On
the evening of Monday 3rd August I travelled down to Walbury Hill
IO91GI in West Berkshire and set-up my QRP 10GHz 3cm equipment
(FT-290R MK1 with Mutek Pre-Amp into a DB6NT G2 Transverter, 0.2W and 60cm Offset
dish) roadside just to the South of the Coombe Hill PMR Mast. Nice Sunny
WX but somewhat windy which made it difficult to control the dish.
After a call on 144.175MHz SSB, I found Neil G4LDR (Salisbury) and Brian
G4NNS (Andover) who were both loud, and we moved to 3cm SSB.
This was third time lucky trying to work Neil, we had previously failed to work each other from two other sites I had tried - Knowl Hill (IO91OM) and West Wycombe Hill (IO91OL), due to obstructed paths. This time signals with G4LDR were end-stopping 59+ over a wide beamwidth at a distance of just over 30km. Really great to finally work Neil and to prove my re-assembled kit was back working OK. I also tried some tests with Brian but he had an intermittent fault with his 10GHz system.
I roved South to another location on Chute Causeway (IO91FH), but it was then getting dark and the path was obstructed to Neil and I called it a day, and took up Brian's kind offer to visit his farm QTH for a chat and a cup of tea. Brian has an amazing EME station and after a tour of his dish and shack, we chatted about Microwaves. Many thanks to Neil and Brian for helping me test my 3cm gear, and I look forward to working you both again soon.
This was third time lucky trying to work Neil, we had previously failed to work each other from two other sites I had tried - Knowl Hill (IO91OM) and West Wycombe Hill (IO91OL), due to obstructed paths. This time signals with G4LDR were end-stopping 59+ over a wide beamwidth at a distance of just over 30km. Really great to finally work Neil and to prove my re-assembled kit was back working OK. I also tried some tests with Brian but he had an intermittent fault with his 10GHz system.
I roved South to another location on Chute Causeway (IO91FH), but it was then getting dark and the path was obstructed to Neil and I called it a day, and took up Brian's kind offer to visit his farm QTH for a chat and a cup of tea. Brian has an amazing EME station and after a tour of his dish and shack, we chatted about Microwaves. Many thanks to Neil and Brian for helping me test my 3cm gear, and I look forward to working you both again soon.