29MHz trans Atlantic DX...

[g8gtz]

I've spent the last week listening to the New York FM voice repeater on 29.620 MHz.

At times it is fully quieting on FM at S9++ and that's on a wire antenna not optimised for 10mts - there's currently a lot of G stations working through it.

I do realise that there is a lot of phase distortion at times but I can't help but think it would decode on 150ks DATV, particularly if DVB-T.

So the question is how do we go about getting a 29 MHz DATV beacon on the air on the East Coast of the USA? It wouldn't need to be on 24 / 7 if we had remote control so that we could turn it on when we heard the repeater on 29.620MHz.

Now is the right time in the sunspot cycle to be doing this and I'm sure we could provide some funds for the beacon build via the BATC bursary fund...

I'll also post this on the US io.group reflector.

73
Noel

[g0mjw]

I would be able to receive it. I think we might try some testing locally if anyone is within range. Don't forget the rest of the world, South Africa for example have quite a few people running DATV through QO100 and Ed in Brazil is also active.

Mike

[radiogareth]

Back in the 1980's (too far back to remember when exactly) but I was in Denmark with a 2 foot helical for 10m on a gutter mount, talking to UK stations at 5/9++
Lots of RF is possible with probably one of the MRF300 development kits, but what routes are available for TX and RX?
Worth refreshing the requirements to save people wondering....
Up-converter by Mike G0MJW and IIRC the Lime Mini might even do the RF side??
10m Slim Jim in my garden needs new coax but otherwise 'ready to go'.
Gareth

[arthur21]

My Lime mini will not transmit DVBT below 31.2 MHz
DVBS does appear to work down to 28MHz but an unmodulated signal appears offset from the main signal.
That was the case with Portsdown 2020 but I have since tried DATV easy which will produce a DVBT signal at 30MHz
These are spectrum analyser only observations I have yet to try and demodulate the signals.
Arthur G4CPE

[g8gtz]

Hi Arthur,

Yes, a known feature of the Lime where the LO runs at 30MHz, hence the need for a transverter

See viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7390&p=27532&hilit=30mhz#p27532

BTW - I think the biggest problem will be getting any US station equipped, ideally with a beacon....

73

Noel

[arthur21]

Hi Noel
Yes I remember now.(bad memory)
10m is certainly very lively at the moment, it would be great to have a beacon.
Arthur

[G4EWJ]

A 10m DATV beacon at the radio club at Signal Hill, St John's, Newfoundland would be a good start towards other projects.

Brian

QO-100 Challenge for North America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYN3CAc1sE

[M0DTS]

You can also use a 'ham it up' converter (or the AliExpress equivalent) in reverse to generate the 29MHz signal from 154MHz input.

I have my 3el yagi up but not quite finished the amp off yet... cooling is an issue on the 1.5kw device running ~200w at 29MHz...hi

29.620 KQ2H repeater is massive again today even with cross polarity.

Rob

[Pa3fbx]

Its time for a new transverter project, i hear...

Need for 6M and 10 M out of 2M RX and TX.

I see Mike had some PCB. Can we get the files to reorder a batch for the mainland..
I would be happy to accommodate mainland Europe and even further as shipping from Holland seems to work..

Best regards
Benno

[g0mjw]

Benno

My transverter was for 10m from 148-149 MHz.The older version had a penchant for oscillation, but hopefully the revised one doesn't. It does not do 6m. It is a fairly basic no-tune design so to do 6m the filters would need to be changed.

Another option would be to use a 10m to 2m transverter in reverse. Apart from some niche users, now there are 2m multimodes, there must be many of these now sitting unused in draws. Disabling the PA would be easy.

Mike