Langstone as 47 GHz uW IF

[K0SM]

The Pluto makes a flexible microwave IF if you like using surplus equipment.

This is my homebrew 47 GHz station using Langstone/Pluto as the IF. The mixer needed about 15dBm drive, and the best I could do with available parts was a DigiLO at 3428MHz x4 x3 to get a 41.136GHz at +14dBm. The Pluto is set up for a 5952 MHz IF, and there is a 30dB 6GHz amplfier on the RX IF to overcome the Pluto's noise figure at 6 GHz. A piece of WR15 waveguide between the mixer and the 1ft dish filters out the image at 36 GHz. System noise figure is dominated by the mixer conversion loss, probably around 10dB or so. This worked K2UA at 6.5km S9...he had a DB6NT 2W amplifier and blew the doors off here.

The next science project is to homebrew a decent 10 GHz station with a phase locked LNB on RX with Pluto's 5x alias on the TX path.

Fun stuff.

Andy K0SM/2