Some snow.. and -6 degrees

So here we go.

Weather is very nice - cold, no wind and conds are great on HF(40M)

W3DZZ +5 - working VY FB on 40m and 80m and the other bands also..

HF beam working great even with snow on it

Snow on EME array..

-- la7dha

SSTV from ISS

Not the best pass...
Waiting for next..

Not too good either..

Working EME today...

KB8RQ - Worked !
6548Km.
Gary har nok noe av det råeste oppsettet for 2m EME.
Skulle bare mangle at man greier å nå han...
Me: QRP - 80W og 4 x 8el.

IK3MAC  - Worked !
Graziano hørte mitt første call.
Han har gode ører !

Some strangely good DX conds at 80m this morning..

Watched the JT65 QRG this morning at 80-meter..

Heard: Peru, Algeria, Namibia, Canary Isl. China, USA, Canada
Not heard: Guatemala, Sierra Leone and Yemen
    Worked: Canada, USA

So, is this for real.... to good to be true!

One solid MS copy today...

2 pings was received from DK3XT
Then it stopped...
Need to try some other time.

EME QRP 80W is Hard work!

Running Icom IC-9100 barefoot.
Not pushing it to the limit - staying around 70 - 80W to the antenna.
So, this is definitely putting me into the QRP < 200 class in ARRL EME Contest.

Even with a degradation of 4.36dB signals bounced from the moon are big.

Managed to get through to RU1AA - Alex
Probably what we call a "big gun"..

In SpecJT we notice the signals very good and the last two bars are "RRR" report.



HB9Q also having a extremely loud signal
Big gun, also...

MS test

Trying MS..

I got quite a few packets from GW8JLY - Lyn

It's up

One problem...
I have a lot of noise.....



73's

Yes, it works

More finetuning to come..
More power needed.. QSO with RK3FG with only 80Watts from my side.
I need 350...

A lot of noise on all the bands from HF to UHF.
I need to find it's source..

UA4AQL bounced of the moon

So, Alexander - UA4AQL bounced of the moon and down at my QTH.
I still have no clue where my antenna is heading - since it's been so rainy that I haven't seen the

sun to adjust az/el... 

EME contest this weekend.

I got to get the antenna up at final position and have it adjusted.. 

Should be ready now...

Ready to be lifted up...































myPost

73's

More adjustments done

Homemade Wrench pole.

Hard Work, Hi Hi.. 

Almost set. I believe all fine adjustments are done now.
Just one beam left to mount.
Will wait until after tomorrow.
Wind is coming - so, waiting for better WX Conds is better.

cosy... :-)

IC-9100, internal USB soundcard and PTT TX in WSJT

CAT7200 - originally created for IC-7200 to enable PTT via CI-V for RTS(request to send)

Reported to be working for Icom IC-7100.

I could not find any reports for it to work on IC-9100.

In Win2k8.1 I'm able to transmit in WSJT, WSPR, wsprx and wsjtx2.

Makes things so easy, when internally USB soundcard in the radio can be used.

Follow this to get it going:
http://www.coilgun.info/hamradio/meteor-scatter2.htm

Great stuff, John!

USB interface HRD and IC-9100

How to get TX/RX via USB using an IC-9100 and Ham Radio Delux >5.x

• Install the USB driver from Icom first... then attach the radio.
• Get your HRD up and running via USB-Serial(speed: 9600).
• Choose your soundcard for TX/RX in DM780(in Win8.1: USB Audio CODEC)
• For PTT - choose "via Ham Radio Deluxe - DM780 must be connected to HRD)
• To make PTT work - assign TX button in DM780 to the physical TX button on the radio.

Voila !

Have fun!

Heavy stuff to do alone...





























Hope for no rain tomorrow....
The rest will then be set.

Pretty heavy for the rotor to lift just 2 antennas on the H-Frame.
Weight balance in the frame will be much better when the 2 lower OWL's are set.


myPost

73's

Tuning...

Still working on the antennas on the ground..
Possibly... getting them up tomorrow.
All bolts will be re-secured - all support-wire locks will be re-checked and attaching a support bolt for the Azimut rotator(to stop any potential unexpected turns in the wind):




Planning to attach the coax via the support boom for the upper antennas.
Lower antennas is on the antenna boom.

After checking - A1(upper left) has same SWR both when the W103 cable is on the antenna boom or is attached under on the under-boom.
So, I will reattach it back - and put it on under-boom.
Then the cable is following the H-Frame and not crossing the directors.


SWR plots.. A1, B1(lower left), C1 and D1

more to come..

73's

Per Ragnar

Rain...

Ready to mount 2 antennas on top of the H-frame.
Rain is stopping me..

Look at the nest...





- myPost

73's

Today's business....

VHF 4-way splitter, superAmp, 70cm X-Quad and cables in place.
So, 70cm ready for testing...

M4 x 50mm A4 x 16 needed to start serious OWL testing.
Those bolts are hard to get in A4..
Trying again tomorrow...
Würth may have it.. £25.00...





- myPost

73's

Still going on..

Missing some washers and bolts to get the beams ready for mounting.
Have to do some shopping..

Adjusting for best SWR
Cable will be on top of the boom for the 2 antennas below.
2 Top antennas will have the feed going via the supportboom.





























All antennas done
3 to go for finetuning.
RigExpert AA-170 is a great tool for the job.















Support bar in place














Just found a good spot for the splitter.
Since my Wimo 70cm X-Quad is also getting up there, adjustments are needed.

The OWL's are a bit heavy in the back.
So, to have the X-Quad to balance the weight on the rotor boom is not a bad idea.. I think....

Total weight of the antennas and frame is around 36Kg.
Rotor itself is about 10Kg.

The PreAmp's(SP-2000/SP-7000) also have some weight - and will be mounted just below the rotor.
They are beeing powered by sequencers.

All cables are Westflex 103.


- myPost

73's

So far, so good...

Next up is to install support boom and 4x splitter.

Will be interesting how to mount the antennas.
I might have to lift the mast after mounting the 2 OWL's on the Top of the frame..






- myPost

73's

Rotor support bar up..

Started on my H-frame...
Rain cought me up again...
Next will be connecting Right and Left bars.















- myPost

73's

2-meter EME Frame plan...

Innovantennas H-Frame for 8-el OWL 2-meter beams check..



This is going to be beautiful..

My first decoded Scatter..
So, now I just need to work one..

EA6/MA-044 Talaia d'Albercutx

SOTA at Majorca. 

In nice WX, and not to hot.

20m CW was good. A few worked on 20m SSB.

No good on 17m

So, conds could have been better.

EA6/LA7DHA/P

QRV from Alcudia, EU-004.

FT-817nd And vertical antenna.

R508

View from the balkony to the north, northeast.

Port of Alcudia

Vertical antenna and MFJ random wire tuner

Seems to work very good at 15, 17 and 20 meter band.

Akkurat så man kan se vertikalen fra Pool'n...