December 8th, 2016
The yagis are full of ice and no more useable. The dish just grins about!
Tag Archives: dish
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!
Presentation “Let´s Bounce” IIa
October 21st, 2014
Last night, when I was going to switch off all the stuff in my shack, I saw an email from Malte, DE7LMS. I opened it and found a link to a video he recorded of my recent presentation in Weinheim.
Presentation “Let´s Bounce” III
My presentation “Let´s Bounce” will be given on two more dates:
October 25th, 2014 on the 4th Hessian GHz Meeting in Fernwald
Short version of the lecture with focus on aircraft scatter and ISS bounce.
We meet at 15:00 MEST on the car park at the town hall. There will be a flee market for GHz stuff and the opportunity to test own equipment or to have QSOs with other participants.
Gaststätte “Ratsschänke”
Oppenröder Strasse 1, 35463 Fernwald-Steinbach
Locator: JO40JN33VG
November 7th, 2014, 20:00 MET on the monthly meeting of DARC OV Miltenberg, B24
Full Version with overview of propagation modes, aircraft scatter, ISS bounce and visual moonbounce.
Deutscher Amateur Radio Club e.V.
Ortsverband Miltenberg, B24
Gasthaus “Goldenes Faß”
Kirchstraße 13, 63920 Großheubach
Locator: JN49OR64JJ
If you like to attend or need further information, just send an email to dj5ar (at) darc.de
New 23 cm Beacon DB0XY in JO51EU
September 22nd, 2014
Jürgen, DK2AN phoned me tonight, to tell me, the new beacon DB0XY will be transmitting on 1296.910 MHz. It is located on the Bocksberg in the Harz mountains in JO51EU, about 750 m asl. The power is 10 W into a 4 times double quad, omnidirectional. The keying is in A1: callsign, locator, carrier, dashes, carrier….
In a first quick try it could be received here with 519 to 539 via tropo. When Planes crossed the path, the signal increased up to 559.
Another beacon will be installed on 13 cm soon. The intention is to provide beacons for monitoring via aircraft scatter.
Please spot any reception in the DX cluster.
Reception of HAM TV aboard the ISS
July 31st, 2014
At present the HAM TV transmitter aboard the International Space Station performs blank transmissons until August 6th, 2014. No camera is attatched, so only signal levels can me measured.
This was an opportunity for me to check out the FSTV-equipment, I set up during the last months. So my very first attempt last night was successful. I used the pass at 23:50 UTC on July 30th, 2014.
I am looking forward to see some pictures in near future.
Reception of ISEE-3
July 30th, 2014
For quite a while now I try to catch a signal of ISEE-3. Because of severe thunderstorms, there was no opportunity to check out yesterday. But today (July 30th, 2014) is the day to listen to this 36 year old bird.
The signal of the beacon on 2,270.414 MHz isn´t too strong, but clearly audible in the speaker. The actual distance is about 1.6 million km, the furthermost man made signal I ever received!
The downlink transponder A on 2.270.4 MHz uses an antenna array with a gain of 7 dBi, a beamwidth of 12° and circular polarisation. The nominal TX power is 5 W.
The equipment I am using, is just a FUNcube Dongle Pro with a 13 cm ATV converter (LO 916 MHz, IF 1,354 MHz) and a 13 cm LNA near the 23/13 cm dual band ringfeed at my 3 m dish.
Frequency calibration is performed on ordinary 13 cm beacons like DB0UX. The dish calibration is done by optimizing sun noise on 23 cm or the levels of SIRIUS satellites on 13 cm.
The rhythmical fading of the signal seems to be caused by the space probe´s spin of 19.76 revolutions per minute.
Impressive Thunderstorm
June 10th, 2014
The destructive thunderstorm in the Köln/Düsseldorf area last night was intense enough to provide rainscatter even on 1.3 GHz. DB0AJA near Würzburg in JN59AS could be heard with the typical rainscatter sound when the dish was heading 325°. An awful lot of water must have been in the air. The total distance of the signal path was about 400 km (150 + 250).
The waterfall shows the spread of the signal. DB0AJA runs 20 W output into a 16 element Flexa yagi beaming northwest.
Reopening of Dwingeloo 25 m Radiotelescope
April 5th, 2014
After an extensive restoration by ASTRON and the CAMRAS foundation, the 25m dish of the radiotelescope in Dwingeloo has been reopened by astrononomer, radio amateur and Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Joseph Taylor, K1JT, on April 5th, 2014.
In future it will be used by radio amateurs, amateur astronomers and artists for certain projects.