Beacon report
Good morning and Merry Christmas to all,
For the first time in weeks, I am happy to report that I am hearing the beacon on 1296.08 +/-. I have my k2/DEMI 144 mod listening to the IF of my DEMI 1296 transverter. The antenna is the 67 element WIMO @ 60 feet. I also have two SDRs listening to the same IF. The SDR-14 shows an 18 dB s/n at best and the Softrock VHF Ensemble II shows 20 dB s/n. The k2 shows an S-9 reading. All three are listening to the same IF with the same gain, the path being about 3 dB less for the SDRs because of a splitter. A preamp (about .6 dB nf @ 18 dB gain) is at the antenna while receiving.
Bob, K8TQK reported that he worked W9ZIH in the Chicago area on 3456 this morning. All the usual propagation pages show enhancement to the NW.
The band is fading as I write this, so I suppose it is just a morning enhancement.
Winter weather and family activities have stopped most progress on projects here. My 200 foot tower is down (on purpose) and I have started reconfiguring it with the rotator at ground level. It will be 125 feet when I finish. I have retired from climbing and had someone take it down for me. Someone else is helping to put it back up. The rotary joint and guy rings each weigh 200 pounds, so it is a bit tricky to manage.
The 1296 EME dish project is likewise dormant. I do plan to do a little more work on my G4DDK preamp. It was measuring .25 dB nf @ 40 dB gain, but I “adjusted” it and it isn’t that good any more. I’m about to rewind the input matching coil, which is where I lost the nf.
Yesterday was my 75th birthday. I feel very good.
73,
Dave, K4TO
Dave,
Thanks for the report. You have some ambitious projects in the works.
Mike
W8RKO
-----Original Message-----
From: mvus-list [mailto:mvus-list-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Dave Sublette via mvus-list
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2016 09:11
To: Midwest VHF/UHF Society Mailing List
Subject: [mvus-list] Beacon report
Good morning and Merry Christmas to all,
For the first time in weeks, I am happy to report that I am hearing the beacon on 1296.08 +/-. I have my k2/DEMI 144 mod listening to the IF of my DEMI 1296 transverter. The antenna is the 67 element WIMO @ 60 feet. I also have two SDRs listening to the same IF. The SDR-14 shows an 18 dB s/n at best and the Softrock VHF Ensemble II shows 20 dB s/n. The k2 shows an S-9 reading. All three are listening to the same IF with the same gain, the path being about 3 dB less for the SDRs because of a splitter. A preamp (about .6 dB nf @ 18 dB gain) is at the antenna while receiving.
Bob, K8TQK reported that he worked W9ZIH in the Chicago area on 3456 this morning. All the usual propagation pages show enhancement to the NW.
The band is fading as I write this, so I suppose it is just a morning enhancement.
Winter weather and family activities have stopped most progress on projects here. My 200 foot tower is down (on purpose) and I have started reconfiguring it with the rotator at ground level. It will be 125 feet when I finish. I have retired from climbing and had someone take it down for me. Someone else is helping to put it back up. The rotary joint and guy rings each weigh 200 pounds, so it is a bit tricky to manage.
The 1296 EME dish project is likewise dormant. I do plan to do a little more work on my G4DDK preamp. It was measuring .25 dB nf @ 40 dB gain, but I “adjusted” it and it isn’t that good any more. I’m about to rewind the input matching coil, which is where I lost the nf.
Yesterday was my 75th birthday. I feel very good.
73,
Dave, K4TO
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Hi Dave...
Always good to hear from you and really appreciate the detailed signal report. Also good to hear that you have plenty of projects in the works. That's what keeps us young at heart.
And of course, happy 75th!
From Tom Holmes, N8ZM
On Dec 23, 2016, at 9:11 AM, Dave Sublette via mvus-list mvus-list@febo.com wrote:
Good morning and Merry Christmas to all,
For the first time in weeks, I am happy to report that I am hearing the beacon on 1296.08 +/-. I have my k2/DEMI 144 mod listening to the IF of my DEMI 1296 transverter. The antenna is the 67 element WIMO @ 60 feet. I also have two SDRs listening to the same IF. The SDR-14 shows an 18 dB s/n at best and the Softrock VHF Ensemble II shows 20 dB s/n. The k2 shows an S-9 reading. All three are listening to the same IF with the same gain, the path being about 3 dB less for the SDRs because of a splitter. A preamp (about .6 dB nf @ 18 dB gain) is at the antenna while receiving.
Bob, K8TQK reported that he worked W9ZIH in the Chicago area on 3456 this morning. All the usual propagation pages show enhancement to the NW.
The band is fading as I write this, so I suppose it is just a morning enhancement.
Winter weather and family activities have stopped most progress on projects here. My 200 foot tower is down (on purpose) and I have started reconfiguring it with the rotator at ground level. It will be 125 feet when I finish. I have retired from climbing and had someone take it down for me. Someone else is helping to put it back up. The rotary joint and guy rings each weigh 200 pounds, so it is a bit tricky to manage.
The 1296 EME dish project is likewise dormant. I do plan to do a little more work on my G4DDK preamp. It was measuring .25 dB nf @ 40 dB gain, but I “adjusted” it and it isn’t that good any more. I’m about to rewind the input matching coil, which is where I lost the nf.
Yesterday was my 75th birthday. I feel very good.
73,
Dave, K4TO
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We are having a "heat wave" here (high of 52 predicted for Christmas day).
I will be away from home with family over the weekend but I am off from
work till January 3 and may go off and do some listening/operating next
week if the warmer weather continues. We'll see.
73, Zack W9SZ
On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 8:11 AM, Dave Sublette via mvus-list <
mvus-list@febo.com> wrote:
Good morning and Merry Christmas to all,
For the first time in weeks, I am happy to report that I am hearing the
beacon on 1296.08 +/-. I have my k2/DEMI 144 mod listening to the IF of my
DEMI 1296 transverter. The antenna is the 67 element WIMO @ 60 feet. I
also have two SDRs listening to the same IF. The SDR-14 shows an 18 dB s/n
at best and the Softrock VHF Ensemble II shows 20 dB s/n. The k2 shows an
S-9 reading. All three are listening to the same IF with the same gain,
the path being about 3 dB less for the SDRs because of a splitter. A
preamp (about .6 dB nf @ 18 dB gain) is at the antenna while receiving.
Bob, K8TQK reported that he worked W9ZIH in the Chicago area on 3456 this
morning. All the usual propagation pages show enhancement to the NW.
The band is fading as I write this, so I suppose it is just a morning
enhancement.
Winter weather and family activities have stopped most progress on
projects here. My 200 foot tower is down (on purpose) and I have started
reconfiguring it with the rotator at ground level. It will be 125 feet
when I finish. I have retired from climbing and had someone take it down
for me. Someone else is helping to put it back up. The rotary joint and
guy rings each weigh 200 pounds, so it is a bit tricky to manage.
The 1296 EME dish project is likewise dormant. I do plan to do a little
more work on my G4DDK preamp. It was measuring .25 dB nf @ 40 dB gain, but
I “adjusted” it and it isn’t that good any more. I’m about to rewind the
input matching coil, which is where I lost the nf.
Yesterday was my 75th birthday. I feel very good.
73,
Dave, K4TO
mvus-list mailing list
mvus-list@febo.com
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list