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Tower 1

Tower 1
Tower 1: Main tower supporting 50MHz 6M2WLC yagi, 14MHz 5 element yagi and 75m full wave loop.
Please note that all times are in UTC. As such comments relate to the next morning/day AEST unless otherwise stated.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The impact of ex-Cyclone Oswald took complete precedence over the lack of propagation!

The lack of power and the ensuing clean-up has filled much of our time. For us, wind gusts >100kmh were experienced, damage was minimal with just trees down or split.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Amazing doppler on Alan VK4WR CQn on 6m at present..
1296MHz 36el DL6WU yagis finally went through SWR testing this afternoon with the help of Kevin VK4UH.

The Field Day version tested 1.1:1. Wow! (fluke??) The one for use here at home tested 1.6:1. Swapped the DJ9BV driven element I build this morning to the second yagi and SWR 1.2:1

Both yagis have now had the feed points epoxied.

One very happy amateur!
The 12el DL6WU 144MHz yagi in place for providing reception reports for beacon test.....
Must get tower #3 down and maintenance completed so this can be permanently installed!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Following on from last weeks FD test at the site above Kobble Creek, and observing the amazing signals that Doug VK4OE/P was delivering to Peter VK4EA/P, I ran a quick analysis of the path. Whilst the data was interesting, the terrain plot provided a simple answer... uninterrupted line of sight!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The 7/16 DIN to N-type adapters just arrived in the post from China... now I can progress work on the 432MHz amplifier.
Let the fun begin!!!!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Some weak Es propagation to both ZL and VK3 currently. But one interesting observation was the amount of drift observed on John VK4ZJB CW CQ call on 50.1107MHz which can be clearly seen in the following screen grab.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The VHF/UHF Field Day wrapped up at 0100z today. My efforts were centred entirely around 1296MHz with contacts only made there in the last 24 hours (except for one exception, that being UR5FA/MM on 50MHz late Saturday afternoon)

As the VHF/UHF antenna here at VK4CZ are still to grace tower #3, the 36el 1296MHz DL6WU yagi was placed on a short pole and positioned on the driveway. Whilst no remarkable contacts were had, it was good to work a number of stations around Brisbane and also Doug VK4OE/P near Springbrook.
This morning, Peter VK4EA/P made the effort to active 'my' Field Day spot near Kobble Creek with operations on 1.2, 2.4, 3.4 and 5.7GHz.

An amazing path between VK4EA/P and VK4OE/P as can be seen in this video of the 2.4GHz contact with signals observed at RS59+40.
The 50.118MHz beacon being run by AE6XY/VK9L on Lord Howe Island has been a good copy for the last hour (at least) but unable to attract the attention fo the operators there.

Whilst monitoring their beacon, very strong meteor enhancements are being observed. The following shows one of them captured at 0338z

Friday, January 11, 2013

Made the decision not activate VK4CZ/P with hot WX (34 - 36c), just two or three local stations planning to be portable and almost no mention of anyone between BNE & SYD the effort:reward ratio is certainly going to be negative.

Time will be better spent working on progressing the work towards the installation of the permanent 2m, 70cm & 23cm antenna here at home.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Saw this picture and couldn't help but appreciate the inferences to amateur radio!

Tropo to ZL didn't eventuate here... but listened to a heap of the Sunshine Coast stations working ZL! So the second 36el 1296MHz DL6WU yagi to be used here at VK4CZ was finished!


Haven't really tested the 12el 144MHz DL6WU yagis yet, and with the VHF/UHF Field Day just a few days testing was spurned on by the likelihood of working ZL via tropo (VK4's on the Sunshine Coast are currently working ZL).

The FD yagi was 'installed' and is currently facing ZL....... now I'm waiting!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A little more completed on the first 36el DL6WU 1296.1MHz yagi, with the mounting brace added to below the boom so that it can be effectively mounted above a pipe mast with out interaction from the mast.
Mounted on a 3m pipe and monitoring the VK4RBB beacon, signals are considerably higher than last night, with just my temporary 'mast' (tnx Campbell for standing out on the lawn in the dark!!)

This antenna will be trialled on the Summer VHF/UHF Field Day this Saturday from the Kobble Creek site activated in September for the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day.

Monday, January 7, 2013

More progress towards getting 1296MHz operational, with the first of the two 36el DL6WU designed yagis constructed.
Reflector and Director 1 fitted
Completed.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Progress made today on the 'big' 432MHz linear (a portable one for Field Day activations to be completed soon too!) with the MiniKits sequencer assembled (without including the RF switching option).
Mark VK5EME from MiniKits recently updated the design to incorporate a simple PIC and also SMD components making it a little more challenging to construct when you're not used to them, but after getting the technique going the board was quickly populated.
The relay on the board will be re-purposed to enable the linear amplifier switching, while the first two TX outputs will be utilised for the output and input coaxial relays (as utilised in two other recently completed amplifier projects).

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The 6m Es condx have continued to prevail, but with the Es link extensions to North America favouring more southern latitudes the best DX achieved here has been Norm E51E on Aitutaki Island (Grid BH01) for a new grid.

Unfortunately the 'quiet' local condx that also coincided with the potential for Es extensions across the Pacific over the past week have also ceased, so now it's back to the heavily RX focused operations.

With Field Day just over a week away, I took KJ VK4UH to check out a couple of sites.


The first is high above  Kobble Creek (where I activated in the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 2012), the second at Mt Mee. Both have huge potential for FD operations, but the Mt Mee site allows for easy access for the trailer mounted tower used by KJ in the VK4IZ activations.