in the contest.
AD6FP on Frazier was using 500 mW and a 1.22 meter offset feed dish. The AD6FP receive chain has a 4dB NF with all LOs being locked to a rubidium standard.
K6GZA on Mt. Oso was using 100mW to a 4 ft. prime focus dish. The K6GHZ receive chain has a 5dB NF with LO's locked to an OCXO that is kept continuously powered.
The accuracy and stability of the LO's at each end enabled signals to be quickly located. Dish pointing error was also minimized using two techniques:
1. AD6FP uses a dual band feed for 10GHz and 24GHz allowing the dish to be peaked up at 10GHz before moving to 24GHz.
2. K6GZA uses a novel tripod mechanism that allows the 10GHz radio to be replaced with a 24GHz radio without disturbing the tripod setting.
Congratulations to Ron & Gary !
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This item
appear on the Wireless Institute of Australia's VK2 News Bulletin on Sunday,
20th August:
New World Record On 10GHz
On June
25 at 16:51 UTC two German Radio Amateurs broke the long standing
distance
record for communication on 10GHZ.
From the
upper floor of a Hotel in Netanya, Israel, Dieter DJ4AM contacted
his friend
Adalbert DJ3KM on the Italian island Lampedusa, in the
Mediterranean
Sea, a distance of 2079 kilometres. The QSO lasted about an
hour. Netanya
is about 30 kilometres north of Tel-Aviv. They broke the
previous
record of 30th December 1994 held by VK6KZ and VK5NY who beamed
their signals
over the Tasman Sea (???) for a distance of 1912 kilometres.
The equipment
used by both German hams was identical and consisted of a
transverter
designed and built by DL1RQ fed into dish antennas with a
diameter
of 60 centimetres. The calculated gain was 33db using output power
of 5 watts.
They made lengthy calculations with the aid of maps and GPS's to
get the
angle right for pointing their dishes, because the dishes have an
opening
angle of only one degree.
Dieter spent 21 days in Israel but only managed to make the one contact.
-- Submitted
by Raffy VK2RF from a report in the Israel Amateur Radio Club
newsletter.
Our thanks to the WIA and others involved and our congratulations to
DJ4AM and DJ3KM.. who would have thought the 2000km barrier would
have been broken by Europeans? we would have expected it to come from microwavers
in either Australia or California/Hawaii.
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SEPTEMBER EXPEDITION TO THE SCILLY ISLANDS (IN69U/EU011)
From the VHFDX reflector we have the following information.... looks like another new square for many on 10GHz!
A group
of German amateurs is going to the Isles of Scilly to active them for meteor
scatter. Members of the Team are DH0LS, DH5FS, DH1DM, DK1CM and DG0OPK.
Details
of bands and operations are listed below but microwavers should note that
they will be QRV on 3cm!
DATE: 17 TO 23 SEPTEMBER, 2000
CALLSIGN: M0CQZ * DC - 6m - 2m CWMS - 70cm - 23cm - 3cm *
ACTIVITY: The main activity is 2m HSCW MS and 6m but equipment for 432MHz, 1296MHz and 10GHz ia available:
70cm /23cm
/3cm activity
We are
qrv for skeds on this bands, may be QSX on .200, .100 on 3cm. RIG 70cm
100W/21el, 23cm: 40W 37el 3cm: 3W 60cm Please inform me if there
is any interest on these bands for IN69.
Callsigns
on bands are M/...../p, only on HSCW MS its always M0CQZ. We will be qrv
on the 20m VHF-Net and a little bit for IOTA work on SW.
For Skeds write to DH5FS@QSL.NET or DH5FS@DB0TUD.#SAX.DEU.EU
73 de Fred -DH5FS-
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News update (27th July 2000) from John, G8ACE:
G3PYB and myself have now got up
to 27km on 76GHz. This was done with Impatt Diode multiplier
transmitters.
A *.wav file recording can be found on my 'microwaves' website.
The contact was made between Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth and a site near Winchester
73 john.
Reply to hazell@cwcom.net
or: microwaves@iname.com
Web Sites:
Updated 27/7/2000.... www.microwaves.mcmail.com/
Older pages........... www.hazell.freeserve.co.uk/
Under Construction.....www.millimetric.co.uk/
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FIRST 47GHz CONTACTS IN FINLAND
Michael Fletcher, OH2AUE, emails the following Finnish milestone contact news....
OH1KHH and myself recentlt held what we believe is the first ever 47 GHz two way ham band QSO.Reports over our 100 metre+ distance were 59/59 on SSB. The details appear below.There is some more info on my website on the 47 GHz subpage:
http://www.oh2aue.pp.fi/q_test.htm
I guess the best photo on the page for the time being is:
http://www.oh2aue.pp.fi/khh_aue.jpg
We would like to get in contact with 47GHz narrow band operators to share experiences and discuss problems (there are a few !).
Kind regards from Finland (the midsummer festivities are just beginning !),
Michael
Fletcher, OH2AUE
DETAILS
OF THE FINNISH CONTACT:
Finland's
very first two-way 47GHz ham band QSO held on 22.06.2000 between OH1KHH
and OH2AUE/p at 0701 UTC; QRB 8 metres, raports 59/59 on SSB. The experiment
took place in WGS84 referenced Maidenhead square KP10NJ.
The longest distance covered during these experiments was just over 100
metres with 59/59 raports on SSB at 0808 UTC using 28cm dishes at both
ends and with plenty of link budget margin. Also FM and CW were tested
with excellent results. These QSO's were made with the test mixers described
above, i.e. these were not designed for this QSO, rather they are designed
for testing and aligning our actual rigs that are still under way!
The signal stability was fairly good considering the conditions. The 12GHz
local oscillators were held in styrox boxes to protect them from excessive
thermal drift due to wind etc. The frequency was verified by using a waveguide
high pass filter and by checking the output spectrum with a 40GHz spectrum
analyser with a home-brew harmonic mixer. Using different IF's of 144 and
432MHz also helps to ensure verification of operation on correct frequency.
Also reflection experiments were made with good copy on CW. FM was perfect
with line of sight contact of course. Signals tended to drift a bit but
not bad considering the multiplication factor! The photos were mostly taken
by Jukka Klemola, OH6LI and myself, OH2AUE:
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I0LVA sends us this exciting news...
In reference to my activity I inform you that on June 18,2000 at 12.28GMT I have made the new record on 24GHz with a distance of 461 Km.
The QSO was made from M. Maielletta 42°06 N - 14°07 E near Chieti, JN72CD, to M. Pizzoc 46°03 N - 12°20'E near Treviso JN66EB.
I made the qso SSB x CW with my dear friend Costante IW3EHQ/3. The equipment details are as follows:
I0LVA:
Tx 250 mW – N.F.: 1.5 dB – dish: 90 cm. – swan neck
temperature 8 *C – 2000 m a.s.l. RST Tx: 52 – RST Rx: 519
IW3EHQ/3: Tx
750 mW – N.F.: 1.5 dB – dish offset 85 cm. –
temperature 18 *C – 1560 m a.s.l.
I have also
heard I3SOY/3 with a signal of 51 but Paolo didn't copy my signal.
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From Sam Jewell, G4DDK’s website we quote this very interesting news (and many thanks to Sam for letting us use his “scoop”!)…..
17:12 4 June 2000
During their current visit to the UK, Dave, WW2R/G4FRE and Meg, G7FRE/N2NQI made what may be the UK's first 142GHz QSO. Using a pair of homebrew 142GHz transverters, Dave and Meg worked over a 1.28km path within JO01BK, Kent.
Dave was disappointed to be denied the first UK 76GHz QSO earlier this year, due to equipment failure by the UK station, so he was determined not to fail this time. Project Y, as it was known, was conceived as a well thought out attempt to make that QSO on 142.704GHz, SSB during his brief stay in the UK in June.!
Meg, operating from the shack of
her father, Bert, G3AUA, QSO'd Dave who was situated on an overpass on
the A2, using a transmit power of approximately 80uW, whilst Dave had the
QRP 30 - 40uW rig.
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UK 76GHz RECORDED EXTENDED YET AGAIN
This band is certainly making good
progress, in the South of England at least.
Here Peter, G3PYB/P on Butser
Hill, near Portsmouth and Chris, G8BKE/P with John,
G8ACE/P at Lane End, SE of
Winchester made the 17km path around midday on
Saturday, 6th May 2000.
Conditions were very variable with almost total loss of
signal whilst a rain shower moved
through. Mist was also present the whole time,
visibility never better than 5km.
So it will be interesting to study the signal levels
on a clear day for comparison.
This test followed a 'first'
QSO between Peter and John on the previous afternoon
from the latter’s back garden in
Winchester, to Bridgetts Farm, a site near to that
used by G8BKE on a previous test.
They where able to line up directly on this 6km
path without using a lower frequency
first.
There appeared to be enough signal
margin to extend the 17km path further. Some
audio recordings are available on
G8ACE’s website, www.microwaves.mcmail.com/
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ITALIANS BREAK WORLD 24GHz RECORD
IARU Region
1 April 2000 Newsletter reports a new world record for 24GHz being
achieved during February 2000
The item
is as follows:
Making contacts over more than 400km
in the 24 GHz band seemed to be almost impossible but Radio Revista ( the
magazine of ARI) of February 2000 brings the story about a telegraphy contact
between I3EME and I0LVA (JM68MA to JN62KA) over 444 km. When will the 1000-km
barrier be crossed?
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76GHz
TAKES OFF IN THE U.K --- FIRST TWO-WAY CONTACTS MADE
What is
believed to be the first 2-way contacts on the UK 76GHz band were made
over a few days in mid-March 2000. The contacts were made between John,
G8ACE and Chris, G8BKE. These emails, received from John, detail
the action and convey the obvious enthusiasm of the operators! ..
Email [1]
From: John
Hazell [hazell@cwcom.net]
Sent: 19 March
2000 18:45
Chris, G8BKE and myself have, today, compatibility tested our 76GHz rigs and had a short distance QSO of 1km, at a site in the New Forest called Ocknells. Signals were good at this short range with both FM and Sideband exchanges at S9 strength. Ground clearance was only 3-4ft and pedestrians and cars crossing the path reduced the signal, as you would expect.
We are led to understand that there has not been a UK 76GHz (75976.2 MHz) QSO before, so we wish to register this QSO at 14.40hrs on the 19 March 2000. However as it is a short range contact we wish not to be too public and go for a 'proper distance' before any announcement should that be appropriate. Lack of good talkback today has caused us to defer a longer path until later this coming week.
The reason
it was done at Ocknells alongside the A31 is that we had both been to a
junk sale in Bournemouth and this was a good flat test range area suitable
for the distance we did. And it was a nice day!
THE G8ACE 76GHz TRANSVERTER
The LO is in
fact phase locked to a 10MHz reference and I have been quite impressed
with listening to test signals from a G3PYB diode source driven from the
Adret 5401 synthesizer. The 10MHz reference is not left running but switched
on as required and the Adret has always been tuned straight away on
.200, the biggest frequency error being 2kHz in all my own tests.
Generally you can hear the beat note as soon as the PLL locks.
Chris, G8BKE,
also is using a PLL system.
My transverter inards can also be seen at: www.microwaves.mcmail.com/76ghztransverter.htm
More info as we move forward having crossed the biggest hurdle, we hope!
73 John G8ACE
Email [2]:
From: John Hazell [hazell@cwcom.net]
Sent: 21 March 2000 20:20
We have had another session today and now the distance is 6.5km on 75976.2 MHz Chris, G8BKE/P located at Bridgetts Farm to the east of Winchester and myself located on the back door step, home QTH. Chris was able to copy my signals on both SSB and FM whilst I could only copy the sideband from Chris.
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AUSTRALIANS LOSE 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz SPECTRUM ALLOCATIONS
The Australian Communications Authority has withdrawn Australian amateur radio access to the frequencies between 2.302 and 2.400GHz. This had been shared on a secondary basis with pay-TV distribution systems, among others.
This part of the spectrum will now be allocated by spectrum licensing. In addition, frequencies between 3.425 - 3.4425GHz and between 3.475 -3.4925GHz have been withdrawn in some of the major Australian capitals and regional areas, again for spectrum-licensing purposes.
It could be the same thing will happen around the world. Here in the UK the former Ionica telephone link frequencies in the 3.4GHz band have been sold on following the liquidation of that company. There are rumours of further intrusions into the 10GHz amateur allocations.
SO IT'S A CASE OF USE THEM OR LOSE THEM!
EVERY MICROWAVER OWES IT TO THE REST OF THE FRATERNITY TO BECOME MORE ACTIVE THAN BEFORE. OPERATE ON AS MANY MICR0WAVE BANDS AS POSSIBLE AND AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. SHOW THE AUTHORITIES THAT WE ARE NOT WASTING OUR SPECTRUM ALLOCATIONS!
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Those intrepid 47GHz men, G7MRF, G0IVA, G8VZT and G0HNW, were recently honoured with the coveted Fraser-Shepherd Award at the Sandown VHF Convention (held on 20 February 2000).
The radio
amateurs earned the award through their efforts on 47GHz during 1999. These
trials and experiments into propagation involved a large amount of construction
and self-training in the use of components, microscopes and other techniques
essential at this high frequency. They lead to a new
UK
47GHz distance record of 161km being established in September 1999.
All these tests and events are reported elsewhere on this website.
Microwavers
everywhere will congratulate Martin (G7MRF), Dave (G0IVA), David (G8VZT)
and Paul (G0HNW for their excellent work, all done in the true amateur
spirit of self-training and home construction.
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