MARS PROBE RECEIVED BY G3WDG!

(SEE ALSO AT END OF THIS SECTION FOR UPDATED NEWS...)

The following email was forwarded by Charlie, G3WDG. It details his remarakable achievment in hearing the Mars spac craft, using amateir EME gear. The craft had previously been heard by AMSAT-DL but using a much bigger dish and professional gear. As far as we know, this is the first and only instance of any solo amateur microwaver receiving signals from this far into space. Well done Charlie!

From: Bill Tynan, W3XO <btynan@omniglobal.net>:

UK amateur copies signal from Mars Express spacecraft (Dec 10, 2003)

Using what he described as "just a quick throw-together" system,Charlie Suckling,G3WDG,has received a signal in the UK from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. Now in deep space, Mars Express is expected to reach the Red Planet on Christmas Day and
deploy its Beagle 2 lander for six months of exploration.

G3WDG reports he heard the Mars Express signal on X band (8.4 GHz) December 9 using a 3 metre diameter dish. In a message to James Miller, G3RUH--who had provided him with advice on setting up his equipment--Suckling said his system noise factor was about 1 dB, and he used Miller's S-Band 2.25-turn helix scaled to 8.4 GHz as the feed (LHCP). "Signals seemed very consistent for about two hours," he said. The signal level was "very approximately" 0 dB S/N in 2.5 kHz. G3WDG said it was not too hard to locate the signal--about 10 minutes of searching plus or minus 100kHz and tweaking his azimuth and elevation settings.

In mid-November,a team of German amateurs were able to copy the Mars Express signal from
a far more sophisticated setup in Bochum, Germany, that's equipped with a 20 meter parabolic antenna. Reception of the Mars Express signal provided a test run for the facility, which will serve as the ground control station for AMSAT-DL's Phase P5-A Mars orbital mission planned
for 2007. AMSAT-DL President Peter G¸lzow, DB2OS, says it was the first time ever that a signal of an interplanetary deep-space probe was received in Germany. "It was probably also the first time ever that such a signal was received by Amateur Radio operators," he added.
There's a complete report on the AMSAT-DL Web site.

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING URLS FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION, TOGETHER WITH AUDI CLIPS OF TH RECEIVED SIGNALS:

http://www.amsat-dl.org/p5a/reception_g3ruh.htm and:
http://www.amsat-dl.org/p5a/reception_g3wdg.htm

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LATEST MARS NEWS FROM G3WDG:

Just as this edition of the webpage was being posted another email arrived from Charlie....

Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 22:10
To: dj1km@amsat.org, g3ruh@jrmiller.demon.co.uk
From: Charles Suckling <charlie@sucklingfamily.free-online.co.uk>
Subject: Mars Odyssey reception
Cc: freddy De Guchteneire <Freddy.DeGuchteneire@UGent.be> Reinhard, James

We managed to receive a signal from Mars Odyssey this evening. Team
operation with G3WDG on the MEX receiver (and dish peaking) and G4KGC on
the Odyssey receiver. With MEX fully peaked up, Petra managed to find
Odyssey, approx 10dB weaker. Signal was detectable audibly, but not
with much margin.

We did not have time to get an audio recording today, but did capture
the AO40rcv display (attached).

We heard it from ~ 2045 - 2100z. Petra said the frequency went up 2kHz
from the point she found it initially, and ended up some 25kHz LF at the
end of our test. Odyssey is a much bigger challenge to find than MEX and
would have been impossible with the 3m dish unless we had been able to
peak and track using MEX.

73 Charlie

YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT CHARLIE'S EQUIPMENT AND HEAR RECORDINGS OF THE TWO SIGNALS HE HAS HEARD FROM MARS... GO TO:

http://www.sucklingfamily.free-online.co.uk/mars_express.htm

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NEW WORLD 242GHz RECORD

After raising the world 241GHz DX record to 34.9km in mid November 2003, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS did not sit back for long ... here's his latest news!

This millimetre wave DX, like the Mars probe reception described above, is proof that amateur microwavers often lead the field in pushing the limits of the hobby beyond what the professional think is possible..

From: microwave-admin@wa1mba.org on behalf of wa1zms@arrl.net
Sent: 03 December 2003 12:53
Hi all -

I'd like to claim a new DX record for the 241GHz band.
We had some rather dry WX here in Virginia and I just couldn't pass up trying to

better our own DX record for the band. After shorting out a set of gel cell battery terminals while setting the gear up, I thought we'd never make the QSO! No fire, just a melted 1/4" plug on the cable end of the CW straight key.

The new claimed record is 61.8km and here are some specifics:

Date: Dec 3rd, 2003
Time: 01:48zLocations:
W2SZ/4 (WA1ZMS op) FM07fm 37-31-04N 79-30-40W
W4WWQ/4 EM97xe 37-10-49N 80-03-59W
Distance: 61.8km

The weather at the time of the QSO at the W2SZ/4 QTH was:
Temp: -6.1C
Dew Point: -17C
Relative Humidity: 40%
Station pressure: 876mb
These WX conditions result in a total atmospheric
loss of 0.541dB per km.

The weather at the W4WWQ/4 QTH was not logged. But since
his elevation was around 600 metres lower than mine, his dew point should have been slightly higher.I elected to use the W2SZ/4 club callsign for this QSO since several people within the club have helped me with this 241GHz project. I hope to have an audio file and a photo posted at www.mgef.org within several days.

73, Brian, WA1ZMS/4 op for W2SZ/4

PS:
Several people have asked about photos and more info
about our recent millimetre wave and sub-millimetre wave QSOs

The info is now posted on the web with some new photos
and can be found at:

http://www.mgef.org/zms_403.htm

http://www.mgef.org/zms_241_3.htm

My favorite photo is titled "The 241GHz dishes" and
shows what a great job the local machinist did when
he turned the dishes on a CNC lathe for me. He did
not polish them at all. That's the actual finish. I'm
not sure I can even detect the tools marks by hand!

73 from Brian

(Another great job Brian .. well done indeed! .. webmaster)

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UK MICROWAVE ACTIVITY UP AT LAST!

The past two months have seen a welcome rise in microwave activity in the UK. Much of this is due to surplus power amplifiers for the 3.4GHz and 5.7GHz bands becoming more freely available and to the activities of a few portable stations activating rare Locator (Grid) squares. It quite amazing how many operators come out of hibernation when they hear a new square is about to become available!

The following photographs show some of the recent portable activity in the UK:

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GLEN ROSS, G8MWR DIES ... UK LOSES ONE ITS MOST INFLUENTIAL MICROWAVERS

UK readers will be especially saddened to hear of the recent passing, on May 21st 2003, of a popular and influential microwaver, Glen Ross G8MWR. Many of you may owe your present interest in microwaves to Glen who, from the 1970s into the 90s, did much to encourage newcomers to this absorbing facet of Amateur Radio.

A short posting on an Internet microwave reflector alerted us to the news:

From: "G6FEO" <G6FEO@boltblue.com>
To: <waveguide@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: "Ian G0EDT Hopwood" <g0edt@arrl.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 8:27 AM
Subject: Sad News

Dear All,
I was informed by Ian Hopwood, G0EDT, of the sad news that Glen Ross G8MWR died yesterday.
When I get any more information I will pass it to the group.

regards,
David.

Glen believed in the “KISS” principle .. ie, keep things simple! He formed the Microwave Society and issued regular newsletters, “Waveguide”, from his Coventry home. He claimed to have over 600 members at one time, the great majority of them on 10GHz wideband FM. To encourage them, he offered all the necessary Gunn spares, Solfan modules, horns, FM IF pcbs and the like at nominal cost, as well as sound advice in plenty, for free.

His hard work and enthusiasm bore much fruit, as activity levels during the 10GHz cumulatives of the 1980s showed. However, with the advent of narrowband techniques at the end of the 80s and into the early 1990s, the emphasis went off wideband FM in the UK and many of Glen’s society members dropped by the wayside, often claiming that the narrowbanders had turned their backs on the beginner. Well over 100 of these callsigns appear in the writer’s list of “Where are they Now?”, a sad reflection on what should have been a great opportunity to recruit and retain a thriving narrowband population in the UK. Glen’s view, shared by this writer, that simple wideband techniques are still the portal for newcomers to microwavers, was sadly not shared by several of the narrowband “elite” at the time.

In latter years Glen had been hampered by ill health which finally caught up with him this Spring. His tall figure had been missed at rallies for a few years but he had continued to encourage microwaving in the UK by setting up a couple of Internet reflectors. These have became the arena for technical and other discussions, attracting contributions from all corners of the globe.

Thanks Glen for all you’ve done … great job!

Glen's funeral was held at Coventry Crematorium on Friday 30th May

73 Peter, G3PHO

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Northern Ireland's most active microwaver has passed away. Sam Bunting, GI8GJX, operated from the geographical periphery of UK microwave activity yet could always be relied upon to be around during the various contests and activity days. He had been active on several bands, up to 24GHz for some 30 years. He will be greatly missed. not the least by myself.

Peter, G3PHO

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing, after a short illness, of my Uncle Sam Bunting (GI8GJX) on the 3rd April, 2003
I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass on this sad news to all his friends within the microwave fraternity with whom he shared his passion.
I would like to add that his long awaited visit to last year's round table event at Martlesham brought him great pleasure and it was shortly after his return that the final stages of his illness took hold.

Sam Adrain (GI4SQL)

MORE 120GHz RECORDS BROKEN IN THE USA

Is there no stopping these millimeter wave men? !

Over in the USA there’s a great deal of EAST-V-WEST friendly rivalry taking place on their 120GHz band.

Hopefully the UK may have something similar to report this year .. May be on 136GHz or 76GHz … come on G3PYB, G8ACE, G7MRF et al !!
Read on ….

From: W0EOM@aol.com
Sent: 31 March 2003
Subject: Possible 120GHz Distance Record
The record for the 120GHz band has changed hands several times already this year. Accepting the challenge by Brian, WA1ZMS, and his team, Bob, KF6KVG and I went over our rigs.
Bob managed to tweak some more power out of his xmtr, and I found that one of my harmonic mixers was the best xmtr I have for 120GHz. I modify these by removing the back short and installing an adaptor to take a x4 multiplier with 40.000GHz output at about +15 dbm. The receive mixer is driven the same way at 39.900GHz, all locked to 10MHz.
Friday, Mar. 29 was a clear day with low humidity, so Bob went to the west side of the Santa Clara valley at CM87WJ. I was on the east side at CM97CJ, about 1000ft elevation. The distance apart was about 24.8 km. We located each other by flashing mirrors and had signals in about 10 minutes. The S-meter did not move, but CW copy was easy.
After exchanging info, Bob immediately moved to another location about 30 km apart. I was able to detect him, but he could not hear me. All in all, a successful day. 73 from Will, W0EOM

A few days later in came the following email..

From: wa1zms@arrl.net [wa1zms@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: 03 April 2003
Hi all,
How do you say this?... but again....we took the efforts of Will, W0EOM and Bob KF6KVG with their latest world record of 24.6km as a challenge to try and better our East Coast efforts on 120GHz.
At the same time that Will & Bob were doing 24km on the band, I was working in the shack trying an active bias circuit to improve my RX mixers at 120GHz. The results were that W4WWQ, WA4RTS and myself took to the local hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains yet again and managed a few more QSOs on 120GHz with our best DX being 30.0km.

Date: April 2, 2003
Time: 05:18z <--- it was a late night!
Locations: WA1ZMS/4 in FM07FM
W4WWQ in FM07JI
Distance: 30.056km
WX at WA1ZMS end:
Temp 10.5C
Dew Point 0.5C
Pressure 876mb
RH 50%
Loss 1.246dB/km
WX at W4WWQ end:
Temp 16.7C
Dew Point -0.6C
Pressure 988mb
RH 31%
Loss 1.241dB/km

Another interesting point to note is that as Will and I each take our turns at bettering the other's DX, the oxygen losses will become the limiting factor in all of our efforts. While the loss due to water vapour on this band may be around .24dB/km, the loss due to oxygen is around 1dB/km. So for someone to improve a DX record of say 30km by another 10km, they will need an improvement of 14.89dB!! (2.49 for free-space loss, 2.4dB for water loss, and 10dB for oxygen loss) The above values assume a typical semi-dry atmosphere.
We'll need real QRO power for DX over 60km.
So … when Will takes the record back by a km or two (and he may already have)? It might seem like splitting hairs but the loss per km from oxygen is a major obstacle to overcome and the efforts are not trivial. I have put photos and an audio file of the latest QSO at http://www.mgef.org/zms_120.htm.

73 from Brian, WA1ZMS/4

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NEW UK LASER DX RECORD

From: Allan Wyatt, G8LSD [allan@r-type.org]

David Bowman G0MRF and myself (Allan Wyatt G8LSD) have conducted tests over the last four months with Derek Atter G3GRO and Lech Laszkiewicz G3KAU. The distances have developed from a few tens of metres to 20 km, then 40 km and finally on Saturday, 5th April,2003 to 49.3 km. The path being from Fairlight east of Hastings to Capel le Ferne east of folkestone. The distance was verified by using the G4JNT software.

Semiconductor lasers operating at 670nM were used at both ends: 3mW to a beam expander at the G8LSD end, and 10mW "barefoot" at the G0MRF end. Both receivers were designed independently and operated at audio baseband without a carrier. 488Hz tones were generated in the transmitters for modulating the lasers by the dividing down of a crystal oscillator. Keying of the tone providing the CW. Both receivers featured audio filters to reduce bandwidth. I used a TimeWave DSP filter and David used a home brew op-amp based filter peaking on 488Hz

With the 40km path showing very significant scintillation of the signal, we had also taken laptop computers so that very slow CW could be sent and received to overcome any scintillation. In the event the audio was clear enough to read without additional aids.

Each station had separate RX and TX equipment. G0MRF used a purpose built telescope around a 100mm lens to gather light on receive and I used a Russian 4.5 inch reflector telescope and swapped the eyepiece for the detector head. Both transmitters used tripod bases with vernier adjustments mounted above. Finally the transmitter mounted on the vernier mechanism. Aiming of the laser was by rifle sight secured to the TX housing. Strong and very cold winds worked against long term holding of the beam position, but even when the laser dimmed from the brightest light in the sky to only just visible with binoculars, the signal remained audible.

We arrived on site at 18:30 UTC and saw a good sunset but no view, it was quite misty. The power station at Dungeness some 30 km away disappeared completely by 19:00 UTC. By 21:25 we had a sighting of the powerful white lights used for aiming as a dim yellow disc. The laser was aimed at the disk and at 21:30 the laser was switched on. G0MRF received the signal immediately and within a few minutes we had both systems aligned. Reports of 559 and 579 as well as both callsigns and additional characters were exchanged by 21:45.

In spite of wearing fleece lined trousers, a sweatshirt, two fleeces and a cagoule, as well as walking boots, it took me several hours to warm up after the event.

My wife, the long suffering daughter of G3JMB, and I celebrated 29 years of marriage on Sunday. On the way home on Saturday, at just after midnight, she expressed that she had been engaged in some daft radio expeditions in her life but nothing so stupid as standing on a clifftop in a bitingly cold wind in the pitch dark for three hours.

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From: Jonathan Naylor <naylorjs@yahoo.com> [naylorjs@yahoo.com]
Sent: 03 March 2003 11:07
To: ukmicrowaves@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ukmicrowaves] F9FT SK

I just saw this on Moon-Net.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have the deep sadness to tell you the death of Marc F9FT Sunday morning. Marc was a pioneer for EME and manufacturer of the famous Tonna 9 yagi el in the earlier sixties and then the 16 el . He was a passionate person by antennas and Ham hobby till end of his life. We lost a friend and a great OM. You can send e-mail to his son F5SE and the family  at Franck@cbsky.net

Marc we never  forget you !

Marius  F8DO
 

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From: microwave-admin@wa1mba.org on behalf of al_ward@agilent.com
Sent: 11 February 2003 23:00

Subject: [Mw] Breaking the 3456 MHz North American DX record one km at a
time.

On February 2 , 2003 a high pressure area set up over the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, we had some spectacular tropo from Texas to Florida with conditions also being good to Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. My best microwave DX in the morning was to W4ZRZ in EM63 in Alabama on 1296 MHz. Later that evening, I decided to place a telephone call to Ron, WA8TTM/4 who resides in EL98DP. Ron had sent me numerous emails updating me on his 10 GHz efforts. At nearly midnite I get his voicemail which was probably better than getting one's wife at that hour. WA8TTM  showed up on 2 meters some time later. WW2R and I proceeded to work Ron on 222, 432, 902, 1296, 2304 and even 3456 MHz. The distance from EM13QC to EL98DP is 1508 km based on the 6 digit grid squares. So, when I worked WA8TTM on 3456 MHz, I broke my old 3456 MHz record of 1507 km to KQ4PI. When WW2R tail-ended me and worked WA8TTM, Dave broke my record by one km extending the North American 3456 MHz record to 1509 km! A part of me said I just gave away my 3456 MHz record! But oh well....records are made to be broken. I have had my share. We had no success on 10 GHz. 

My equipment on 3456 MHz is a 5 ft dish and 240 watts output. WW2R was running 5 watts output. I guess my 240 watts was warming up the atmosphere!

Best Regards

Al W5LUA
EM13QC
Allen, Texas

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From: microwave-admin@wa1mba.org on behalf of W0EOM@aol.com

On Monday, Feb.9, 2003, Bob, KF6KVG, and I made a contact on 47GHz, extending our previous best of 176 km to 246 km.  Bob was east of Fresno near Grants Grove (DM06MS) and I was east of San Jose on Mt. Hamilton  (CM97EI).

We first acquired on 10GHz as an aid in pointing (my compass was not working).  We then went to 47GHz and acquired in short order, about noon.  Signals peaked at 20dB out of the noise with rapid fades up to 10dB.  Equipment was the same as last year except I added a one watt amp.  It was really not needed for the contact but aided in acquiring.  Information was exchanged by slow-speed cw.

Weather was great, about 60 degrees, no wind, and low humidity.  Monday was the last day of about a week of this weather.  We had tried this path last summer without success.

We did not try 76GHz as we had converted those rigs to 144GHz.  Last Friday, Feb 7. we extended our range on that band to 25km ... likely our best but a long ways from what the East coast crew did.

Will  W0EOM   Now to go after the world record!
 

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From: microwave-admin@wa1mba.org on behalf of wa1zms@arrl.net
[wa1zms@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: 13 January 2003 02:52
To: Microwave Reflector; G3PHO Peter Day
Cc: wa1zms@arrl.net
Subject: [Mw] New 145GHz DX & 5th grid....
 

Hi all-

I'd like to claim what should be a new World and North
American DX record for the 145GHz band.

Today,12 January 2003, W2SZ/4 worked WA1ZMS/4 with FSK-CW on 145GHz at a distance of 79.6km.(The former record was 61.7km by W2SZ/4)

Details of today's QSO:
Date: Jan 12th, 2003
Time: 20:50z
W2SZ/4   in FM07fm (37-31-04N 79-30-40W)
WA1ZMS/4 in EM96wx (36-59-28N 80-07-17W)
WX at time of QSO on the EM96 end was
Temp: -1.5C  Dew Point: -18.3C Relative Humidity: 26% Calculated atmospheric loss: .193dB/Km

WA4RTS was the CW op at W2SZ/4 and was being helped at
the time by W4WWQ and KA4YNO.  WA1ZMS/4 was op of his
own station and roving in EM96. Signal margin was about
2dB on the 'ZMS end and about 6dB on the W2SZ end. One
station has a better RX mixer than the other.

This QSO is also the 5th grid needed for the ARRL VUCC award for the 145GHz band for W2SZ/4. This claim should be the very first VUCC for that band, and it took two years of hard work to make it happen.

More information with photos and an audio file can be found at http://www.mgef.org.

73,
Brian Justin, WA1ZMS
 

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