Tag Archives: 1296 MHz

Aircraft Scatter, AirScout and the ISS

February 23rd, 2013

Frank, DL2ALF has written an amazing tool for aircraft scatter prediction, called AirScout. Positions of planes are shown in a map like at http://planefinder.net or http://www.flightradar24.com, but in addition the path and the part of it, where planes could be seen from both stations will be marked. Frank is using open street map for the maps and an elevation model of NOAA to respect the topography of the path. I made use of a beta version last Tuesday in the NAC on 23 cm and found it extremly helpful.

The latest version can be found here.

Thank you Frank!

Path DJ5AR – IK3HHG with planes and topography

As can be seen in the screenshot, the effective area is excentric to the center of the path. It is displaced southwards because IK3HHGs horizon is limited by the alps.

Eight times IK3HHG shifted by doppler, corresponding to the screenshot above

Last saturday at the GHz meeting in Dorsten Frank told me, that he integrated the groundtrack of the International Space Station to be drawn in the map too. So we have been discussing about the possibility of performing QSOs via reflections at the ISS.

AirScout with groundtrack of ISS

Back home I was very optimistic and used overflights, where the ISS passed by nort of my location to look out for reflections of GB3MHL on 23 cm, but had no success. There was no trace at all in the waterfall diagram of my SDR. The duration of a pass is only up to 9 minutes and the expected doppler shift is +/- 84 kHz due to the high speed of 28000 km/h. So even if something could be heared or seen, tracking and decoding the signal will be another problem to be resolved.

But anyway: I am looking for somebody to perform tests with me, just to detect reflections at the ISS. Skeds are welcome via chat (ON4KST and HB9Q) or email dj5ar (at) darc.de

Review: Activity week Rhineland-Palatine 2013

January 14th, 2013

It was big fun working in contest for a whole week. I felt a bit like Phil Connors in the movie “Groundhog Day” (german: “Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier”), in meeting most of the stations again day by day. My main activity was in the evenings on 23 and 13 cm, using 2 m, 70 cm and the ON4KST chat to arrange skeds. The conditions were slightly over normal but increasing on monday with a small opening to France. During the seven days I could work one new square on 2 m (JN15), two on 23 cm (JN09, JN15) and three on 13 cm (JN09, JO42, JO44). There were only two 4-band QSOs with DL7QY and DC1UR.

My top 5 of the most worked stations in this contest are:
DF8PR    16 QSOs on 3 bands (2 m, 70 cm, 23 cm)
DC8WPA   15 QSOs on 3 bands (2 m, 70 cm, 23 cm)
DK7UP    13 QSOs on 3 bands (2 m, 70 cm, 23 cm)
DL7QY    12 QSOs on 4 bands (2 m, 70 cm, 23 cm, 13 cm)
G3XDY     8 QSOs on 2 bands (23 cm, 13 cm)

Thank you all for your support and your patience!

Statistics:
        total      District K     DL ex K    France     I,OE,G,LX    Squares
Band    QSO Stn    QSO Stn DOK    QSO Stn    QSO Stn    QSO Stn      total new
 144    100  58     72  31  18     25  24      3   3      0   0        11   1
 432     65  31     54  22  15     11   9      0   0      0   0         6   0
1296     73  34     27   9   8     21  11     14  10     11   4        21   2
2320     28  15      2   2   2     14   8      5   3      7   2        12   3

Opening November 14th – 16th

November 18th, 2012

Just a few contacts could be logged, because I was short in time during this opening. But some new squares were worked on 23 and 13 cm. SM7ECM in JO65nq was a new country on 13 cm.

Opening October 19th – 23rd

October 24th, 2012

The beacon check in the morning of October 19th gave me the impression of a strong inversion over southeast Germany. When looking for Stations on 23 cm on the SDR I noticed a big signal in CW: OE5VRL/5 calling to Hungary. I gave him a meep in the chat to tell him how strong his signal was here in Mainz, despite the fact that I was in the back of his 3 m dish. After turning the antenna to me he was stronger than many locals.

In the following days a lot of DX stations from OK, SP, HA, S5, OE, HB9, F, LX, G, PA, I and OZ filled the log while the inversion moved from east to west. All of the four OK beacons could be heard on 23 cm. Sometimes it was a little bit confusing when I was looking for new DX beacons and DB0AAT, DB0AJA, DB0GP, DB0LB, DB0FGB, DF0ANN, HB9EME and others could be heard in nearly any direction the dish was pointing to.

QSOs on 23 cm > 400 km

QSOs on 13 cm > 400 km

QSOs on 13 cm > 400 kmI am happy with a couple of new squares on 23 and 13 cm. Two new countries on 13 cm made it perfect: S51ZO in Slovenia and I1KFH in Italy. But I fear that it was more aircraft scatter than tropo.

Beacons heard on 23 cm

DB0AAT	JN67HU
DB0AJA	JN59AS
DB0FGB	JO50WB
DB0GP	JN48WQ
DB0LB	JN48OV
DB0LTG	JO31TB
DB0VC	JO54IF
DB0WTT	JO40LG
DB0YI	JO42XC
DF0ANN	JN59PL
DF5AY	JN49DX
F1XBC	JN06JG
F1ZBK	JN38BP
F5XBK	JN18JS
HB9BBD	JN47GA
HB9EME	JN37KB
OK0EA	JO70UP
OK0EJ	JN99FN
OK0EL	JO70SQ
OK0EQ	JN89BE
PI6ASD	JO22KJ
PI7ALK	JO22IP
SR6LHZ	JO70SS

NAC(?) 23 cm – October 2012

October 16th, 2012

The Nordic Activity Contest is always a very good opportunity to work . . . Italians!

Tonight everything was upside down. After loosing John, G3XDY in QSB – a fact that is very, very strange – I wanted to turn the dish via south to north, when Sergio, I1KFH was meeping me. We tried and had our QSO in SSB. What else to say? Giorgio, IK3GHY followed as well as Robert, IZ4BEH and Frank, IK3HHG and Walter, IW2BNA and finally Roberto, IK2OFO.

Mille grazie. Buona notte!

NAC to Italy

Contest results on 23 cm: 1990 vs 2012

October 11th, 2012

My operating conditions have changed quite a lot compared to October 1990. But my QTH is still the same in the south of Mainz, JN49CV. The most serious circumstance is, that we have internet and software defined radios nowadays. The possibility to arrange skeds and to gather information is revolutionary. It´s easy to find stations in the waterfall diagram, that are not on your frequency. No more CQs for hours and hours. Instead the chat must be watched and skeds will be arranged.

QSOs in October contest 1990

Rig: 1.2 m dish / 10 m RG213 / 120 W

Claimed result: 78 QSOs, 12000 km, ODX 404 km

QSOs in October contest 2012

Rig: 3 m dish / 3.5 m ecoflex 15 / 0.4 dB preamp / 10 m ecoflex 15 / 200 W

Claimed result: 53 QSOs, 18000 km, ODX 725 km

IARU-Region-1 UHF/Microwaves October Contest

October 8th, 2012

“Bad weather and bad conditions” that is, what most comments say about this contest. The weather here in Mainz was bad too, but I cannot compare the conditions with the contests in the last years, because my last participation in this contest was in 1990. This year it ended up in 50 QSOs on 23 cm and 19 on 13 cm. I am quite satisfied with these results.

QSOs on 23 cm

QSOs on 13 cm

My new ODX on 13 cm is OL9W in JN99CL over 720 km. A lot of new squares could be worked too. Many DX stations were nearly as strong as they were on 23 cm.

Short opening on September 6th 2012

September 7th, 2012

After spending a day in Leipzig, I came home quite late. In the train already I had a look to the KST chat and on the Hepburn index. Both promised an interesting evening. After turning the dish to the west, I heard GB3USK in IO81 (783 km) very loud via tropo. In the following hours I could work G4EAT in JO01, G4ALY in IO70 (888 km), GU6EFB in IN89 (778 km), G6HIE in IO90 and F9OE in IN78 (954 km) on 1296 MHz. The most impressive signal was the one of Keith, GU6EFB from Guernsey, who was 59 here in Mainz, by running only 10 W in SSB.

Opening on September 6th – QSOs on 23 cm – QRB > 500 km

Aircraft scatter – very special

August 27th, 2012

In the evening I had the dish pointing to the moon to perform some echo tests. After finishig that, there was some office work to do. The pc was still tracking the moon and showing the spectrum around 1296.030 in a waterfall diagram. After a while I noticed a strong signal at .050 keyed in F2. It lasted just for a few seconds before it disappeared. I watched the display and could see it every now and then with various signal strength. Very soon I identified it as HB9BBD. This beacon is always very strong here – as long as the dish is turned in the right direction (175°), but at present it was pointing to the moon with an azimuth of 130° and an elevation of 10°. While thinking about that, I was looking at the moon outside the window, hearing the signal coming up in QSB and seeing a plane passing the moon.

Since Frankfurt airport is not too far from my QTH in Mainz, planes are passing by in a wide variety of altitudes. Using planefinder.com I was was able to find a correlation between reflections and planes flying in certain heigths, distances and directions. May be it will be possible to use aircrafts not only for forward scatter. If anyone is interested to try aircraft side scatter, please contact me. It could be helpful, when obstructions like noise sources, buildings or mountains are blocking the direct path.

Contest July 2012

July 8th, 2012

The past week I was ill and had to stay in bed. So all the improvements I had planned for 13 cm weren’t done. Because I was short in time, only Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon could be used to be QRV on 23 cm. In the ON4KST chat I arranged a couple of skeds. Finally 29 QSOs filled the log. Most of the DX contacts have been made eastwards to OK (10) and OM (3). Other countries worked are DL, OZ, I, G, PA, OE and S5. At least I logged 5 QSOs with a QRB of more than 700 km. ODX was OM6A in JN99jc over 769 km.

QSOs on 23 cm – QRB > 500 km