North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Ideas, technical topics, help and discussion for ATV enthusiasts
Forum rules
This forum is run by the BATC (British Amateur Television Club), it is service made freely available to all interested parties, please do not abuse this privilege.

Thank you
Post Reply
G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:41 pm

Stations will be out portable in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and the Wirral. There will be ATV on 3cm and 23cm and possibly activity on other bands and modes.

Brian

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:30 pm

Due to illness, equipment problems and conflicting engagements, there was a lot less activity than hoped. Nevertheless, G3NWR/P had its first 10GHz ATV contact, with G3UVR, which was nice.

This Sunday afternoon, GW3NWR/P will be at IO83FD (8k SW Denbigh) with 23cm analogue and digital tx / rx and analogue / digital rx on 3cm, 70cm and 2m. G1LWX/P will be at IO83RO (Winter Hill) with 3cm and M0DTS/P will be at IO94MJ (North York Moors).

The IO83FD site is a specific one for an optimum path to M0DTS/P (220km) and G1LWX/P and is blocked in many directions, but it's line of sight to parts of the Isle of Man, Blackpool and the southern Lake District. M0DTS/P has been worked on 2m FM from IO83FD during a site evaluation trip, with some interesting enhancements that could have been aircraft relections. Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds / Bradford and Durham Tees Valley airports are all close to the path.

Brian

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Nov 05, 2015 1:35 pm

As G6NOI and I left the Wirral, it was a horrible, damp, murky day. As we climbed the hill into Wales, we broke out into bright sunshine for a warm day that could easily have passed for June.

G1LWX/P was running 2W to a 60cm dish on 10425MHz and was easily received on the 85km path. In fact he was so strong that a dish wasn't necessary and he was P5 with plenty to spare on just the LNB.

The GB3FY repeater in Fleetwood on 10240MHz was received at P4 on a 60cm dish over the 91km path.

Unfortunately M0DTS/P on the North York Moors could not be received on 146.5MHz RBTV over the 220km path. The signal was S3-S4 when tuned on an AM receiver, but the combination of the DG0VE converter and the MiniTiouner was showing lots of noise. More investigation required. The antenna was a 9 ele portable Tonna. Signals on 2m FM were very strong both ways.

M0DTS/P was received at up to P4 at times with a 21 ele Wimo on 1249MHz, probably due to aircraft reflections.

The GB3TM repeater in Anglesey on 1316MHz was received at D5 over a 59km path.

Brian



G1LWX's test card just about visible, due to the strong sunlight.
IMG_0875.JPG
IMG_0875.JPG (101.87 KiB) Viewed 8469 times
G6NOI adjusting the beam heading to G1LWX/P.
Photo0167b.jpg
Photo0167b.jpg (285.61 KiB) Viewed 8469 times
Photo0171b.jpg
Photo0171b.jpg (391.97 KiB) Viewed 8469 times
Last edited by G4EWJ on Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Nov 05, 2015 1:41 pm

Photo0179b.jpg
Photo0179b.jpg (306.85 KiB) Viewed 8468 times
The takeoff to the north-east. The horizon of rolling hills is obscured by a layer of murk.
Photo0172b.jpg
Photo0172b.jpg (183.25 KiB) Viewed 8468 times
Not much chance of working to the south-west.
Photo0181b.jpg
Photo0181b.jpg (358.47 KiB) Viewed 8468 times

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Nov 05, 2015 1:55 pm

Photo0169b.jpg
Photo0169b.jpg (298.38 KiB) Viewed 8464 times
Photo0174b.jpg
Photo0174b.jpg (261.63 KiB) Viewed 8464 times

MW0LLK
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 8:47 pm

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by MW0LLK » Thu Nov 05, 2015 7:04 pm

Let us know next time you're looking at GB3TM and perhaps we can put something on there - only takes a couple of minutes to fire things up. Unfortunately I cannot monitor TM or it's talkback 24/7 so a sked is the best way.

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:15 pm

Will do. We hope to be out there again soon to retry the 2m test.

Brian

M0DTS
Posts: 688
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:03 pm

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by M0DTS » Fri Nov 06, 2015 7:27 pm

I did look for TM when i was /p because conditions were up but i forgot it was 4167Ks SR.. need to put a repeater cheat sheet together ;-)
I guess that's an AGAF tx too?!

Hope there is some more good tropo soon...

Rob

G8DKC
Posts: 269
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:39 am

Re: North West activity day - DG0VE Converter

Post by G8DKC » Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:55 pm

Hi Brian,

I was reading your comment this evening from your outing in October this year, quote...

"but the combination of the DG0VE converter and the MiniTiouner was showing lots of noise"

I think I'm finding the same problem with the DG0VE 146.5 converter this end , only just started to investigate over weekend,

On GV site the DownEast 2m preamp, PYE base front end and SUP2400 into TT1600 appears far quieter.

Wonder if you or anyone else has seen this, or come to a conclusion?

I have been trying various L.O settings ( J2 on left and J1 on right next to chip?), will look into this a little more and with MiniTiouner this week.

Peter

G4EWJ
Posts: 1456
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: North West activity day - Sunday October 18.

Post by G4EWJ » Tue Dec 08, 2015 12:43 am

There is some noise coming off the switcher below 200MHz and also some noise that pulses as the constellation display updates.

The MiniTiouner was unboxed at the time, so I've put it in a box and modified it so that I can disable the switcher and put 5.5v into the regulator chain from an external supply. I'll do some more tests.

Brian

Post Reply

Return to “General ATV Discussion”