North-west activity Sunday 7 August.

[G4EWJ]

GW3NWR/P will be on Esclusham Mountain near Wrexham, to do 10GHz ATV tests with G1LWX/P near Wigan. We should have other bands.

IO83KB62, 400m asl, good takeoff NNW-NE, 12-3pm.

Brian

[g8gtz]

Hi Brian

I was thinking of going out on Sunday afternoon to test the 10 GHz NB gear after a rebuild. I presume the site is not good to the south so we wouldn't be able to work TV on any band?

73 - Noel

[G4EWJ]

Unfortunately they built the road on the wrong side of the mountain and you lose a lot of height by the time you get a SSE view. The peak is private.

F5LEN is forecasting strong tropo for almost the whole of England and Wales on Sunday, so it might be worth a rethink to find a site with better coverage.

I've just finished the 2m tx filter, so all the bits just need connecting together now.

Brian

[G8DKC]

Hi Brian,

I'm a little behind on /P kit prep so hope to be up and running for Sept.

Will be testing soon from a location "Sherpa type job" to the top of a local public access hill at 232m, North of home QTH,
clear views just the odd tree to reposition Ae's for direction. GB3TZ on the top of the list now streaming for feedback

Wonder if you could give me any info on the attached pic at 480m, location not far from where you Rx'ed my 437 signal,
5 miles NE of LEEK in Staffs

You had a very wet day!

Maybe worth a try, not too far North for me?

73

Peter

[G4EWJ]

We were about 250m down the road to the SE by the 'loops'. That layby in the picture is blocked from SE to SW. Merryton Low peak is 250m to the south. If you stay on a road, it's difficult to get all round coverage.

It was VERY wet.

Brian

[G4EWJ]

It was a warm and sunny day, but very blustery, which made pointing the dish almost impossible.

Just as we were about to start receiving G1LWX/P near Wigan, the wind blew over his tripod and broke part of the waveguide assembly. While he went back home to fetch a smaller system to try, we transmitted using G6NOI's 500mW Solfan based system and were received at very good strength by G3UVR on the Wirral over the 31km path.

G1LWX/P returned with a few milliwatts to a small horn and we received him P5 over the 57km path, when we could keep the dish still. He received us P5.

We then moved to 23cm and had D5 both ways with G4WIM in Lytham over the 77km path. He reduced his power to 1mW and we were still getting him D5 at 4167k symbols.

On 3cm, we failed to receive G3UVR (indirectly, he couldn't beam our way) and GB3FY in Fleetwood, but the difficulty in holding the dish steady was very likely a factor.

An enjoyable day. Thanks to all involved.

Brian


The peak of Esclusham Mountain in the background

20160807_135629c.jpg (192.73 KiB) Viewed 7045 times

The view from north to north-east

20160807_135601c.jpg (213.45 KiB) Viewed 7045 times

The dish gives up - not even 6 bottles of Derbyshire's finest can revive it

20160807_144920c.jpg (241.94 KiB) Viewed 7045 times