David K Minchin VK5KK
Postal 10
Harvey Cres, Salisbury Heights, SA, 5109
E-mail: tecknolt@ozemail.com.au EMAIL ADDRESS
CHANGED!
Web page: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~tecknolt
Fax +61 8 82924501
Phone 0403368066 AH ONLY
All
times are in UTC.
50 Mhz enters the Second Camel’s Hump!
Like a few sunspot cycles’
past, it looks like this one may have two peaks, with a good start to the
autumn equinox reported from several quarters.
Steve VK3OT reports … Possibly the best EU dx I have ever experienced
came in here on Feb 3rd from 0730z, a bit like that opening you guys (VK5) had
in 1992. The day started with a chance QSO on SSB with Zf1DC Cayman Islands, out
of the blue, worked in VK2 also by Qfa dn BA I think. All afternoon, the VK6 beacons were strong on 066, and
two up above 50.3.Llater the VK6s started working ZL3.
At about 0730 right on
teatime, I heard a 6 suffix down on 101 thinking it might be VK6ADI turned out
to be I6BQI, he was 559 to 579 in copy. Later still
on 110 I heard IK1EGC, EY8MM and a 9A all calling CQ, and later still settled
down on 106 and worked around 70 stations over the next 90 minutes of opening. I Worked Italy, Croatia,
Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Austria, France, Germany, Slovakia, Belgium,
Netherlands, Slovenia, Tadzikistan. 4 new DXCC countries bring me up to
120+ worked. Total QSO’s however over past 10 years is under 300 to 30
countries from Europe. …All CW 100 watts to 9 element yagi from Grid LOC QF12ag
.. 73’s Steve VK3OT
Ted G4UPS reports … thought
you would be interested in these surprising QSO’s with two VK4 stations today
(18.2.2002). I was turning my 6m antenna from 090 degrees to beam due west to
check for a possible opening across the pond when I got to due North I heard
VK4ABW and just was able to turn the antenna to around 035 deg when I answered
his CQ. I worked Gary at 1148 UTC 559 both ways.
I telephoned G3HBR to
let him know and I moved from 110 to 105 and put out a CQDX and got a most
pleasant surprise when VK4CXQ answered! Worked him 559/559 both ways at 1152
UTC. I was still beaming around 035 degrees, and by the time I had phoned two
other hams both the VK4 stations had faded out. It was only when I checked the
DX Cluster later that learnt that VK4CXQ had been spotted at 1157 by JG3LER and
at 1208 559 by HL1LTC!!!! So VK4CXQ was certainly spreading his RF around!
The normal path for any
VK from here in this restricted valley is a skewed one at 090 degrees, so
a rather surprising opening, the kind that keeps us tuning around even when the
band is dead! … 73s Ted G4UPS
Ray VK4BLK
reports … we are back into the DX season here with a good opening to EU. On
17/2/20002 0947z--1015z worked 9G`s, 2PA`s & 1UT with sigs. Up to S9 … 73
RayVK4BLK
144 Mhz
and above
Tropo reports
are few and far between this month. Phil VK5AKK reports … 30/1/2002 Worked Darrell VK6KDC this
morning at 23:26 on 2M. Signal reports 5x5 and 5x7 over a distance of 2066 km
from Adelaide to Manjimup (OF85). Esperance beacon still audible as I write but
nothing heard from the Albany beacon this summer …Phil VK5AKK. From VK5KK’s
observations, VK6REP beacon on 144.567 MHz was audible from 0900Z
29/1/2002 peaking to around 569 at 1930Z on 30/1/2002. No sign or Albany
or Augusta beacons. On average, the Esperance beacon has been heard an average
of 1 to 3 days per week throughout January & February 2002; this is way
down on previous years.
Andrew VK6YAA, at Collie in
WA reports … 3/2/2002 I have just made a contact to VK5 on FM accessing the
VK5RAD repeater in Adelaide. QSO was with Greg VK5THA. Signals with heavy QSB
but peaking S9 +20DB … Andrew VK6XAA
Ron
VK3AFW reports … VK5VF Adelaide 519 in Melbourne 31/1/2002 up to 2145 UTC,
VK5RSE Mt
Gambier good strength, VK3RRU Mildura 529 & VK3RGG Gippsland readable off
back of beam. Called CQ on 144.1 beaming Adelaide and then Esperance in between
use of channel by Air Craft enhancers. Nil response from the West.
Trevor, VK3KEG, reports working VK5AKK last night (2m), others making the grade
on 1296. Trevor was also hearing a VK6 beacon during the day yesterday. …
Ron, VK3AFW
Barry VK3BJM
reports … a quick run down on activity with the "Big Wheel" mobile 2m
antenna over the weekend of the 3/4thth of February 2002. No
contacts made on the trip to Maldon on Friday night - presumably because all
sensible people had their radios disconnected because of the electrical storms
that swept through Victoria. Certainly the pocket of activity that I could
see in front of (and then all around) me as I passed along the Castlemaine -
Maldon road would have to be one of the most intense displays I've ever
seen. There seemed to be a burst of lightning every ten seconds for a
good 25 minutes.
Saturday afternoon brought a pleasant surprise - the first time I have managed
to hear the Mildura 2m beacon. This was from outside my friends' home, at
the foot of Mt Tarrengower, mid afternoon. It must have been warm in
Mildura - the frequency was 1kHz up on the usual 144.433MHz.
Around 7pm EDST we popped up to the summit, and put out a few calls. From
the lack of responses, it must have been dinnertime... The 2m beacons
from Adelaide, Mt Gambier, Mildura, and Gippsland were all heard without
difficulty.
On Sunday morning, I dragged myself up to the summit again. I failed to
find the Mildura beacon, but Adelaide and Mt Gambier beacons could still be
heard. On 144.200, I worked the following stations:
2/2/02 2134z Rej VK2MP, 55-57 (52-54) - 499km. Lovely signal! 2137z David
VK3AUU, 52 (55) - 207km. Big wheel to Halo! 2139z Ron VK3AFW, 57 (no
report given) *, 2142z Gavin VK3HY, 53 (52) *, 2149z Ian VK1BG, 41 (41) -
486km. Very fast chop on the signal from Ian. The report in brackets is
the report from the contacted station. * Both Ron and Gavin were beaming NE
from Melbourne when worked.
I also heard Gordon, VK2ZAB, and a subsequent phone call informed me that he
had heard me, too. Signals weren't quite good enough to provide a contact
- just recognizable mumbles. Still nice over a 740km path. Couldn't
hear VK2ZRE, though I heard him being called. Quite a good weekend .. Barry,
VK3BJM
Rogue
TUBSAT Intruder on 144.100 MHz!
Those who
monitored 144.100 Mhz from around 22nd to the 26th of
January 2002 would have no doubt heard the TUBSAT satellite “Intruder” beacon!
The choice of frequency was unfortunate for VK being our much maligned cloning
frequency (calling frequency’s new nick name after last months pot stir in this
column!) on 2 metres. The following excerpts have been lifted from a communiqué
from Norbert DF5DP, explaining some of the background.
”Today I found the phone number of Prof. Renner at Technical University Berlin
(TUB), Germany, who is the head of the TUBSAT team. I called him by phone and
got the information I give below:
MAROC-TUBSAT is a joint project of TUB and a Moroccan group at Rabat. This
group was responsible for the choice of frequencies. They told him, that they
were radio amateurs, and the frequencies were OK and coordinated. The
144.100 MHz downlink is a beacon, which was implemented to support tracking of
the satellite and enable discrimination of the correct object
in the NORAD data.
Prof. Renner
received lots of complaints about this transmission on 144.100 MHz from radio
amateurs, especially from Australia. From this he learned, that there must be
something wrong with using this frequency. He immediately urged the Moroccan
team to switch off this downlink then, and they did so. The command channel of
the satellite is 436.075 MHz. This is an up- and downlink. The downlink is not
active permanently; it only responds, when the command stations are sending any
commands. There are two command stations: one in Berlin, Germany, and one in
Rabat, Morocco…. Norbert, DF5DP
Microwave Round up
One of these months I had
hoped to put in a small review of the Yaesu FT817 5W portable DC to 430 MHz All
mode. I bought one for transverter use some time back but alas it has developed
the dreaded low power output (try 150mW!) fault that has hit a few of these
transceivers. Using my portable set up during the January Field day was a
laugh, as a result! As I had pensioned off or sold to other potential u-Wavers
some of my collection of FT290’s & IC202’s it took 3 transceivers to
replace the Ft817!! In the meantime, Peter VK3KAI has been out portable with
his FT817… comments coming back from field use are promising. After 6 weeks
mine still isn’t back from Sydney .. hopefully I get it in time for the John
Moyle!
Peter VK3KCG reports … A
couple of amateurs in Frankston Vic have decided that it is about time to start
getting some microwave beacons up and going. A 1296 beacon
is now constructed and output power will be around 6 watts. I am currently finishing off the 2400 Mhz beacon and
the power output should be 10 or 36 Watts depending on what line up I decide on
for the afterburner.
I am currently negotiating
with South East Water to mount the beacons on one of their huge water storage
tanks that looks over most of the countryside. Our
aim is to send most of the signals in the general direction of Mt Gambier,
Adelaide, Albany and Perth. Small vertical antennas that
will be fed with a small amount of coupled energy will service the Melbourne
community. I hope that these beacons will inspire more amateurs
to build equipment for these bands. .. Peter VK3 KCG ex ZPW
Russell
VK3ZQB reports … The cool summer that prevails over southern Australia has not
produced significant amounts of tropospheric propagation so far this year, but
there are occasions when there is just enough to be useful. This was the case
on the morning of the 26th January when I was lucky enough to work
Colin VK5DK on 24 GHz. We had been
watching a small duct that existed between Mount Gambier and Port Fairy that
was exhibiting intense ducting on 144 Mhz, 432 MHz and 1296 MHz. We had
speculated that it was strong enough to make solid contacts on 10 GHz but were
a little uncertain about the duct supporting 24 Ghz.
After
looking at the weather maps and consulting the Hepburn tropo web site, we
gambled that conditions would further improve toward the end of the influencing
high-pressure cell. Then we would have a dryer northerly airflow that would be
beneficial to 24 Ghz. We surfaced at 6.30am DST on the morning of the 26th
to a scene of dense fog, exactly what we didn’t want for operating on 24 GHz. A
contact with Colin on 144 MHz confirmed that he also was fogged in at Mount
Gambier.
We had a contact on 1296 MHz and found that
propagation conditions were better than the previous night. We decided that in
spite of the fog we would travel to our selected sites and wait for the fog to
lift. We were hoping that as the sun heated the air, the fog would lift and we
would have a window of good propagation that might support a 24 GHz contact.
Colin
went to The Bluff, a high spot west of Mount Gambier while I travelled to Mt
Warrnambool near Panmure, east of Warrnambool. It was late in the morning
before the fog started to lift and we established contact on 10 GHz about 2230
UTC. The signal on 10 GHz was very strong and we decided to have a look on 24
GHz. At first, we could hear nothing but then about 2253 UTC, Colin heard my
keyer very faintly.
We
persisted, by 2334 UTC 25th January, the visibility had improved and
we could hear each other’s keyer at 5-3 with QSB. We had a contact on voice and
exchanged reports setting a new national, VK3 and VK5 distance record for 24
GHz.
The
fog layer seemed reluctant to lift as was clearly visible along the coast at 2357
UTC. We thought there was a chance that propagation on 24 Ghz might peak
further and if it was to get any better, it would be worth moving further to
the east toward Camperdown to increase the distance worked.
We
watched the signal on 24 GHz for another hour but it did not get any stronger.
Deep
fades with peaks of S3 were all we were going to get and conditions seemed to
deteriorate as the day progressed. We did not think that extending the record
any further that day was going to be possible and so we packed up and returned
to the home QTH.
I
am sure that we will have more chances this summer to increase the record
distance and as I write this story, the band is showing form with the Adelaide
and Esperance beacons audible. So let us hope that even though the summer has
been poor, that we might see some late tropo developing… Russell VK3ZQB
VK3/5
Microwave Field Operations W/E 19/1/2002
Peter VK3KAI
reports … Saturday 19 January was a
relatively hot day in Victoria, temperatures reaching into the mid-30's. A
small number of microwave operators thought that there might be some prospect
of propagation in the evening given the weather forecast. Rob VK3EK set up his
portable station in his backyard. Ralph VK3WRE and myself set up our respective
stations on the local hilltop (QF31fp). Charlie VK3FMD headed into the southern
Dandenong ranges whilst Trevor VK5NC headed for the Portland area (QF01).
The first contacts from QF31 were made by VK3WRE with VK3EK on 3.4GHz and 10GHz
at around 1000Z. Shortly afterward, I made contact with Rob using my mobile
setup on both 3.4GHz and 10GHz. Contact was made on 2m with VK5NC/3 at around
1025. He was having some success with Charlie on the Microwave bands - I think
contacts were made on 3.4, 5.7 & 10 GHz. From QF31, we could hear nothing
of Trevor on any of the microwave bands. By this time an increasingly strong
sea breeze was picking up from the SE that may have affected propagation to the
east of the Melbourne area. Ralph and I subsequently made contacts with Charlie
on 3.4, 5.7 and 10GHz SSB across a 101km obstructed path.
We believe that my contacts establish Mobile records for these bands, with
VK3EK on 9cm and 3cm at about 119km and with VK3FMD on 6cm at about 101km.
Equipment details at QF31: VK3WRE/p -FT817 with transverters for each band to
offset fed dishes. 3.4GHz 20W output, 5.7GHz 10mW output, 10GHz 100mW
output. VK3KAI/m - FT817 with
transverters for each band. 3.4GHz 10mW, 5.7GHz
4W, 10GHz 100mW. Antennas were a 600mm x 425mm grid pack style dish ex-PayTV
covered with "mouse mesh" fed by 2-6GHz WA5VJB feed for 3.4 &
5.7GHz and a 20dB horn for 3cm. Both of these are on a rotatable mount on the
car ski bars. The mast also had lightweight Yagis for 70cm and
23cm mounted on it. The entire set up is capable of being operated mobile at up
to 60kmh. True mobile operation is not recommended due to safety
considerations. However the set up does allow for relatively rapid change of
locations over short distances without the need to pull down and then re-erect
the antennas. ..Peter VK3KAI
GippsTech
2002 Call for Papers
The Gippsland Technical Conference (GippsTech) has its focus on all topics of
relevance to amateurs interested in amateur VHF, UHF and Microwave
communications. The 2002 event will be held at the Gippsland Campus of Monash
University, located in Churchill. The conference location is about 2 hours
drive east of Melbourne. The event will be held on the weekend of July 6 &
7.
The Organizing Committee welcomes Expressions of Interest from anyone willing
to make a presentation at the 2002 event. Further details can be found at the
Eastern Zone ARC website at
http:\\www.qsl.net\vk3bez\index.htm or from Peter VK3KAI (QTHR).
In closing
Rex VK7MO reports .. the VK7RAE beacon on 144.474 MHz is now back on
air. The VK7RAE 432 MHz beacon is still off the air.
Sadly, Clarrie Castle, VK5KL became a silent key on the 21st
of January 2002. Clarrie had been active on 6 metres for over 55 years, his
most famous achievement was the “50 Mhz World Record in 1947”, one of the first
reported TEP contacts on 6 Metres. He remained active on 50 Mhz CW up until the
last equinox.
Now for a small soapbox. A few months ago a bit of comment hit the e-mail
circuits about a lack of 144/432 Mhz related material in this column. While a
dozen or so emails supported the evolution of the content (vs. a couple that
didn’t) I whole heartily agree! I am sure the editor would give us more room
but the answer WHY there isn’t more is surely obvious … I can’t print it if I
don’t get it!
There has been a slow decline in VHF type “contacts worked” contributions
for many years according to Eric and my more recent observations. This month it
was just two. 50 MHz info is seasonal but on average I receive more
contributions than 144/432. The converse has been with microwave and portable
contributors. About 1/3 of the microwave material I get each month will fit. If
I put any more in, we might just have to rename the column “RIP VHF .. 1000
plus MHz Rules”! So if you want more VHF related stuff in this column send it
in … fix the problem, don’t be the problem!
I’ll leave you with this
thought .. “Intuition is reason in a hurry!”
73’s David VK5KK
AR