December 8th, 2016
The yagis are full of ice and no more useable. The dish just grins about!
Category Archives: Equipment
Testing the new Kuhne MKU 23 G4 on 13 cm
November 22nd, 2016
Today I configured the MKU 23 G4, I ordered from Michael in Friedrichshafen to perform a RX test. Via aircraft scatter it was no problem to receive the beacons OZ7IGY in JO55WM over 670 km and OK0EK in JN89VJ over 689 km. The sun noise is at a level of 6 dB.
Beacons regulary receivable on 13 cm (green: TR / blue: AS)
The motivation is high now to configure the TX line as well 😉
Dismantling the Rotor
August 2nd, 2016
After having serious issues with the elevation drive, I dismantled the BIG RAS Rotor last weekend. A construction to support the dish by keeping it in an upright position has been installed.
After opening the case of the rotor, the failure could easily been seen: The cogwheel does not fit into the worm gear. Instead it slips over it. I hope to find a solution soon.
Update 2016-08-03: SPID offered to check and repair it as a warranty case! So it is on the way to Poland now. TNX to Jacek of SPID Elektronik!
10 GHz up and running!
June 12, 2015
With assistance from Franz, DF9ZT, I got my 10 GHz rig repaired and mounted it yesterday evening. Hope for the first QSOs soon with the 50 cm dish and 1.5 W. Beacons heard so far are DB0MOT (41 km), DB0MMO (90 km), DB0AJA (132 km), DB0ZDF (6 km), DB0FGB (263 km) and DB0ANU (182 km).
Thank you very much, Franz!
Operating a SDR like a classic radio
January 9th, 2014
For a couple of weeks now I am using a DJ Control to handle my SDR. It is much more comfortable compared to working just with mouse and keyboard. An user interface, written by Tobias, DH1TW makes it possible to combine the benefits of a software defined radio with the comfort of an analog transceiver by pressing buttons and turning knobs.
PowerSDR can be operated by a DJ Control
Most of the control elements of PowerSDR like command buttons or sliders can be mapped to knobs and buttons on the DJ Control by the user. Of course I use the big knobs for VFO A and B. The one in the upper left is used for the RIT. The sliders in the center are mapped to control the gain of the headphone and the speaker. MOX, TUNE, CW, SSB, VFO switching and others have been mapped to real buttons.
My FLEX-1500 is mainly used to operate transverters for 1296 and 2320 MHz. The Interface works well on all microwave configurations up to PowerSDRs limit of 99.0 GHz.
Visit DH1TWs website for more information.
The dish is up and running!
May 1st, 2012
After mounting the dish last evening, I was very impatient to see how it works. So I installed the controls for the rotator, fixed some meters of ECOFLEX 15 cable in the morning and started checking the beacons on 23 and 13 cm. It was no surprise but very satisfying that all of them were much stronger compared to the old 1.2 m dish. In the afternoon I had the initial QSO with the new antenna on 23 cm with Giorgio, IK3GHY in JN65DM. As I now know, I only had 5 W but Giorgio heard me with 539 anyway. My report for him was 559 and at the end of the QSO I could copy him in SSB too. Later I had a sked with 9A1Z in JN86DL. The signals weren’t strong enough to complete a QSO but we were able to detect them in the noise. So we will have another attempt when the preamp will be installed and my linear is finished.
A new dish
April 30th, 2012
I have assembled the 3 m mesh dish (f/d=0.45) I obtained from RF HAMDESIGN within one day. After another hard days work the new dish and a Spid BIG-RAS/HR rotor are mounted and ready for use now.
Thanks to Niklas, Armin and Charlotte.
First tests on 23 cm will be performed soon.