----- Original Message ----- From: "David Olean" k1whs@metrocast.net To: david.barber@dbelectronics.co.uk; "'Moon-Net'" moon-net@list-serv.davidv.net; amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 11:06 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: [Moon-net] Arecibo on Handy
I tried the same thing with one of my FO432 11 el beams handheld with a bare FT817 this afternoon. This was right after getting home from the VHF Conference in Connecticut. I could hear KP4AO very well on JT65 right out of the speaker. My XYL heard the tones 25 meters away while she was raking leaves in the yard. I handheld the antenna . While at the conference we experimented with small yagis and a preamp. KP4AO was pretty good on a 7 el wood boom yagi, weak on a 3 element yagi, and very weak but audible on just a dipole. The kicker was when AF1T produced his di-pickle, which was a feedpoint with a small pickle on each side that approximated a full half wave on 432. KP4AO was barely detectable on the pickle antenna. Dale, AF1T says he wants to get more gain by building a cu-pickle quad! This may be the first reception of eme with VBD (Vinegar Based Dipole) technology! We actually erected a small eme station for KP4AO that ran off emergency power and was situated in the back of the rear parking lot at the hotel. It attracted much interest and we had great copy on SSB ad CW with the KP4AO running an amplifier. They were sort of weak on SSB when running just 20 watts. We did manage to work them with the VHF club call, W1RJA. The wx was poor, cold with rain.
73 Dave K1WHS
Hi Dave, K1WHS
Tank you for your Arecibo EME report.Actually I am looking at the photograph of you in your shack in Fig-1 published in to THE MOONBOUNCE GROUP PART 1 by the EIMAC document AS49-10 "Dave Olean, K1WHS and his operating position. The antenna for 144 MHz moon-bounce work is a 160-element collinear on a polar-mount.The final amplifier uses a pair of 4CX250B tubes."
Also I am looking at The EIMAC publication AS49-11 IDEAS FOR EME ANTENNA ELEVATION DRIVERS Fig.4 " K1WHS found this Quasi-Polar mount in a surplus store.With a little ingenuity an elevation drive system can be developed around what can be found in junkyards and surplus stores"
Sorry I got not the chance to contact you off the moon in 144 MHz early between 1977 to 1980 because I was involved in 432 MHz EME but you can see the photograph of my EME array 16 x 21 element yagi depicted into the EIMAC document AS49-20 THE MOONBOUNCE GROUP PART-3
The actual situation in 432 MHz here is very different because early in 1977-1980 the 70 cm band was very clean without the RF pollution even 20 km away from the city of Naples where I leave.
In 1976 I was able to receive the EME SSB and CW signals transmitted by the 40 meters dish of Menlo Park California WA6LET only using a 4 x 20 element yagi and a preamplifier just with a BFR-90 bipolar transistor. Actually I was not able to receive Arecibo KP4AO because in 432.045 MHz there is a digital spurious digital signal here with more than 10 dB over the noise in my receiver. What difference here from the early EME pioneering days !
I am very happy to know that you are still into the EME trench with great success.
Actually here near the city of Naples only the satellite operation is possible and EME is marginally possible going from 1296 MHz and up.
By the way Dave your letter was a very nice opportunity for me to remember the old EME pioneering days !
Best 73" de
i8CVS Domenico