EME DX pedition - North Ireland 2009

432 - 1296 - 2320 - 3400 MHz

MI/DL1YMK - M & M team

M&M thank you very much for another great EME DX pedition - W.W.EME gang

MI/DL1YMK last report on 70 cm & up operation

Report 30. - 31.05.2009

Hi lunatics,

for those of you interested in the technical details of our portable equipment used at MI/DL1YMK, here is a brief review sorted by bands. The antenna used for all bands from 70 – 9 cm is our veteran preloaded stressed dish of previous years operations. The load is set to produce an f/D = 0.43, which proved to be a viable compromise between illumination angles of WG-feeds and deviation from parabolic shape. The diameter is 4 m.

432 MHz:

LNA with ATF54143 / MSA 0806, NF @ 0.4 dB; feed: modified CT1DMK loop feed, switchable polarisation H/V in TX and RX independantly;  driver: IC910 H; 50 V LDMOS-SSPA from BeKo up to 1kW out possible, only 17 kg….

1.3 GHz:

LNA is HB9BBD goodie, NF @ .28 dB; feed: square DFC-septum with new SMALL (32 cm dia / 8 cm high) corrugation ring, acc. to recent G4DDK pie in the sky ;-) to reduce sidelobes by WG mantle currents – seems to give an improvement against recent years’ operations; driver: IC 910 H, set to 16 W out; 28 V LDMOS- SSPA à la DB6NT with 4 x PTF140150 Infineon, up to 550 W out

2.3 GHz:

LNA: DJ9BV NE 32584 / MGA86576, NF @ .48 dB; feed: square DFC septum (with flare); IC 910 H at 144MHz IF with homebrew transverter with OCXO’s for different bands, 20 W out; 28 V LDMOS-SSPA recovered from US-Paradigm CDMA modules, coupled with homebrew YMK-hybrids, 420W out (when 20 W driver is still cool….)

3.4 GHz:

LNA by WD5AGO, NF @ 0.4 dB; feed: dual mode RA3AQ septum; IC 910 H at 144 MHz IF and homebrew tranverter 30 W out with free drifting LO L ; 13.8 V GaAs-SSPA by DL2AM, 160 W out

All SSPA’s fed from switch mode PSs. Outputpower is set to legal limits by 10 m  ½’’ Cellflex ;-((  As coax from LNA’s to shack 10 m of Aircell 7 is used. Sequencing is performed by home brew OP-unit, providing also all voltages needed by LNA’s

Hi lunatics, 

today we completed the first ever 4-band EME-DXpedition! After activation of Northern Ireland on 23, 13 and 9 cm we managed to work today 17 initials on 70 cm in 15 DXCC´s. It was really hard work because of heavy libration fading, which we experienced already the last days on the other bands. Even skeds failed due to this, very sorry. A few stations finished calling early, probably because they didn´t hear us immediately, this was pity, we should have managed the QSO with some patience, because we heard them reasonably well despite a marginal antenna gain at our end. The best signals we got today were from the dish stations, where we exchanged 549 to 559-reports. An essential advantage today was adjustable polarization:  I started to TX vertical with VK3UM in the morning and Doug’s signal was received best also vertical, strange enough …. In the afternoon a quickie with SM2CEW was completed in 5 minutes, but TX/RX only horizontal.

In contrast to other parts of Europe and the States we had smooth weather 2day without storm and rain, sometimes sunshine, but throughout the morning also thick fog over the Irish Sea. The ferries to Scotland and England, which we (normally) can see from the dining room were blowing their horns the whole day long. 

On 70 cm we worked today: VK3UM (despite the corner of the house, professional operator with quick key), UA3PTW, OH2DG, DL9KR, G3LTF, DK3WG, OK1KIR, FR5DN, I1NDP, PA3CSG, HB9Q, SP6JLW, OZ4MM, F2TU, DF3RU, K1RQG (559/559), SM2CEW .

Yesterday we worked a few additional stations on 23 cm in CW and SSB, but also some JT-contacts. These stations are: OH2DG, PA0BAT, RW3BP, OK3RM, G4DDK, LZ1DX (all stations in CW) and finally K1RGQ as dupe in CW and SSB. In JT 65C we worked: PY2BS, PA3FXB, VE7BBG, HB9HAL. In total we made 58 QSO´s on 23cm, 4 of these in SSB and 4 in JT, all other contacts in CW. So we tried all EME-suitable modes, hi! 

According some further sked requests we changed the schedule and will show up again on all 4 bands. The new schedule is as follows:

30.- 31.05. 23cm DUBUS Contest

01.06.:  1600-1830 UTC 9cm, 1900-2230 UTC 13 cm (some sked proposals were sent, tail ending is welcome)

02.06.: 1700-1900 UTC 23cm JT 65B and CW, 2000-2300 UTC 70 cm

Sked request please directly to DL1YMK at aol.com, we plan to finish mw operation on 03.06. 09 and change to 2m, playing in the evening hours a little bit on MS and EME and enjoying relaxed holidays during daytime....

Vy 73, M&M

Hi fellow-EMEer’s, 

today started as an extremely frustrating day, but with a happy end, as we finally managed to activate the third band of our MI-DXpedition. When we tried to start in the morning on 9 cm with our “beacon”, LX1DB, we didn’t hear anything, neither Willi, nor our own echoes. The dish was again obstructed by the corner of the house, which obviously had a more severe impact than on 23 and 13 cm. As forecasted, the weather was terrible with high winds and the dish was rocking and wobbling all over. An additional problem was the frequency instability of the LO, when becoming warmer by the dissipation heat of the 30 W driver PA . This needs to be addressed by either a TCXO or a GPSDO, when back home. It is only due to the extreme patience of Willi, LX1DB and Peter, G3LTF, who motivated us to hang on  for repeated trials to get us on the moon, even by using the SDR-waterfall display of Peter. The aperture of the dish on 9 cm turned out to be unexpectedly narrow, that one degree offset lead to significant attenuation of received Moon bounce signals. The dish seems to be borderline on 9 cm in combination with the reduced positioning accuracy of the rotator used! Very close to giving up on it, we made a last attempt with Willi, when he got again a moon window in the early afternoon. All of a sudden the wind calmed down and already when Willy started, we heard him calling right on the spot. Meanwhile the x-verter was so hot that the LO came to relative stability. The QSO was quickly completed and than we heard G3LTF calling on tailed, and we finished the second QSO – uff!. The following QSO´s with OK1KIR and OE9ERC seemed to be comparatively easy, as we had the correct moon pointing by then and the quartz didn´t move further down as it was warm, not to say cooked….. OK1KIR was  calling some kHz above us later and thus gave us a helping hand to re-track the moon several times. The next in line was W5LUA, who was on exactly in the scheduled time frame. According previous contact with Al via mail we decided to stay with 2.5 min sequences rather than 5 min periods, as we again feared to lose the correct moon position, but we finished without any problem . The 9 cm episode was completed by QSO´s with *** (wants to remain incognito ;-) )and at last WW2R. In the morning we already had heard OK1CA very loud (the loudest signal this day), but obviously Franta didn´t hear us, when the LO still was on the run. Another station was calling in the afternoon and we received “RO”, but missed the callsign, very sorry! We would like to say a warm ‘thank you’ to all extremely skilled 9cm operators, who kept us on the moon today, as it was only for their activity that we were able to activate our third band from MI! We intend to give a last chance to those, who missed on 9 cm on Monday 1st, weather permitting, right after 13 cm. We will check the ‘safe’ windows for the next days and post them tomorrow.  We assume that it will be for a long time until MI will get on moon again on the mw bands. Tomorrow we will be QRV from 12.30 UT on 23 cm for the skeds and of course random traffic, as long we have a=2 0moon window. See you on the moon!    

Vy 73 / 88 de M & M

Hi lunatics,  

the day on 13 cm was a hard battle against permanent gusty winds, storm, rain and hail. The locals: you’ve got 4 seasons in an hour – confirmation! We had to stop 3 times and tied the dish down with several ropes, because we were in fear the struts would break. The tripod was reasonably stable, thanks to the anchors, which Jim,  GI1CET, drove into the gravel ground.   In the morning it was the merit of LX1DB (thanks Willi for calling such a long time!) that we found the moon, because our echoes were only weak. The reason was the limited window again, because of the corner of the house obstructed parts of the dish. Sorry for JA4BLC, on 23cm we had better luck…!  We heard reasonable echoes, when the moon arrived 76/22 degrees, but we lost the moon because of the high winds making the dish rocking and rolling around. ES5PC gave us a beacon for hours (many, many, thanks!), so we were able to recalibrate the position again and again. During long hours Monika was outside in the cold trying to stabilize the dish a little. It was the Iceland feeling, once again.   In the end we were lucky enough to work the following stations: LX1DB, OK1CA (we were very surprised to hear Franta instead of OK1KIR!), OZ4MM, F2TU, G3LTF, G4CCH, OK1KIR, SV3AAF, SM3AKW, ES5PC, G4DDK (Sam , the fading was because the second OP was not on track at that time, hi), PA0BAT, OE9ERC, DF9QX, OH2DG, OE9ERC (SSB, 55/55), HB9Q, W5LUA (Al: you made it!!!!), W7BBM, D L4MEA, WA6PY, WW2R, N2IQU and finally SM2CEW, this means 22 initials in 16 DXCC´s.  For those who missed us: if there is interest, we can make new skeds for 13 cm on June, 1 st,  pse mail to DL1YMK, we try to log in to the  internet once a day.    For tomorrow the weather forecast remains bad, so the problems will be the same with the dish, but we will try to work the skeds. On 9.20 UTC we will have 77/20 degrees, so we should be on the moon for the first sked with OZ6OL. Willi, could you call us from 9.10 UTC to give the pathfinder again (the ‘odd QRG’)? We had never worked on 9 cm with this dish, so full risk tomorrow morning, keep your fingers crossed, it’ll surely harder than 2day….    

Vy 73 / 88 de M & M

Hi folks,

the third day of MI-DXpedition is very cold (around 10 degrees) and it is raining continuously (it is similar to the famous “Landregen” in our home country, the Münsterland, hi), but no winds, which is most important for us. The forecast sounds not really good, because we expect higher winds on Wednesday, which would be very problematic for the first trial ever on 9 cm – we never did it with our portable homebrew dish. The second day on 23 cm we worked as new initials:  VK3UM (Doug, fantastic that we made it despite our limited window to theEast, you were really fast, Doug, perfect job!), JA4BLC (fine, that you received the new sked time), SP7DCS, IK3COJ, OE5JFL, LX1DB (only in SSB, what a smashing signal!), ES6RQ, SM3AKW, UT5JCW, SV3AAF, IZ1BPN, PA3FXB, K2UYH, N2UO, OZ6OL, LA9NEA (the smallest dish so far!), F2TU, K5PJR, DL4MEA, WA6PY, WA5WPC, AL7RT (sorry, it was hard copy because of strong auroral distortion on your signal).  In total we made 47 QSO´s so far, with 41 stations in 29  DXCC´s. The signals were mostly very good and readable with own echoes the whole day, louder than last year´s DXpedition to Uruguay. Perhaps the reason is a new corrugation ring around the  square-septum feed, which I built only 3 days before our departure from copper sheets, 0,5 mm thick, hence light weight. I will try to upload a photo to the homepage of OK1DFC (Zdenek, many thanks for your support, even during a business trip to Cologne!). It was an idea from G4DDK, who wrote he took a baking form as corrugation ring, but Monika would not give me her’s and Lidl was sold out, so I built my own one…. For tomorrow we change the feed (still the old septum  without choke ring, maybe try a flare on it…) to 13 cm and try to work according the sked list. Tailending is welcome, but please respect the next sked slot, TNX.

Concerning 9 cm on Wednesday: we try to keep everyone updated, despite poor internet access from time to time (only GPRS like, slow motion, hi!) 

Vy 73 M&M 

Hi lunatics, yesterday evening we arrived in Northern Ireland in our holiday home after a 2-days trip with Monika´s SUV fully  packed with the equipment. The house is situated near the open sea, with a fantastic panorama view – but horrible as qth for an EME-DXpedition. There are a lot of high bushes around the house, no suitable place for the dish, if we look at it objectively, hi! And it is very windy! To the west a pictoresque hill reduces the moon window considerably…Sam, you are right, this place is not suitable for EME! After deciding, that we want to and will get qrv from MI, we began to build up the dish until midnight. Problematic was that the ground besides the house, which we decided as compromise location for the dish (with limited moon window), consists of loose gravel and that the anchors for the tripod didn´t finf hold in the ground – so the dish would not withstand higher windspeeds. We rose very early in the morning to put the meshes in. After a few echo tests with only very marginal echoes on 23 cm we optimised the position of the feed several times and got reasonable echoes. As with the years before we needed a strong signal to calibrate the moon position – which again was made possible by the kind and reliable help of HB9BBD, thanks Dominique! The moon was high enough over the bushes, so we called CQ and worked PA3CSG. Than we heard the strong signal of K5JL as first US station. The following hours we worked: SP6JLW, K1RQG (first in CW, than in SSB, fantastic fun, Joe) W7BBM, VE6TA, W5LUA, K0YW, OZ4MM, DF3RU, K2DH, DJ9YW, HB9Q, SM2CEW, ES5PC, OE9ERC, WW2R, OE9ERC in SSB (no word was lost!), and G3LTF switching the light off. In total we worked 19 stations from  16 DXCC’s (if counted right) on the first day. Meanwhile, we realised that we have absolutely no internet access or cell phone connection from the house, so we have to look for positions on the next hill top to inform about our limited moon window.

Late afternoon 2 local hams dropped by and gave a helping hand  Jim GI1CET promised to supply us with better anchors (we now have solid stuff) and yes, of course he will send the mails for us. So far the first day. We are now sure about the limitation of the moon window to our East:  on 25^th we can only operate from 0640 UTC (that means: Doug, VK3UM and Yoshi, JA4BLC could you postpone sked slots to 0640 for VK3 and 0700 for JA4..I know you will have ground noise, Doug, but it’s worth the effort…we have to be quick!). On 26^th all skeds from 0800 onwards are ok, on 27^th all skeds are feasible. So now we will try to drop these lines off….keep your fingers crossed!!!!

73 / 88 de M & M, struggling hard as always.

Hi gents,
as the event moves closer now - and I'm busily packing all stuff together, getting more and more frantic not to forget THE essential cable -, let me remind you of a few things. Unless otherwise noted, during the skeds we ask our partners always to start transmission with the first period. Periods sequencing shall be 2.5 min in all cases. If the information exchange is solid and safe at both ends, we may deviate from the 2.5 minutes sequencing and move to normal QSO style. When a sked is finished successfully before the end of the slot, we will listen for any takers. When doing so, please respect the oncoming sked period. On Sunday 24th of May, we hope to be QRV after having set up the station for 23 cm. This probably will take place in early afternoon, so look out for some odd callsign. In case there should be any interest in JT contacts for weaker stations, we will be available on June 2nd in JT mode on 23cm. Any JT-requests may be directed to dl1ymk@aol.com . In case we will have internet access on site (which is unlikely according to our landlord...), we will upload the daily reports to OK1DFC's URL (tnx Zdenek!) under the following link http://www.ok1dfc.com/Peditions/MIped/miymk.htm  Depending on in-time delivery of Bernhard Korte's loaned SSPA, we probably will be active also on 2m with respectable power and a 11 ele Yagi for EME and MS. More details on this coming up next weekend. We don't want to miss to say a BIG 'thank you' to Joe, K1RGQ, who reliably has been compiling the sked list for us as in previous years, phantastic job and a real help.

vy 73 de M & M

2320.100 (transmit frequency) = 2320.100/2304.100/2424.100 receive frequency   MI/DL1 = MI/DL1YMK  EME schedules, last update 19 Apr 2009, 14:29   by K1RQG

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