Details

Written by Alan GM3PSP

Published: 27 July 2020

Hits: 281

                                         GM8BJF/P                                  GM4BYF/P 

Brian GM8BJF reports: Pete GM4BYF and myself have recently built up VK3CV 122GHz (2.4cm wavelength)  transceiver boards into portable systems and have been doing some tests with them. On Thursday 23rd July we had what we believe wss the first GM to GM contact across a distance of 0.69 km between two hills in Edinburgh and on Saturday 25th July we went down to the English border and had what we believe to be the first GM to G contact on the band. 

Interestingly, Doppler effects were observed even at walking speed on this band (no fire-engine required)!             
We were using the system in its most basic form with 25 mm circular horns. Plans are now afoot to add refinements such as GPS locking and improved antennas and try for longer paths having established the basic functionality of our setups.

John G3XDY of the UK Microwave Group has confirmed that these are "Firsts" for GM/GM & GM/G on 122GHz. Certificates will be awarded. Congratulations to Brian and Pete. 

John G4BAO has credited Brian and Pete with the GM-G "First" in his GHz Bands page (64) in the November 2020 RadCom & link to Brian's webpage.

     GM8BJF/P seen across the border from G4BYF/P.                                 (International DX !)

Full details with more photos and 3 short videos are on Brian's website at: 
https://gm8bjf.joomla.com/2-uncategorised/23-122-ghz-activities 

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Details

Written by Alan GM3PSP

Published: 20 July 2020

Hits: 351

Brian GM4DIJ returned to his favourite portable location at IO74mu about 8km south of Stranraer, to operate in the 70MHz Trophy contest on 19th July. 

Brian's station was an FT847 into a TE Systems linear amp with 100W output. The antenna was the 11-element VHF NFD yagi re-spaced as a 6 element, which was a struggle to erect to 5m in the wind, but at least the wx was sunny.

Valid QSOs: 30

Claimed QSO points: 9224

Claimed # of exchanges: 23

Claimed # of DXCCs: 4

Claimed total score: 249,048

Best DX: G3XDY; JO02ob; 513km.

Mni tnx to Brian for providing this report.

See also Brian's 23cm entry in March 2020

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Details

Written by Alan GM3PSP

Published: 21 July 2020

Hits: 363

 WorldRadioHistory.com

Many thanks to Brian GM8BJF who has just reported finding a potentially very useful website: https://WorldRadioHistory.com which provides detailed links to a very large number of publications serving the Amateur, Broadcasting and Music interests. You can search for specific pages in the publications, from the first edition onwards.  

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Details

Written by Alan GM3PSP

Published: 09 April 2020

Hits: 549

We again had 10 participants for Viral Net 34 on 25th November 2020, controlled by Colin GM4HWO: Mike GM8KCS, Pete GM4BYF, Brian GM8BJF, Peter GM4DTH, Melvyn GM4HYR, Alan GM3PSP, John GM8OTI, Briain GM8PKL, Brian GM4DIJ. Colin's new skylight was now fitted and he had put up two extra aerials including a folded dipole, now looking for rotators. Mike was working on his FT-817 and a car radio. Pete, a newbee to the technology, had several Raspberry-Pi projects. He would be giving a talk to the Wigtownshire ARS soon via Zoom and would try to make this available to LRS members. Brian BJF was only audible to some, not including your scribe! Pete reported that BJF was working on a spectrum analyzer, signal generator and a GPS unit. Peter had had  another QSO with Toby MM0TSS/M who will shortly be taking over the RSGB GB2RS reserve newsreader position in his area. Melvyn was skipping household jobs for the time being to work on a Raspberry-Pi project. He had found some photos of Leith Nautical College for the website. Alan had found his LRS website problem was due to his Chrome browser and had switched to Edge, also trying Firefox. He had just put up some interesting photos on the home page and was correcting menu issues with much help from John. John himself had local noise issues but was surviving. Briain would get back to his antenna work on the next calm day. He had found some great photos of work up a tower at Green Lowther in heavy icing conditions which he would supply for the website. Brian DIJ and Brian BJF had both been on the contest at the weekend but conditions had been very poor. DIJ had only worked 8 stations including 2 in IO83 and none on 13.9cm. There was a suggestion of holding an LRS meeting on ZOOM.   E&OE. Audio tnx Peter:

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The next LRS Viral Net #35 will be on Wed 2nd Dec at 20:00a on 144.350MHz SSB - all welcome!

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Ten participants took part in Viral Net 33 on 18th November 2020, controlled by Colin GM4HWO: Mike GM8KCS, Pete GM4BYF: Brian GM8BJF, Alan GM3PSP, Norrie GM1CNH, Peter GM4DTH, Brian GM4DIJ, Briain GM8PKL and John GM8OTI. Mike was working on his FT-817 which needs an ATU. His G5RV antenna needs a balun, but he was not planning any roof-climbing any more! Pete had recorded his choir's Christmas concert. UHF conditions were poor with only aircraft-scatter giving a QSO with G8CUL in IO91 (Oxfordshire). Pete's antenna had been rotated by the wind. He was due to present a talk to the Wigtonshire ARS on-line. Both Pete and Peter had some ideas to help the antenna situation of Bill GM8SQM who had had difficulty hearing some stations on this net. Colin's skylight had been fitted and he now hoped to put up new antennas. He was looking forward to his 60th birthday shortly. Brian BJF was audible by some but not all tonight. He was suffering from SM-PSU noise from his linear amp. Alan continued to work on the website but with a problem of spurious text being inserted at the bottom of articles. John and Andy were helping with this. Norrie had ordered a new vertical antenna for /P operation and was planning expeditions for next year. Peter was thanked by Alan for continuing to provide audio recordings of these nets. Brian DIJ had been in the microwave contest on Sunday and had worked Pete. Briain was hoping that his rotator would not cause problems for his (lawyer) neighbour next door!. He noted that the latest I-phones contained 14Bn chips! John reported that he had been following the recent Space-X launch. Audio tnx Peter:

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There were 8 participants in Viral Net 32 chaired by Colin GM4HWO on 11th November 2020: Peter GM4DTH, Briain GM8PKL, Pete GM4BYF, Alan GM3PSP, John GM8OTI, Mike GM8KCS and Brian GM4DIJ. Nothing heard from the Peebles direction. Peter reported on frequency calibration work he had been doing. Briain and Alan reported on meeting up in the wine aisle (where else?) at Morrisons supermarket. Pete and Kay were recovering from a week on the beach on the Island of Rhodos last week - it's tough, but somebody has to do it! Alan was continuing work with archival photos on the LRS website. Colin hoped to have the work completed on his skylight. Mike had repaired his G5RV antenna and had fitted a balun. He had seen a nice D/F Rx on eBay. Brian had been on CW and had been out running.

Audio tnx Peter:

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The next LRS Viral Net #33 will be on Wed 18th Nov at 20:00a on 144.350MHz SSB - all welcome!

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Colin GM4HWO was back in control at Viral Net 31 on 4th November with six participants: Briain GM8PKL, Peter GM4DTH, Mike GM8KCS, Alan GM3PSP & Brian GM4DIJ. Colin had been busy in his shack with his Pye equipment. Briain was still working on his new 2m antenna installation. Peter had had another QSO with Toby MM0TSS on a visit back to Edinburgh. Mike was working on his antennas and his boiler! Alan reported on the many archival photos from Peter, Norrie & David GM4ZNX (tnx) which he was preparing for the website - see list under "News" on this page. Brian was back from Stranraer. Audio tnx Peter:

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For reports of previous nets, go to Meeting Reports.

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