6 METRE BAND QRP CW CONFIRMED
Friday, January 12, 2024
Friday, September 18, 2020
Modifying KA Band LNB for 24GHz ATV
I have been experimenting with a Triax Twin KA TKT001 LNB.
The normal frequency coverage is 19.7GHz to 20.2GHz
I started out by measuring the DRO oscillator cavity size Outside Dimensions.
and then sanding down the whole dicast housing.
Then when I had removed close to 1mm I then moved onto the DRO puck,
Which I then proceeded to sand down thus raising its frequency of resonance.
Below is a picture of the PCB with the puck removed from the green circle with the red dots.
I used Nail varnish to re-attach the Puck to the board
So basically I made the cavity it sits in smaller and the puck thinner, in the hope of being able to recieve a 24GHz ATV signal generated with a Gunn oscillator.
I also took a scalpel blade and cut down the mixer tuned lines by about 1mm or so.
I also attacked the filters in the front end, however I am not sure how much improvement it gave me, I may be better to remove the filter altogether by overlaying with some copper tape.
Sadly I have no test gear to verify any of this its purely a trial and error modification.
I did not have to adjust the tuning screw that sits above the DRO in the cavity.
Here is the picture of the mods I made, if you make the same mods and have the capability of measuring the results? please please let me know.
Again this is purely a bodge attempt so do so at the risk of trashing the LNB.
Cheers for reading
Mark G0NMY
As requested here is a photo of the full LNB pcb, this is one I scrapped after experimenting with and zapping the front end devices.
And here is an image of the 24GHz ATV received in the shack using an analogue sat rx and the modded LNB
Due to health issues I havent moved this project forward yet sorry.
Sunday, August 02, 2020
My QRP radio collection
I have built quite a number of LOW POWER QRP radios and anscillary devices.
by replacing the vertical electrolytic capacitors for new ones but laid down on their sides.
It will tune up long wire, coaxial, and balanced feeder fed antennas.
I really enjoyed learning all about the DDS Arduino VFO and LCD display.
As you can see there maybe just enough room to fit one in.
This is a brilliant little rig that comes with a whole host of built-in features, including
Frequecy counter, Signal generator Power meter, Volt meter etc.
It has its own built in alignment and set up calibration tools,
It also has a built in Morse code reader, lots of memories and
can be interfaced by a TTL comport to Radio control programs such as log books,
all contained on the Pic Processor.
The additional GPS receiver module compliments the radio making its frequency very accurate for use with WSPR mode.
The construction manual is fantastic everything is extreemly well documented, making this rig easy to build even by a complete construction novice.
I just wanted it to look different from others.
Including a high stability Local Oscillator.
I guess I'll never have any money hee hee.
Thank you for reading, I really must write more blog posts.
Cheers 72 and catch ya later 👍
Sunday, October 08, 2017
SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (WES)
I Made 16 QSO's with a score of 442.
HF conditions were quite reasonable for a change, and you would expect my score to be a lot higher.
Well I was running 5Watts QRP from my Ten-Tec Argosy II. Into a mini G5RV antenna.
Of course the Straight key had to be used as I don't own a Cootie Key or a BUG. I can tell you Glass arm hurts!
I know I could of worked a lot more stations, however, I have local interference (QRN)
from a source of flashing LED Lights in a shop window that run from 7am to Midnight 7 days a week.
Here is a recording of it on 40mtrs which is the worst band affected.
40mtrs interference from flashing LED Lights in a shop
So all in all, I am very pleased with my contacts. Here is an image of the excellent SKCC logger program
My SKCC number is 15845, So if you enjoy using a straight key (any speed you like, but not toooo fast hee hee, give me a call, and if you fancy becoming a member check out their website at
http://www.skccgroup.com/
Also they have an excellent and friendly sked page where you can arrange to contact other SKCC
Mambers.
http://sked.skccgroup.com/
Oh and my G-QRP member number is 12875
Thanks for reading 72 till next time
De GØNMY
Saturday, December 31, 2016
6 Metre Band report for 2016
I set myself a challenge to work 5W QRP on the 50MHz band and to see how many IARU grid squares I could make contacts in.
I was nowhere near as active as I could have been and I missed quite a number of openings on the band.
Be that as it may, I still think I did really well for a QRP station.
And out of the 89 grids worked resulted in a total of 22 Countries contacted, and while it isnt up there with the guys running full power to large yagi antennas, I am very pleased with the result.
I applied for a basic certificate for working 20 European countries all with QRP .
Here it is framed and hung on the shack wall.
So for 2017 I will start over again with a target of 89 grid squares to beat and more than 22 Countries contacted. I may need to improve my antenna we shall have to see, and if you hear my weak cw signal calling CQ please answer so I can get your grid square.
Thanks for reading and hope to catch you on the band in 2017
73 good DX and Happy New Year!
You can download Workedgrids V7 from this URL
ve2zaz.net/WorkedGrids/Downloads/WorkedGrids_v7_Install.exe
Saturday, August 13, 2016
SotaBeams Dual Bandwidth Filter Module
Saturday, June 04, 2016
The QRP MAN by GØNMY
The QRP man by Mark Longson (G0NMY) ---------------------------------- The QRP man, is hard to define, he may not be active, all of the time. He sits alone, with an ear to his rig WHO WAS THAT? it sounded like SID! With a signal so weak, most would ignore, to dig that one out, is too much of a chore. But our QRP man, with an ear for the weak, Listens in silence, not daring to speak With QSB and QRM, he notches it tight, His bandwidth so thin, AH yes it's Sid, Victor Echo one, I can hear him now, the QRM has gone. The QSO goes much to plan, "That Sid you know, is a QRP fan."
In the meantime its out, with the iron and bit, to solder up more, of his QRP kit A long CQ, to the best of his ability This rig works great and has good stability. Back comes the Morse, with a five seven nine, Yep I'm certain now, the rig's doing fine. His antenna's not long, but has a narrow 'Q' That he explains, makes the signals come through. From Germany three, even to VK9, This QRP man is doing just fine. The QRP man, has found his vocation Its all so so small, his QRP station but work it does, as the logbook will tell yet most misunderstand, how he does so well His goal it would seem, is to search for perfection using the smallest of bits, from his vast selection, of coils and caps, and an odd chip or two he joins them all up, with his lead based glue!
The QRP man, hopes that we will all see the reason for all his adversity No QRM, will he emit from his ultra small, QRP kit!
So when you next hear, our QRP man don't be an ANTI-QRP fan Think not of him, as a silly crackpot just give him some room, don't pinch his spot! even if QRP, gives you no appeal, just leave them in peace, their frequency don't steal! -----------------------------------
Written and composed by Mark Longson
G0NMY(c)1994 All Rights Reserved.....
Well I came across my old G-QRP membership certificate, Sadly its got water damaged. So I decided to see if I could make a Duplicate. And once I found the Template the rest was easy.
So I hope George Doesn't mind I will eventually print it out and put it in a Frame on the shack wall.
Check out the G-QRP club if you like to do more with less.
73 and enjoy YOUR hobby Mark Longson G0NMY
Cheers Mark
Monday, August 24, 2015
MiniTiouner DATV receiver
then captures the Transport Stream on a USB FT2232H and sends it to a computer using
The MiniTiouner Program written by F6DZP Jean Pierre.
The build was made easy by the British Amateur Television Club who sourced all the modules and parts along with a PCB designed by G4EWJ which are made available to members to purchase from their internet shop https://batc.org.uk/category/minitiouner
Here is a picture of the built unit tested and ready to be boxed.
And Here is the Unit Boxed inside an old linksys router case.
The only thing I need to do is to add an external LED
And here is my first captured Transport Stream from Minitiouner Program while receiving GB3UD
ATV Repeater on 1318.5MHz.
Symbol Rate is 4160
Video PID 0162
Audio PID 0088
PCR PID 0133
This is an add on board that plugs onto a Raspberry PI with a PI web cam creating a stream to transmit on the Ham Bands.
Note this system is purely for a low symbol rates and is for experimentation running on 4mtrs 6Mtrs 2Mtrs 70cMs and up.
This build is mainly surface mount components and is not aimed as a beginners build me kit.
Again a PCB and hard to get components are available on the BATC web site.
Here is an image of the Digi-Thin board that fits onto the Raspberry PI mini computer.
So More fun to be had on the Amateur radio bands. I love this hobby!
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Why I dont use Usenet groups (uk.radio.amateur)
uk.radio.amateur UseNet group or Google's implementation of it and requesting me to check it out.
Now to be honest I had bad experience of Usenet groups many years ago and stopped using them.
However I thought I would have a look and see what topics are being discussed in it.
From what I could make out a lot of posts were personal attacks on individuals and the arguments
that followed. So I can honestly say that my decision not to use those groups was still valid.
Now I feel sorry for the genuine Hams who try to hold discussions in such groups, and the derogatory
comments and personal attacks they then receive.
I will say now I am a member of several news groups both on Yahoo and Facebook, and I can honestly say that there is rarely any of the above kind of behavior, so why is this? Well all of the groups I am a member of are moderated and the members of such groups are genuinely friendly and social people, what you would expect on a social network really.
Its a pity I cannot say the same for uk.radio.amateur here is a link if you fancy a look, but I would not really recommend you join this group.
uk.radio.amateur Group
Maybe a new group could be set up with proper moderation as I am sure the genuine hobbyists
would join such a group so they could discuss their hobby and not have to suffer the derision of the crude keyboard warriors and Trolls who lack the basic social skills to interact with their piers.
I for one, and I am sure a lot of other radio hams, use both the radio and the internet.
I think we should be allowed to do so without attacks and derogatory comments.
Anyway that is my rant for what its worth, will this post change anything? I doubt it, as long as
members turn a blind eye to the bad behavior.
Thanks for reading Mark
73
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
New Meteor Scatter program MSHV
Software code. It is a Beta version 0.94 and so far I like the fact that it is a little bit more configurable, and I like the look and feel of the layout. Below is information on the Authors etc.
MSHV is a meteor scatter software using the following fast meteor scatter modes
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MSHV is Open Source software, licensed the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3. The project page for developers and source code can be found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/mshv/
Anyway I am in the process of trying it out to see if it works as well as the original program. Time will tell. you can download it HERE from LZ2HV's web site Cheers for now.. thanks for popping bye 73 Mark |
Friday, April 10, 2015
6 Metre JT6M Meteor Scatter
Meteor Scatter propagation is when tiny dust particles enter into the earths atmosphere at a very high speed and burn up.
This produces very short durations of Ionisation in the E layer and can therefore act as a reflective medium for VHF Radio waves.
Years ago the method used was very fast morse code signals that were transmitted over and over for 1min or more!
A cassette tape recorder's speed was modified to run very fast and record the bursts of fast Morse code being transmitted. The tape would then be rewound and played back at a much slower speed so the morse could be decoded by the Radio Ham.
Today however we use a program called WSJT Version 10. which uses multiple tones to represent letters and numbers and transmitted repeatedly for 1min or 30 seconds duration.
The software uses a computer soundcard and a transmit and receive interface to send and receive the tones and to decode them in real time.
Anyway having set up the program I connected my interface to my Yaesu FT290R running 2.5Watts, which then drives my R & L Electronics transverter converting the 144MHz signal to a 50MHz signal. The Transverter is quite low power and only runs 25Watts, so I have not done too much transmitting yet.
However today while I was monitoring 50.230 I copied a really good MS Burst from HB9Q who is located in Switzerland. He came through quite strong and considering I only have a lowdown Delta loop which is just a single loop of wire cut for 50MHz band, I was pleased to copy his Meteor Scattered signal.
Here is a picture from the WSJT program showing the captured signal.
You can see the Data stream in the top of the two signal traces.
While Switzerland isnt that far away I was still pleased to receive my first decodable MS Burst on 6m using JT6M Meteor Scatter mode.
So there you have it more radio fun to be had, although I do think I need a bigger antenna and a bit more transmit power for others to copy my signal, but you never know on 6Metre band surprise is the norm for the band nicknamed The Magic Band!
See ya next time
73 Mark G0NMY
Sunday, April 29, 2012
6m Sp-E opening New start on New band
The antenna is a homemade Delta Loop which is about 15ft off the ground and fixed in an N-S position
which gives E-W radiation pattern.
Well Today there was a Sporadic-E opening towards europe and whilst I didnt contact many stations with my limited setup I did work all new DXCC's and Locator Squares, The reason? I have never been really active on the Magic Band so I am basically starting from scratch. So of course every contact is a new one for me, which adds to the real fun of 6mtrs. So today I got 4 contacts and 4 new DXCC countries so that is great!
Below is a graphical representation of the areas who managed to contact each other.
Map courtesy of LIVE MUF 7.3 by G7RAU |
Below is a small video recorded on my phones camera so the quality is quite poor but you will see just how strong a signal certain stations were.
As I said Above I only worked 4 stations which were
SP3OCC Ted JO92DF in Poland
S35AZH JO92UN
OZ2KEC JO66DC
LY2BAW Ted KO25KA he was a big signal! (see video)
So as you can see nothing exotic nothing rare, but all new to me on this band so I am pleased as punch.
Thanks for reading
Blog soon 73 Mark GØNMY
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
11 Oct 432 UKAC contest
and Managed to work a few more stations than last time.
I was suffering from some heavy interference which appeared to be coming from a westerly direction, but all in all I enjoyed the contest, and think I will continue to support this activity contest.There didnt seem to be much activity from the north/east, well I didnt hear anything anyway.
Below again is a map showing the worked stations. I cant wait for some REAL Tropo enhanced ducting on this band I think it could be fun.
MAP REMOVED DUE TO GOOGLES CHANGE IN USAGE POLICY
Thanks for reading. Blog soon.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
13 sept 432 UKAC contest
as I hadnt entered a 432 contest before, and also because I wanted to test out my system to see how it would perform.
My 432MHz system comprises of an Icom IC-490E running 10Watts of power. The feeder is westflex103 coax and a 10 element tonna yagi, actually it was just the rear section of a 21element tonna yagi.
I do not yet have a mast-head pre-amplifier which I am sure will make quite a bit of difference.
Well I managed to work a GRAND TOTAL of 20 stations, with about 7 of them actually being out portable
in horrible gale force winds. Brave souls indeed who deserve a medal for that alone.
My best ODX @246km was GM4JR in locator square IO85FB.
Map Removed due to Google change in sharing policy!
As you can see from the above map quite a distance can be worked with low power and small antennas.
I have yet to add a mast head pre-amplifier to boost incoming signals and I also have a 150W pmr amplifier
that I fancy modifying to work on ssb.
Anyway thanks for reading blog you soon.
73 from Mark
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Worked Grids
Monday, May 23, 2011
Elecraft KX3 new model
Would Love to own one, guess I had better start saving my pennies. THEY ARE NOT CHEAP!
$1800 plus!
Sorry about the quiet audio.
Thanks for reading blog you soon 73
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
DIGITAL SSTV PICS
pictures on the 20mtr band 14.233MHz.
The picture quality is excellent providing a good
Television in that it is copy all or nothing, however if you miss
parts of the image you can send BSR report telling the sender,
digitally, what segments were missed from the image.
parts until you have the full picture.
This is all done automatically using an excellent program called
development however it has lots of interesting features along with
the option to upload the received pictures to the internet for
publishing etc. that is one feature that I plan to try and configure
for my blog page. so watch this space.
am testing to see if they upload ok.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Morse Code practice
However just recently I have been watching some Video's on YouTube of hams operating
portable on top of mountains. One such Ham is Steve NØTU who along with his two loyal goats named Peanut & Rooster, they help to carry his equipment to the summit he manages to work some good dx using only 5w and CW using Morsecode. Check out Steve's Blog.
This got me interested in cw again and I decided after listening to morse on 20mtrs I was extreemly lacking in my ability to decode the code at a decent speed. So I am now practicing to try and build my brain up again.
There are a few ways to do this however, I chose two options. The first is on the Internet using the website called Learn CW Online, which is an excellent site to help the complete novice to the most ardent brass pounders and paddle strokers around.
The 2nd option I went for was to download the program called MorseRunner.
This program simulates a cw contest and prepares you for such an event. not that I think I am ready to enter such a contest I just cannot decode well enough yet.
Anyway thanks to Steve and his goats I have re-aroused my morse interest and will be practicing regularly to get back to my old capabilities.
Thanks for reading --... ...-- ... -.-
Friday, June 22, 2007
More Sp-E's on 144MHz
Over the last few days here in the UK we have had bad weather with flash flooding due to large amounts of rainfall over a short period, and heavy Electrical Thunder Storms making the radio a very noisy pastime. However it does appear to have triggered Sporadic E openings on the VHF bands adding fuel to the flame that Sp-e's are caused by Thunder storms. Its not a proven
trigger as yet but then again it wasn't too long ago that the boffins accepted the SP-E existed
as a mode of propagation on the vhf bands, one scientific phenonemon discovered and proven by radio hams.
Anyway Here is the picture showing the areas who managed to contact each other.
The blue lines are for 144MHz and the Red/Orange for 50MHz and 70MHz Bands.