I have had some issues with aiming the antenna as the feedback from the G-5600B has been very flaky – I found out that it’s very likely [...]]]> I decided to put the antennas up and take part in the ARRL contest as the WX forecast was good – specially so late in the winter.

I have had some issues with aiming the antenna as the feedback from the G-5600B has been very flaky – I found out that it’s very likely a dirty pot in the back of the control unit. Then my beloved amp blew a fuse .

I’m hearing quite well – but sometimes it’s like people dont hear me!

I’m sad to have missed Japan and other Asia stations – but I have houses obstructing the east path to the moonrise! Now there is a clear plan forming to try to get VK/ZL/JA in the 2m EME log! I might have to wait for the moon to be in a northern declination – and perhaps move my QTH temporarily.

From my current QTH I dont see the moon from about 280° – 0 – 80° – and I always have to have at least 6° elevation.

update: Thank you for all your patience ! this was really fun – just under 100 QSO’s total in this try!

All QSO’s logged here on this page: http://www.tf3cy.is/eme-qso

73, Benni TF3CY

having so much fun and frustration working the moon!

73, Benni TF3CY

I had the moon low but getting close to my neighbors – so not wanting to send around 15-30KW EIRP into their houses I had to quit.

N7NW, AD7TJ and W7MEM where all finished within 30 minutes – reports where about -22 [...]]]> I made 3 2m EME QSO’s using a borrowed Kenwood TS-2000

I had the moon low but getting close to my neighbors – so not wanting to send around 15-30KW EIRP into their houses I had to quit.

N7NW, AD7TJ and W7MEM where all finished within 30 minutes – reports where about -22 to -26db.

so I will be QRV next few days during the best-cond with my borrowed TS2000 – but I really hope I can get my beloved K3 working soon.

I bought my dream transceiver and have been generally pleased with the performance of the K3. It’s amazing how easy it is to interface to it and it’s a pure experimenters dream. Now I’m playing with LP-PAN adapter.

I had a DEMI 60W 2m transverter on [...]]]> Okay – now to elaborate on this problem.

I bought my dream transceiver and have been generally pleased with the performance of the K3. It’s amazing how easy it is to interface to it and it’s a pure experimenters dream. Now I’m playing with LP-PAN adapter.

I had a DEMI 60W 2m transverter on order but decided to buy the K144XV-K module for the K3 as my amplifier only needs about 10W for a 500W output.

I was very eager to get on the air – but to my great dissapointment the K3 + K144XV has problems.

1. frequency stability after 50s transmit cycle. I see signals in RX drift up to 60hz after TX sequence. Littlebit less if I lower the drive.
2. Birdies – all around.

In this picture, you can see HA6NQ’s drace on 0Hz DF – and some birdies. After TX you can see everything moving.
I had reports from stations monitoring that my signal was also drifting.

When I ordered the K3+K144XV I saw no option of the RFLK board. So it must have just gotten available shortly after I made the order, or perhaps I just did not notice it. My K3 has the TCXO option installed.

As it appears, the K144XV is unusable on JT65B. I have not yet gotten the RFLK board delivered so the problem will hopefully go away when I lock the K144XV to the master XO.

Now in my oppinion, Elecraft should have a BIG warning sign when ordering the K144XV that it is unusable on JT65 – as they must have tested this. I got an answer from Elecraft saying that K144XV with the RFLK has been field tested and is working well. I’m not very happy to have spent $390 on a transverter where I could have spent little more and gotten a 60W transverter from DEMI (not that I know how that is performing). So Elecraft is selling a bad product there and then letting you spend more to fix it. The RFLK should just be a free upgrade from them!

Birdies:
I notices I had alot of birdies on 2m. I have my LCD monitors elevated on a small standoff table on top of my desk. When I pulled the K3 underneath the standoff I noticed that the birdies disappeared. Same thing if I turn off the LCD. This might point to an unclean power supply etc of the LCD – but the TS-2000 did not show this weakness. I started looking at the K3 – it has a open “grill” for the PA air intake. There we have the unprotected BNC connector for the antenna as well the HF. Not sure if this is the source – but it’s quite possible. I put a 50×50 aluminium plate on top of the table and grounded- problem went away. So the K3 is not very well shielded I think. These are just observations – no real measurements.

Now I hope hope hope the $89 RFLK board will fix this.

and darn, I was going to buy a IC-748PRO – but as it was rumored to be unstable on 2m in I decided to get the super stable K3

not thrashing K3 – know it’s a great radio – but I put a question mark over the K144XV and that you have to pay more to get it usable.

73, Benni TF3CY

I have some strange problem with my setup, not sure if it’s the K3+K144XV or the soundcard or computer…

5 watts in, 250w out quite good gain I must say – 15dB

Due to a faulty Bird element – I could not go all the way, also missing a [...]]]> After now 2-3 months of constant pondering, ebay browsing, googling, pestering people with questions I have something to show – amplifier is near completion !

5 watts in, 250w out quite good gain I must say – 15dB

Due to a faulty Bird element – I could not go all the way, also missing a bigger fuse.  so I will hopefully be able to borrow a bigger element to fully test the amplifier – now called Gandalf the gray!

here is a link to the project: http://www.tf3cy.is/2m-linear

Now I just have the issue that the MCU control board is rebooting when in XMIT – and I have some programming to do so I will get accurate voltage / current readings. Hope closing the RF unit will solve the reboot issue – perhaps I have to go to ebay and buy some old analog front panel meters ;/

- Benni TF3CY

So I have been having big problems trying to get a pre-amp working inline.

The problem is that it has to be sequenced in and out correctly. Then the grand plan was to introduce a big linear amplifier into the equation.

I had several issues – I had no good relays, except [...]]]> Hi all

So I have been having big problems trying to get a pre-amp working inline.

The problem is that it has to be sequenced in and out correctly. Then the grand plan was to introduce a big linear amplifier into the equation.

I had several issues – I had no good relays, except for some big 24AC relays I bought by mistake on Ebay. Budget does not allow some cool vacuum relays – so I decided I would use what I have.

As I’m pretty lousy in designing proper DC circuits – I decided to use a project that was already underway, my Amplifier + rotor controller + sequencer that I have been working on. I had already put a vero bord into a small chassis and hooked a LCD + rotary encoder + some push-buttons. I even had some 7 port darlinton relay drivers on hand.

So toady I have put the relay into the chassis – built a relay buffer -with some relays to switch on 28V AC going into the BIG RF relays (not really RF relays) and gotten everything to work.

This is mainly because I use a small board called Teensy2++ – that houses a really powerful Atmega microcontroller. It has numerous in and out ports – 8 A/D converters and runs on 16Mhz – so you can be really sloppy programming it – wont notice it to much. And the best part is the bootloader that comes with the teensy – you have a small program running – it will detect when you press the reset button on the teensy and upload a new code in 1-2s via USB. This is so much faster than ANY ICSP programmer I have tried and is perfect for someone like me. trial and error!

So I could just plow through writing the sequencer code upon my “testbed” with the LCD and everything hooked up. So now I have a working sequencer.

Only really bad hack was to intercept the PTT line from Signalink USB to the Kenwood. Time was short – I did a ugly thing… look at the picture. Probably have to order a new cable from Signalink.

Here are some pictures – This will hopefully be finished some day – preamp is working – now just the big test – try to xmit!

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