Curacao 23cm EME Dxpedition (PJ2T)

 

Dates: February 8 - 13, 2023
Call: PJ2T - always 1st sequence

Location: Curacao (FK52)

Frequency: 1296.090 Mhz

Modes: Q65-60C CFOM preferred, can do CW after I work digital stations

Gear: W2HRO folding 1.8M dish, WD5AGO pre-amp, 350 watts @ feed

Internet: Yes, will be on HB9Q Logger.  

QSL Info: LoTW update after each session. W3HNK is the paper QSL manager for PJ2T

Donors that helped with luggage costs: JA6AHB, PA3FXB

A custom photo QSL card was sent to each station worked to commemorate the first 23cm EME ops from Curacao.

February 8, 2023 - Even with tight flight connections along the way we arrived in Curacao and the checked luggage with the amp was there waiting for us. It took awhile to cobble together a tripod and mount that would be up to the wind. It was clear at first RF that the station was not right. I thought the high wind was deflecting the dish enough to drop the gain - but my TX was down at least 10 db, so that was a clue to look elsewhere.

 

Never-the-less we pressed on. It was the middle of a week night in Europe so activity was down some. Fourteen stations were logged over four hours, most for a new DXCC. Logged: OK1KIR (-15), UA3PTW (-20), OK1DFC (-18), G4CCH (-20), ON4AOI (-24), RA4HL (-19), PA9RX (-22), RD4D (-19), W2HRO (-28), PA3FXB (-25), KD5FZX (-14), OH2DG (-15), PA3DZL (-20), YO2LAM (-22). Heard quite well - IQ2DB, K2UYH, W5AFY, W7JW.

Brett, PJ2BR was my co-pilot this first evening, he picked up several operating tips. His home 23cm station is about 80% complete.

February 9, 2023 Clearly things here are still not right, but I now have 21 stations logged. Tonight's catch SM6CKU (-19), ES3RF (-21), SM5DGX (-15), OK2DL (-18), HB9Q (-12), DF3RU (-20), K2UYH (-19).

Heard: NC1I, OK1IL, IK3COJ, PA0BAT, KB2SA, W7JW.

Great News! Your knuckle-headed dxpeditioner assembled the hybrid to the patch feed upside down and reversed the circularity. Kudos to Paul, W2HRO for looking at the picture I send and seeing the issue in 15 seconds. I had disassembled the feed for transport to Curacao and I did not realize how it needs to all go back together on re-assembly. The plastic mount for the hybrid is on the lower half of the patch feed if the patch feed shell is orientated correctly- it matters. We party at my moon rise tonight!

 

February 10, 2023 It was a great moon pass with a fully functioning station. I worked every station that I saw with a two hour nap in the middle when the moon went above my ability to elevate. A quick tropical rain shower found me working stations while tucked under a tarp trying to keep the gear dry. After a sleep period I got back on for the setting moon and added three folks - VK2JDS went into the log at 0.5 degrees elevation.  

      

Twenty-two folks worked in this session for a total of 43 stations. High winds are forecast for the next few days with rain showers so it might be a while before I can try more EME. I've disassembled the station for now to protect the gear.

 

Worked were: OK1IL (-23), SP5GDM (-25), DG5CST (-16), IK3COJ (-23), PA0BAT (-21), IQ2DB (-22), YO2LAM (-23), ZS6JON (-25), SP7EXY (-26), DK3WG (-25), W5AFY (-24), DL8FBD (-26), PA0PLY (-28), ZS4TX (-23), N1AV (-23), KB2SA (-24), VE6TA (-23), W7JW (-24), N5BF (-25), JA6AHB (-25), K5DOG (-23), VK2JDS (-25).

February 13, 2023 - It was well worth it to set up for one last session. Between rain showers I worked G4CCH (-23) and stronger later on CW (419), DL7UDA (-26), YO2LAM (-24), DG0FE (-23), NC1I (-16), IK2DDR (-22), W5GLD (-26), and K7EME (-27). That brought the total of stations worked to 51. I'm well pleased with the result.

Kudos to W2HRO - not only have I used three versions of his folding dishes (1.6M, 1.8M, 2.4M) now, but his product support has been first class the whole way. His dishes make these portable forays a treat!

 

Also a big thank you to Brett, PJ2BR for letting me commandeer his 1.8m dish for this operation. Also a tip of the cap to K8ND for keeping my log updated to LoTW.  W3HNK will handle paper QSL card requests.

Behold the correct orientation of the hybrid device. 

 

Waiting for the moon to clear the ridge on the ?sun? deck.

PJ2T HF contest station - I'm also here as part of the ARRL DX CW team.

Moon Tracking Automation Project

 

It's alive! Test bench setup with the Sub-Lunar SL-1 unit tracking the rising sun using PSTrotator software.

 
    For the last few years and eight State 23cm EME activations I've been keeping the 2.4M dish on the moon manually. This works pretty well if I remember to run out every 10 minutes to re-aim, and I have a visual moon. It certainly is simple, but a 2.4M dish's beamwidth  is pushing the limit of manual aiming on 23cm. 

    With the ARRL EME contest in a few weeks and a Montana winter coming on it is finally time to embrace auto-tracking. A slew drive system was a bit beyond my budget, but Paul, W2HRO has just developed a tracking unit that I could afford. The Sub-Lunar SL-1 looks to be just the ticket to cut my workload down and keep my toes toasty warm while operating from the barn this winter. 

    My solution was to start with PSTRotator software running on my laptop to calculate the moon or sun position, and then talk to the Green Heron RT-21azel controller through two USB ports, the Green Heron RT-21azel  runs the motors on the SL-1 rotor system, counts the pulses from both the azimuth and elevation encoders to calculate the dish's position, and reports back to the program where the dish is pointing. As you can tell basically the challenge was to integrate and debug three separate systems.

    The Blue Heron Engineering RT-21azel  controller is adaptable to so many different types of rotors it took a while to figure out how to teach it the specifics of both axis of the SL-1 rotor unit. The biggest key to success was telling Green Heron Engineering to configure the unit as a SPID rotor before shipping, then I could make a few modifications to the settings from there using the RT-21 Utility software to properly fine tune the SL-1 rotor unit. This ensured the unit came with the jumpers properly placed inside the tightly packed chassis.

    I really like that you can reduce the size of the PSTRotator's screen once you're comfortable that everything is working well. Nice to save some laptop screen space.  

The all important "STOP" button is still there.

    Long story short - after about eight hours of set up, some step-by-step debugging, and then cable building all the units play together nicely. When the moon gets a bit more declination I'll move things out to the barn and try a few contacts.

Hands on test: I spend about 12 hours on the moon during the ARRL EME contest the weekend of October 15/16 and the automatic tracking allowed me to work 56 stations on 23cm. A very good result for a 2.4M dish, around 300 watts at the feed, and near apogee. What a pleasure to just be on the moon come clouds or open skies!

The SL-1 kept me on the moon the whole weekend.

6 Meter Wyoming Trip June 16 - 30, 2022

GRIDS: DN43, DN52, DN42, DN51, DN63, DN73
MODES: FT8, MSK144, Q65
CALL: KB7Q
GEAR: 4 element LFA Yagi, 500W, IC-7300, WSJT-X
LoTW: Yes
INTERNET: At times

Thank you Donors
K7BG, K1TO, W9XX, K8SIX, N5OMG, K5ND, W4AS, N5DG, KP4AJ, W8TN, N3XX, K4PI, W4IMD, N8BX, W3CP, N4WW, W3IP

 RESULTS
1452 contacts from six Wyoming grids were made at the height of Es Season. LoTW upload done.

DN44 - June 16 Yellowstone Park was closed due to flooding so our visit was not going to happen.

DN43 - June 17/18 Kelly, WY This grid turned out to be a dry hole! The band never did crack open. I worked N7NW and seven Arizona stations on FT8 'tis all. 

DN52 - June 19/20/21 Fremont Lake, WY. I operated from this grid in three different places looking for the best open terrain to the south and east. No double-hop occurred while here, but 265 contacts were made. A decent result. Working N5OMG left him with nine grids to go for FFMA. 

DN42 - June 22/23 We'll arrive mid-day and get set up on Fontenelle Reservoir. So far 121 contacts on a nice combination of Es double-hop, meteor scatter, and even Q65 scatter out to 800 miles. Very happy to work K4PI for his FFMA #486. More double-hop on the 23rd to bring the total worked to 300 contacts, and get K8SIX to FFMA #480, Al picked up three grids during this opening.

DN51 - June 24.  Breaking camp this morning and heading south to some BLM dispersed camping just above Green River, WY - the land of wild horses.  This will be a one day stop. There was double hop to Florida as soon as I turned the rig on. I can tell DN51 is not in demand as much as DN42. Lots of double hops all afternoon and evening SE and single hop to the west coast at times. 158 contacts so far.

DN73 - June 27/28  We're 25 miles north of Bill, WY. Two great days of double hop, single hop both east and west, and some scatter out to 770 miles using Q65.  325  stations logged, best DX was EA8DBM!. This spot is the highest perch for 20 miles in any direction. Having cell service was an unexpected bonus.  Rapid and sustained QSB meant it took a while, but W9XX was logged for his FFMA #484. N5DG popped in for his FFMA #480. It was quite hot here, and given that I worked a bunch,  we bugged-out after some meteor scatter late morning of the 28th and used the heat of the day to travel to DN63 with the a/c on full tilt

DN63 - June 28/29/30 We set up west of Kaycee, WY now at 6,000 feet in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. We arrived late afternoon, stuck up the Yagi and proceeded to work 125 station to well after sunset. More double-hop up and down the east coast and single hop throughout the Midwest. Some deep QSB to make it a challenge but on peaks we completed with W3CP to nudge him to #479 FFMA and best of all logged N3XX leaving him to work only two more grids to complete his FFMA award. Can one hope for more tomorrow? June 29 - Several nice Q65-30A contacts this morning out to 1100 miles. Then double hop east, single hop west, and in the evening lots of Texas stations in to push the total to 300+ contacts from DN63. Some ops in the morning, then pack it up and bounce back down the road. June 30 morning brought double hop to New England and I passed 400 contacts from this grid - a personal best. Also worked EA8DBM from this grid, the second time on this trip. XE2AT and I completed a 1500 mile Q65 contact over about 30 minutes. What a way to finish out our Wyoming grid ramble.

Looking northeast from our DN63 campsite at sunset.

A superb high ground location complete with antelope in DN73.

DN51 near the Oregon Trail - all sky and sage brush.

DN42 - Sage Brush and Fontenelle Reservoir late evening.

Corona y fajita celebrating 300 contacts from DN42.

70CM EME Montana (DN45)

 

Spring time in the Rocky Mountains. 9wl 70cm Yagi.

Over the weekend of May 6-8, 2022 I decided to put 70cm on EME as several folks needed Montana for their Worked All States award quest. The station was a single 9wl Yagi, 500 watts from a LDMOS SSPA, a very fine WD5AGO pre-amp, and an IC-9700 with GPS injection - a pretty small station for moonbounce. The weather started out with severe clear, but then the winds came followed by heavy wet snow. No matter, 25 stations were worked including one on CW. I hope this operation demonstrates that even a small station can be quite successful using Q65-60B mode on 70cm EME. Yes - I did tip the Yagi over and clear the snow off before operating!

Logged: OK1KIR (-17), DK4RC (-19), DL1VPL (-23), OT7K (-20), DL7APV (-12), PA2CHR (-23), HB9Q (-11), OH6UW (-24), UA3PTW (-16), W2HRO (-23), PA2V (-19), PA3HDG (-21), DL6SH (-13), DL8FBD (-24), W7JW (-24), W5LUA (-22), ES3RF (-18), AA5C (-27), K5DOG (-22), DK3WG (-16), SM7THS (-21), PA2V (-18), G4FUF (-22), PA5Y (-16). DL9KR (CW 539/549). LoTW updated.

Clear view of waterfall and spectrum during DL1VPL contact.

UTAH and COLORADO 23/70cm EME Outing

Dates: Utah April 6, 8 - 10   Colorado - April 13/15
Call: KB7Q - always 1st sequence

Location: Southeast Utah & Southwest Colorado - see below

Operating Schedule:

Utah

April 6 - 1800z start (due to travel) 70cm 432.090 Mhz DM58 near Green River, Utah
April 8 - MR 1800z 23cm  1296.090 MHz DM57 Valley of the Gods, Utah

April 9 - wind cancelled

April 10 - MR 2000 70cm 432.090 MHz DM57 Goosenecks State Park, Utah

Colorado

April 13 - MR 2300z 23cm 1296.090 Mhz DM57 Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado

April 15 - MR 0015Z 70cm 432.090 MHz DM57 Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado

 

Modes: 70cm Q65-60B, 23cm Q65-60C CFOM preferred, can do CW after I work digital stations

Gear: 70cm - 1x 9wl Yagi 500 watts  23cm - 2.4M dish, 400 watts

Internet: At times 

 

Thank you donors - NC1I, DL9KR, PA3FXB, DL7APV, OK1IL, DL1VPL

 

 April 15, 2022

 

 

A small RV makes for tight quarters, but everything has a place.

 The relay repair held up fine with the first 500 watt smoke test, and I had a very nice evening session on 70cm from here in Colorado (DM57oj) to finish up this trip's EME operating. I very much appreciate the folks in Europe crawling out of a warm bed in the middle of the night to give me a contact. The trip was a great success, and several folks added a State or two to their Worked All States quest. LoTW is up to date.

 

Worked: DG5CST (-13), PA5Y (-15), DK3WG (-15), ES3RF (-22), UA3PTW (-12), DL7APV (-5), NC1I (-11), OK1VUM (-17), ZS4TX (-22), OT7K (-18), OK1KIR (-15), SM7THS (-15), W2HRO (-22), K5DOG (-23), W5LUA (-15), DL1VPL (-19), W7MEM (-16), W7JW (-25). On CW I managed DL9KR (549), OK1KIR (419), DG5CST (429).

 

April 14, 2022

Last time I took the 70CM station apart I managed to twist the N connector loose form the body of the power relay in the pre-amp switching box and in the process bend the wiper arm. This morning with a full cup of coffee I managed to get things right and re-assemble the relay. We'll give 70CM EME a go from this lovely camping spot. 

 

Some creative bending of the actuator arm needed.

 

Relay repaired and back in its rightful place.

Easy to like this campsite. I flew the drone this morning as my reward for being Mr. Fixit.

 

April 13, 2022
 

Ute Mountain from the cliff top site. The ropes are extra wind anchoring insurance.

 

We'll gave 23cm EME a try today from Colorado. We found a great site at DM57oj on a cliff edge with Ute Mountain out there on the southern horizon. Setting up for a 2300z moonrise was easy, and the Internet connection was solid. Talk about having it all.

 

The site had no soil, it was all sandstone, so I laid my tent stakes horizontally, looped the tie-down strap around them, and put about 200 pounds of rocks on top. I also ran 2 lines upwind to make sure the gusts wouldn't topple the dish. Toward sunset the wind totally died as expected. 

 

A great session - plenty of folks worked on Q65-60C. NC1I (-18), OK1KIR (-16), G4CCH (-18), IQ2DB (-20), IK1FJI (-16), SM5DGX (-14), OT7K (-23), PA3DZL (-17), DK3WG (-24), N1AV (-23), K5DOG (-22), WA3RGQ (-24), OK1IL (-22), UA3PTW (-14), W5LUA (-19), AA4MD (-24), K6VHF (-28), FG8OJ (-33), XE1XA (-21), W5AFY (-23), G4YTL (-27), W2HRO (-23), KB2SA (-24), CX2SC (-25), KA1GT (-22), N0CTR (-20), W5LUA (-14), N5BF (-24)

 

Bonus - We stopped and hiked the trail at Sand Canyon Pueblo a few miles back down the Forest Service Road. Interesting to see the ruins of a site that was inhabited around 1250 A.D. by several hundred folks.

April 12, 2022

April snow SW Colorado. Given extreme drought this is a very good thing.

 The gate on the road to the Forest Service site I was going to use for the 23cm EME ops was closed and locked. How rude! We booked into an RV park down the road to re-group and wait out the storm. And a fine storm it is! It looks like April 16 or 17th before we can try another Colorado spot.

April 10, 2022

DM57ae - Utah. Looking way down at the San Juan River.

 Joyce and I decided to give Goosenecks State Park a visit, so we headed south for about 30 minutes, arrived, and set up the 70cm station easily. Even though it clouded over just before moonrise I was able to complete with 14 stations. We had to walk a whole 100 feet (30M) over to the edge to see the San Juan River meander 1,000 feet (320M) below us. 

 

Worked using Q65-60B: DL7APV ( -5), DL1VPL (-23), DG5CST (-15), OK1DFC (-22), PA5Y (-19), UA3PTW (-19), OK1KIR (-19), PA2V (-19), PA2CHR (-27), OK1VUM (-19), DL8FBD (-25), DK4RC (-19), OT7K (-21). DL9KR sure knows where to place his CW signal to get my attention - we completed effortlessly 539/559.

A nasty storm is going to hit the whole western part of the USA - we'll see how we fare in Colorado on 23cm tomorrow.

April 8, 2022

DM57cg, Valley of the Gods, Utah 2.4M dish ready to go.

 It was a perfect day for 23cm EME. We found a dandy spot well off the road in the Valley of the Gods and set up easily. No wind, visible moon, and Murphy was missing in action. I worked all I heard! 24 stations were logged, all with good signals. Things really died off in three hours, so after another hour of CQ'ing to a quiet band I stopped and went for a hike. Later I got the drone out and shot this video.

In the log via Q65-60C: NC1I (-12), DG5CST (-8), UA3PTW (-11), DL4DTU (-16), OK1DFC (-19), IQ2DB (-22), HB9Q (-9), DK3WG (-25), N1AV (-27), OK1CA (-11), PA3FXB (-23), ES3RF (-17), DL8FBD (-22), G4CCH (-16), IK1FJI (-16), DK4RC (-12), OK1IL (-23), VE4MA (-21), DL7UDA (-20), W5AFY (-20), ON4AOI (-23), DG0FE (-22), W2HRO (-22), RA4HL (-15).

The next morning before the big winds arrived I shot a sunrise video to show you more of the Valley Of The Gods and  here also.

 

April 6, 2022

DM58cv Near Green River, Utah on BLM land

 A challenging, but fun day. We drove the 150 miles down from Provo and was QRV only 5 minutes late at 1805z. On 70cm Q65-60B EME I worked OK1KIR (-18), NC1I (-10), DL1VPL (-23), ES3RF (-24), UA3PTW (-12), DL7APV (-11), SM7THS (-20), HB9Q (-11), ON4AOI (-22), W2HRO (-22), DL5FN (-19), PA2V (-17), W5LUA (-17), and G4YTL (-20). On CW it was a pleasure to work DL9KR with 559 exchanged both ways - we hit it just right!. LoTW upload done.

    Murphy tried his best today. The amp suddenly died - when I opened it up the little piece of Teflon coax that serves as a capacitor in the output section was rattling around in the bottom of the amp. The heat had melted the solder! My bad - I usually do put a small fan inside the amp, but I didn't add it to the 70cm unit. I will. Long story short - I soldered the coax back in place and got back on the air.

 

Back in place you go!