10GHz CW from Huntsville

 

I am unable to decode this - if you can please let me know.

10GHz Issues Resolved & Box for my System

 15 August 2022 - Finished putting my 10G system in a box.

14 August 2022 - Was able to find time today to check out my 10GHz setup - power was low and it didn't seem like the 3W PA was working.  I found a bad SMA jumper and replaced it.  Now I get 12.426dBm/17.5mW without the PA and 32.428dBm/1.75W with the PA.

Without PA (Below)

With PA (below).

Bell Mountain - 10Ghz

 August 5, 2022 - Up on Bell Mountain to work some 10GHz SSB - I was able to work Ott (W4WSR) as my first 10GHz contact.  Ott was at Mike's (NC4W) QTH (4.41 miles) and after I worked Ott I worked Mike who was using Ott's rig.  My 10GHz 3W amp was not working so this contact was with the low power 10mW transverter alone.  We were waiting on Ben (K4QF) to make it to a location on the Cherohala Skyway but I encountered a few drops of rain and nearby thunder to the north and left just minutes before Ben was in position - Ott tried to work Ben but was unable to hear him.

Below is Ott (W4WSR) at the other end.

Heathkit from W4QO SK Estate

 

29 July 2022 - Picked these up today - now to test them.  SB-401 left and SB-303 right.

25 July 2022 - Future projects purchased from the W4QO (Jim Stafford) SK estate.  Jim taught the no-code technician class I took many years ago to get my ham license.  These will be very special items and I am honored to have the opportunity to own them.

HB-401 Transmitter (below)

HB-303 Receiver (below)

Directive Systems 60cm 10GHz dish

 28 July 2022 - I ordered some 1/4-20 x 36" threaded rod to replace the original rods with some rusty pieces holding the feed - received those threaded rods and cut them to length and installed them temporarily - next I will work on getting the length correct from the feed to the dish and then test with my 10GHz setup.

12 July 2022 - Back to work on this project - I purchased the tripod mount for it - it had a heavy ring mount which is more suited to a permanent mount - the new mount fits my portable tripod.  This is also much lighter with the new mount and will eventually replace my "white box" dish.

13 December 2021 - Picked this up from an estate sale a few weeks back.  Working on cleaning it up to test it as a potential replacement for my "white box" dish.

Allied Knight T-150 Transmitter

24 May 2022 - Finished and painted!

23 May 2022 - I have the unit tuned for 6 meters - little output but happy it's working.  I have started painting the cabinet.

7 May 2022 - changed out an unsafe 10 ohm resistor - before photo first and after in second photo.  Obviously someone thought the electrical tape was safe - NOT!

6 May 2022 - Replaced 6DR7 modulator, 7189 Buffer/Mult., and finally 12AX7 Speech Amp and I have good power on all bands and modulation on AM after some rewiring of the microphone jack.  The 12AX7 was replaced with a nice 12AX7a which should provide better fidelity.  Next I am gong to replace some of the poorly done work on the 10 ohm resistor near the power supply and clean the chassis as best as I can.  Below is a video of the AM from the T-150 received by my 705 and a schematic.

\18 April 2022 - Looking at tubes. Also removed the relay and socket (near OA2 tube).

18 April 2022 - Re-tested - 80 watts on 80M!

I took a second look at my BIRD meter - when I last used it I was testing my 1296MHz transverter and still had the slug in it for that range (DOAHH!) - using the HF slug I was able to see power and peaked the transmitter on CW to 80 watts.

17April 2022 - TX Test - there is life!

I removed all the connections to the relay (not an original part) and I removed the other two original coax connectors.  

Keying in CW produces the signal below on my SA at nearly the right frequency on the dial - I'm TX'ing into a dummy load and receiving on a small rubber duck on the SA.  

No power is read on my BIRD meter - will check it tomorrow.

13 April 2022 - Power UP - no explosions.

First I wanted to fix the the band selector - it was extremely hard if not impossible to move - some contact cleaner fixed that.

I did not attempt to transmit - just powered it up slowly on the isolation transformer.  Next time I will check the tubes and replace as necessary and try to transmit some CW.

12 April 2022 - New eBay buy - Knight T-150 Ham Transmitter

Leo Bodnar GPSDO

 

27 March 2022 - I recently purchased a Leo Bodnar (LB) GPSDO after seeing how fast it converged.  I had used it a few times and finally decided I should have checked the output in case it was set to something other than 10MHz like I needed.  I first hooked it up to my EIP 548A frequency counter and it showed 30MHz - I then tested my BG7TBL lab GPSDO and it was right on 10MHz.  I loaded the software for the LB unit and checked and verified that unit was set to 10MHz and it was.  I decide to try the LB with a SV1AFN 10MHz bandpass filter and now the counter showed 10MHz.

I repeated the test on my SA with and without the bandpass filter and found that the LB unit is much cleaner on the SA with the bandpass filter.

I repeated my test on my Oscilloscope with and without the SV1AFN filter and as I was told the LB unit puts out a square wave without the filter.  Mystery solved.

Leo Bodnar GPSDO without SV1AFN filter (below) at full 1.5GHz SPAN.  My BG7TBL GPSDO does not exhibit this issue.  Below that is the square wave the LB unit has shown without the filter.

Leo Bodnar GPSDO with SV1AFN filter at full 1.5GHz SPAN and the unit and the SV1AFN filter (below two)

A closer look with the filter - an occasional ~70MHz signal pops up, but the rest is clean.

1296 Brasstown Bald

 19 March 2020 - Up at Brasstown Bald today - was able to make a CW QSO with KV4PC Bob in EM64rr North Plateau Overlook: 34°44’52.05’’ N, 86°30’38.17” W, EL = 1620 ft.  - this was a 156.56 mile path.  See video of Bob's signal below.

Here's my beacon below from up there.

I was able to hear the 1296.305MHz beacon that is in EM85cg (below).  There was another beacon above it that I will need to explore the next time I am out.

1296 Woody Gap

 

13 March 2022 - Testing 1296.1 at Woody Gap EM84aq and EM74xq - was able to work WB8LYJ in Lawrenceville EM73xu on SSB (see video), but Bob W4ZST EM84ao had trouble with two setups - I could hear him in the beginning but his signal was strange sounding (see video below), after changing to another setup he could only hear me on CW.

W4ZST (below)

WB8LYJ (below)

WB8LYJ 1296 Rover (30' mast)

10GHz Rain-scatter

 

March 6, 2022 - Attempted to work W8BYA Gedas on 10GHz Rain-scatter - he is 417.5 Miles / 672.3 Kilometers away - he could hear me briefly but I could not hear him - the issue is I have a very limited view for 10GHz at my QTH.  My setup is a DEMI transverter with an external 3W DEMI amp - IF radio is a Icom 705.