432 and Above Newsletter for September 1999 (W6/PA0ZN)

432 MHz AND ABOVE EME NEWS

SEPTEMBER 1999 VOL 27 #10

ALLEN KATZ, K2UYH
Editor

ENGR DEPT., THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, TRENTON, NJ 08650-4700 (W 609-490-2817
OR H 443- 3184, FAX 609-443-1713, AND EMAIL:
Allen Katz, K2UYH

PRODUCTION ASSIST: TOM KIRK, KA2VAD (908-521-2049).

NETNEWS EDITOR: G4RGK, DAVID DIBLEY

SKEDS CORD & DIRECTORY: DL4EBY/DK0TU, KLAUS TIEDEMANN,
HALSKESTR.35, D-12167 BERLIN, (49-30-7955467), E-Mail:
Klaus Tiedemann.

EME WEB DIRECTORY by DL4EBY

***E-MAIL LIST CORD: Scott KD4LT***

*** NA EME BBS: 704-284-4854 ***

EME NETS

14.345, 10 AM ET SATURDAYS, AFTER VARO NET SUNDAYS:

NET CONTL: JOE, K1RQG (207-469-3492), E-MAIL: Joe, K1RQG

EME STANDINGS: JIM STARKEY, W0KJY, 3845 CAPITOL DRIVE, FT. COLLINS, CO 80526, (970) 226-0669)

THE NL WEB VERSION IS PRODUCED BY W6/PA0ZN AND AVAILABLE AT:

432 MHZ AND ABOVE NEWSLETTERS.
432 MHz AND ABOVE CHAT line
432 AND ABOVE PHOTOGALLERIES

CONDITIONS
The pattern seen this summer continued during the Aug SW. Activity was good on 1296, but weak on 432 despite the larger number of stations equipped for EME on 70 cm. The SW corresponded to the ARRL's UHF Contest, but there were only a few stations on contest collecting points. (Moonbounce counts in the ARRL Contests. The next ARRL VHF Contest is on 9/11 Sept – the weekend after the Sept SW.) Aug conditions on both 70 and 23 cm were satisfactory, but not out of the ordinary. The lunar eclipse on 11 Aug in Eur generated a lot of interest as can be seen from the following reports.

DUBUS/REF EME CONTEST RESULTS
TNX to Rainer, DJ9BV we have the Eur EME Contest tally. K5JL took 1st place on both 432 and 1296. ZS6AXT was number 1 on 13 cm. CT1DMK and F6KSX were 1st on 6 and 3 cm respectively. The top overall multi-band spot was taken by OE5EYM. ZS6AXT took all the prizes for Southern Hemisphere operation.

432 MHz 1 K5JL 251600 68(+ 0) 37 QRO SIN, 2 UR5LX 198000 55(+ 0) 36 QRO SIN, 3 DL9NDD 180090 62(+ 1) 29 QRP SIN 4 OE5EYM 171600 52(+ 0) 33 QRO SIN 5 K4QI 132300 49(+ 0) 27 QRO SIN 6 JA5OVU 108000 45(+ 0) 24 QRO SIN 7 DL4MEA 65100 31(+ 0) 21 QRO SIN 8 G4ERG 60800 32(+ 0) 19 QRP SIN 9 ON4KNG 33600 21(+ 0) 16 QRP SIN 10 F1ANH 33000 22(+ 0) 15 QRO SIN 11 F5AQC 28000 20(+ 0) 14 QRO SIN 12 OZ6OL 23800 17(+ 0) 14 QRP SIN 13 OE3JPC 23400 18(+ 0) 13 QRP SIN 14 EA3DXU 22800 19(+ 0) 12 QRP SIN 15 JH4JLV 20000 20(+ 0) 10 QRO SIN 16 KB4CNI 18240 15(+ 2) 12 QRO SIN 17 S57RA 15000 15(+ 0) 10 QRP SIN 18 ON5OF 14300 13(+ 0) 11 QRP SIN 19 VE6TA 11790 13(+ 1) 9 QRP SIN 20 IK5QLO 10800 12(+ 0) 9 QRP SIN 21 JA4BLC 8400 12(+ 0) 7 QRO SIN 22 S51ZO 8000 10(+ 0) 8 QRP SIN 23 OK1DFC 7700 11(+ 0) 7 QRO SIN 24 W3XS 5400 9(+ 0) 6 QRP SIN 25 S52CW 4200 7(+ 0) 6 QRP SIN 26 YO2IS 2500 5(+ 0) 5 QRP SIN 27 JA2TY 1000 5(+ 0) 2 QRP SIN 28 UT3LL 900 3(+ 0) 3 QRP SIN 29 JJ1NNJ 400 2(+ 0) 2 QRP SIN 1296 MHz 1 K5JL 133300 43(+ 0) 31 QRO SIN 2 F6CGJ 129600 48(+ 0) 27 QRO SIN 3 K2DH 126000 42(+ 0) 30 QRO SIN 4 OZ4MM 110200 38(+ 0) 29 QRP SIN 5 W2UHI 99900 37(+ 0) 27 QRP SIN 5 K4QI 99900 37(+ 0) 27 QRO SIN 6 ZS6AXT 98400 41(+ 0) 24 QRP SIN 7 OK1DFC 97500 39(+ 0) 25 QRO SIN 8 N6BQ 94770 35(+ 1) 27 QRO SIN 9 F2TU 88800 37(+ 0) 24 QRO SIN 10 SM3AKW 87400 38(+ 0) 23 QRP SIN 11 F5PAU 86100 41(+ 0) 21 QRO SIN 12 OE5EYM 81400 37(+ 0) 22 QRO SIN 13 ON5RR 68420 31(+ 1) 22 QRP MUL 14 OZ6OL 55100 29(+ 0) 19 QRP SIN 15 CT1DMK 48200 24(+ 1) 20 QRO SIN 16 IK3GHY 46500 31(+ 0) 15 QRP SIN 17 DH9FAG 40800 24(+ 0) 17 QRP SIN 18 JH5LUZ 40000 25(+ 0) 16 QRO SIN 19 F1ANH 28600 22(+ 0) 13 QRO SIN 20 VE6TA 18000 15(+ 0) 12 QRP SIN 21 W3XS 15400 14(+ 0) 11 QRP SIN 22 JF3HUC 12800 16(+ 0) 8 QRP SIN 23 HA5SHF 8960 11(+ 2) 8 QRP MUL 24 VK5MC 3000 6(+ 0) 5 QRP SIN 2320 MHz 1 ZS6AXT 16800 14(+ 0) 12 QRP SIN 2 OZ4MM 11000 11(+ 0) 10 QRP SIN 3 F1ANH 4900 7(+ 0) 7 QRP SIN 4 JA4BLC 3000 6(+ 0) 5 QRP SIN 5 IK2RTI 1200 4(+ 0) 3 QRP SIN 5760 MHz 1 CT1DMK 400 2(+ 0) 2 QRP SIN 10 GHz 1 F6KSX 4900 7(+ 0) 7 QRP MUL 2 S57UUU 400 2(+ 0) 2 QRP MUL 2 CT1DMK 400 2(+ 0) 2 QRP SIN Multiband 1 OE5EYM 1215500 143(+ 0) 85 QRO SIN 2 K5JL 754800 111(+ 0) 68 QRO SIN 3 K4QI 498800 86(+ 0) 56 QRO SIN 4 ZS6AXT 198000 55(+ 0) 36 QRP SIN 5 CT1DMK 191490 49(+ 1) 39 QRO SIN 6 OZ4MM 191100 49(+ 1) 39 QRP SIN 7 F1ANH 178500 51(+ 0) 35 QRO SIN 8 OK1DFC 160000 50(+ 0) 32 QRO SIN 9 OZ6OL 151800 46(+ 0) 33 QRP SIN 10 EA3DXU 145700 47(+ 0) 31 QRO SIN 11 S51ZO 65100 31(+ 1) 21 QRP SIN 12 VE6TA 58800 28(+ 1) 21 QRP SIN 13 W3XS 39100 23(+ 1) 17 QRP SIN 14 YO2IS 24000 16(+ 1) 15 QRP SIN 15 JA4BLC 20400 17(+ 1) 12 QRP SIN Leading Southern Hemisphere stations - 144 nobody 432 nobody 1296 ZS6AXT 2320 ZS6AXT - also band winner, and multiband ZS6AXT.

DJ5MN Berhard is looking for more stations to QSO on 23 cm. His dream is to complete WAC on 1296 with only 2 yagis! He is up to initial #27, using 2 x 70 el yagis, TH327 PA and FHX35LG .32 dB NF LNA.

DJ9YW Heinrich writes -- On 11 Aug we had a nearly total eclipse of the Sun. My QTH was only 400 km to the north of the umbra. At 1035 the maximum was reached with 91 % of cover. During the eclipse the temperature dropped to 30 deg C. At 1100 I turned my 23 cm EME system on and heard CQ from Erich, OE9ERC. Even though the Sun was still covered about 43 %, we had a QSO with (O/O)! The QSO started at 1105 (Sun noise 13.8 dB) and ended at 1111 (Sun noise 14.1 dB. The distance to the Moon was 373,382 km. AZ was 172 degs and EL 52 degs. At 1200 the Sun was fully visible again and delivered 16.3 dB at an SFI of 127. Erich had a Sun noise of 17.5 dB during the QSO and with a covering of 56 %. The VK3UM/F1EHN program was used for tracking with a 0.10 deg accuracy. I need QSL cards from W0KJY, WA4NJP and JF3HUC.

DL4MEA Guenter sends a few words about his EME work during the last few months -- I spent much effort to become able to track the Sun with my 80C535 based tracking system. I wanted to have the system working for the total eclipse, which took place at my QTH on 11 Aug. As always happens, after 2 weeks of perfect operation my relay based AZ power stage broke. It had to be completely rebuilt using a MOSFET bridge. I also decided to change the system to have a north end limit, so I can track the Sun and Moon without interruption. Somehow with those changes, my accuracy increased greatly. I can now find the Moon and Sun anytime. Tracking of the total eclipse gave me 6 dB attenuation of the noise during the full shadow, which verifies the data measured by others very well. I worked SM2CEW on 13 Aug under very strange conditions. We were doing a 70 cm meteor scatter test and just wanted to verify our frequencies, so we both pointed to the Moon, which was close to zenith at the time, and worked (559/559). On MS over that large distance, 2,035 km, I was at least able to hear one really strong and loud ping, but we did not complete the QSO, which we will surely do the next time.

DL8OBU Juergen is very interested in 70 cm skeds for the Sept SW. Stations should have at least 4 yagis and > 500 W. Juergen's station is in JO42xi and is 4 x 33 el (10 wl) yagis and a YL1050 PA. He is awaiting QSL cards from W7ALW, KA0RYT/0 and RA3LE.

EA6ADW Peter will be staying in DL until 2 Sept. He will then be back in Majorca until Nov, and QRV on 1296. He is interested in skeds. 3 weeks ago EA6ADW/P, JM19nw, worked on 10,368 MHz tropo 9H1ES/P in JM76 and JM75 (1,090 km) (55/59) on SSB. On 1296 EME Peter QSO'd W1ZX on random for initial #146.

G3SEK Ian's 432 EME report for Aug -- My activity has been very sporadic this year, with a lot of interruptions due to other commitments. I wasn't able to be on the air on Saturday morning, 7 Aug, and only worked W7CNK near moonset. On Sunday, 8 Aug, I added JA6AHB (449/559) for an initial (#), JA5OVU (559/559), VK4AFL (O/O) #, OZ6OL (O/O) #, G3HUL (449/449), K0RZ (449/449) in the ARRL VHF Contest, DF3RU (559/449) and W7CNK (449/549). Also heard were VK2BEK (at about 0300) and HG4I (at about 0900). Both stations were calling 1x1 CQs with good signals, but apparently not listening seriously for calls. My GS35b amp is working well, giving a solid 1 kW at the antenna. I have spent some time developing a "universal" control board for triode amps that should be ready for rollout very soon. I should be QRV for the Sept SW, and will be happy to take skeds. I am particularly looking for AL7OB (short path only), RW1AW and W7SZ and also VK2BEK and HG4I, if they are genuine initials. I probably won't be QRV for the Oct SW, but both contest weekends are marked KEEP CLEAR in my calendar!

GW3XYW Stu was very pleased and surprised to join the ranks of successful 10 GHz Moonbouncers on 8 Aug by QSOing PA3CSG (M/M) during preliminary testing. It was even raining at the time. Signals had an auroral quality with almost a total absence of tone. Stu was also active on 1296 and QSO’d on 7 Aug OK1DFC (449/549), OZ6OL (449/559), K2UYH (559/559), K5JL (569/569), S59DCD (449/449), ZS6AXT (549/579), the Moon was on Ivo’s horizon, W6HD (559/559) and OE9ERC (569/559).

I0UG Giuseppe is now QRV on 1296 EME. He worked during the Aug SW K5JL and possibly others. Giuseppe's e-mail address is:
I0UG

K1FO Steve forgot it was the SW and missed the Eur window on Saturday. He was on for the Asian window, but only heard JA6AHB. Steve planned to be QRV on Sunday, but was forced to be QRT due to thunderstorms. On 14 Aug, he worked W7SZ and AL7OB for initials #551 and #552.

K5JL Jay was on 23 cm this SW, and had some problems with his TX, but now has everything working properly -- I got the water back in the proper place and the gooo up to normal again. I worked about 20 station on 1296 during this SW. Condx were very good. The last few months have been spent evaluating the W7CNK 1296 preamp. I have gone from prototype to production model. The pre-amp is no-tune and build in a silver enclosure. The device is an ATF 36077. Four were take to CSVHF, all measured .22 dB NF, and won the 1296 pre-amp competition hands down. It is unconditionally stable - no matter what you do to the little fellow - it will not take off. All units that have been assembled have shown a NF of .22 dB or better. On the air operation has been excellent. I can hear my own echoes running less that 1 W. (Lucky is now in production and offering these LNAs for only $US135 - brings your receive system to today’s state of the art.) On 9 Aug, I worked WA1JOF. Don had 4 loop yagis and only 100 W.

KB4CNI Cowles writes -- I have some good and bad news. The good news is that I have found a house to buy and towers are allowed. The bad news is that I have to take down my 4 towers and will be off the air for a while. I am planning to start to dismantle the 432 EME array next week. I have a 120' tower with my HF antennas on it to take down, which I am not looking forward to at all! The house I am buying is up on a high hill. I can see over 20 miles in most directions. I think it will be a good radio site. I really enjoyed EME and the friends I have made on the Moon. I really hate to miss this year's EME contest. I hope to be back on the moon by next summer.

OE5JFL Hannes sends a special report -- My EME-site was just within the area of the total Sun eclipse on 11 Aug. So I used my autotrack system to measure 70 cm Sun noise during this event. The reduction was only 6 dB when the (visual) Sun was totally covered. So I guess about 25% of the sun noise we usually measure is coming from the corona. OE5EYM made the same type of measurement on 23 cm. I have not seen his plot yet, but he reported a deeper dip on this frequency. During the eclipse the weather was not very good here, but one hour before the maximum it cleared up a bit. So I went back to my home QTH with the car, picked up my family, and was chasing a clear spot in the sky. With good luck we were able to see the total coverage of the Sun, the corona and Venus beside the Moon/Sun for 2 minutes. It was completely dark, and far in the south we could see some mountains outside the total zone covered with soft red/yellow light. It made a big impression that I will never forget!

OE9PMJ-OE9YTV Peter and Reinhilde report on their 6 cm e- mail arranged skeds on 14 Aug -- We started operation around 1500 but had TX troubles, thus we missed some skeds. Later we discovered a dc line was shorted. We QSO'd at 1609 partial OH2AXH (559/-) NC due to the TX troubles, 1659 SM4DHN (559/549), 1825 OE9ERC (549/549) and 1838 W7CNK (549/549) for an initial (#). Heard were VE1ALQ (549) calling HB9SV. Enrico, HB9SV reported bad results. He heard no signals and measured only 2 dB CS/G noise and 8 dB of Sun noise. He wants to improve his 6 cm EME system (8 m dish and 20 W SSPA) and canceled his 16 Aug skeds. We plan to try again on 4 Sept from 0700 to 1300.
OH2AXH Michael (OH2AUE) reports that his group had 6 cm QSOs on 18 Aug with W7CNK and VE1ALQ. They used a 35 W SSPA feeding a 6.4 m dish. Their own echoes were good with lunar noise of about 2 dB. They are interested in more skeds and can be reached by e- mail at:

Michael, OH2AXH
or better yet by telephone to + 358 40 5038904 (OH6DD's mobile phone).

OK1DFC Zdenlk sends his Aug SW report -- I must apologize for my recent SW absences. I was very busy and on the 1st 2 weeks in July on vacation. Back in June, I met with my friends from OK1KIR (OK1DAI, OK1DAK and OK1DCI) and Franta OK1CA. We established a committee to bring the 2002 EME Conference to Prague. We discussed organization, accommodations and program plans. We know it is early, but a really FB conference needs preparation well in advance. We will have a small presentation for the UHF/SHF meeting on 11/12 Sept in Weinhem - see Weinhem:

The Weinhiem VHS/UHF Conference (Germany, EU) Many EMEers, as G3SEK, will be at Weinhem. This will be a good chance for us to practice our presentation for Rio2000. Aug conditions were quite good and the WX was also nice. Activity on 1296 the 1st night was low. I had a sked with W1ZX and we QSO'd without a problem. I also QSO'd GW3XYW (539/449), ZS6AXT (539/539), K2UYH (559/559), DJ9YW (539/559), W1ZX (559/559) for initial #81 and WAS 15, W6HD (559/559), S59DCD (539/339), OE9ERC (579/559), W2UHI (539/539), OK1KIR (449/449), DJ5MN (339/O) initial #82, HB9BBD (579/569), OZ6OL (O/549), I0UGB (O/539) for initial #83, OH2AXH (559/559), K5JL (559/549), K4QI (559/559) and W2UHI (549/539). On the next SW I will be busy, because of the VHF IARU Contest, and again on 2-3 Oct the UHF IARU Contest. But I will see you in the ARRL EME Contest for both parts.

ON5OF Dirk is trying to organize an EME dxpedition to 3A. He has received very little response thus far. He still needs volunteer help. He hopes that the local club can help. 3A2MS are ON5OF are presently the only ones interested. He is looking for systems for 23 and 70 cm and needs help with antennas on both bands. There is also a window limit in 3A. Dirk picked up a cavity with a GS35 for 70 cm and hopes to have it working by the ARRL EME Contest.

ON6JY Luc writes after a long absence -- I have not been active on EME due to a business overload as well my move to a new QTH. I am now rebuilding my station and hope to be back on the air soon. I plan to be active on 70, 23 and 13 cm with a dish between 6 to 9 m in dia. I have not finalized the size, but the concrete is already freshly installed with a new tower ready for mounting. Depending on time, I will perhaps install a group of yagis for 70 cm to be active while the dish is completed. The rest of the station will be the same as I used before. Basically, I will have around 1 kW on both 70 and 23 cm (YL1050) and about 100 W on 13 cm (2C39). I am making plans to attend the conference in Rio and hope to meet everyone there.

PY5ZBU Don reports on the Rio2000 EME Conference -- We had a couple of weekend shutdowns of our e-mail service provider. Otherwise everything is running FB and on schedule with the EME Conference preparations. I am not receiving many photo's of antennas, shacks, etc. All those shown in the web page are from my own personal collection of QSLs. Stations should send pictures to me through the post if they don't have scanning facilities, or via e-mail to my home. The address for photo's is (Inepar S/A Indzstria e Construgues Av. Juscelino K. de Oliveira, 11400 - CIC 81450-900 - Curitiba - Pr, Att. Mr. Donald Murden - PY5ZBU).

RW1AW Alex notes that he has been QRV on 144 EME since Sept 98 and on 432 since April 99. On 70 cm he is running 12 x 15 el BV yagis, GS- 35B 1.5 kW PA, .28 dB NF NE-324 cavity LNA (TNX to DL9KR for PHEMT!) and FT-736R with DSP-599ZX. His latest contacts were on 30 July VK4AFL for initial #29, on 02 Aug IK5QLO #30, on 07 Aug OK1KIR (449/439) #31, WE2Y (449/459) #32 and KB4CNI (539/549) #33, and on 8 Aug JA5NNS (559/539) #34 and JA5OVU (569/569) #35. Alex's e-mail address is:

Alex, RW1AW

VE1ALQ Darrell was unable to make his 5.76 GHz Aug SW skeds because of very heavy rain and wind. Later he did work OK1KIR and OH2AXH, both (559/549) on 6 cm. He is looking for new ones on 23, 70 and 6 cm. On 23 cm he worked K2UYH on SSB and is looking for I0UGB on sked.

W1ZX Willie was on 23 cm in Aug and worked on the 7th at 1000 OK1DFC (339/559) and 1056 K2UYH (55/559) - one way SSB, and on the 8th at 1330 partial OK1KIR (559/-) in sked. Willie had a problem with his FT-736R, which was off frequency. He was transmitting, but not near the correct freq. Willie will be away on vacation during the Sept SW. He will be back on 23 cm for the Oct SW. Willie is still working on his tracking problems and says it's coming together with VE1ALQ's help. He is looking for skeds on 23 and 70 cm. Skeds can be arranged via the 20 m net or by e-mail at:

Willie, W1ZX

W2UHI has found a problem with his system when he was checking Moon noise. Frankk discovered that his TX 7/8" pigtail (around the mount) was damaged. He has shortened the pigtail from 25'to 12'. The system is now much improved. During the SW Frank worked S59DCD, W6HD, K2UYH, OE9ERC and OK1DFC, but could not get the call of I0UGB. He is measuring 18 dB of Sun noise and 4.5 dB of CS/G noise.

W5HUQ John, has obtained a 16' aluminum dish and is looking for ideas on mounting it. He plans to put it on 1296 at this point and possibly other bands in the future.

W7HAH Sheds writes on his July 70 cm activity -- I had no skeds in the NL for July, but did work 2 new ones. I QSO'd on 9 July RW1AW (559/569) for initial #209 and on 16 July JA5NNS (O/O) #210. Others worked during July were K5GW (579/579) and N9AB (569/559). I am always looking for skeds. Weather is good for antenna repair nowadays, but I have to rely on others to help, as I am pretty much unable to climb towers anymore at 77 years young.

WA1JOF Don is now operational on 23 cm with 4 loop yagis and 100 W. He QSO'd K5JL on 9 Aug. Jay says he was weak, but Don is working on more power. He will run with any big stations wishing a sked next SW. He has heard OE9RC and others. With 250 W or more he should be easily workable. Don has no e-mail and an unlisted telephone, but skeds can be arranged via Klaus or Joe via the 20 m net. Don also asks if anyone know about the 2 tube 23 cm amp by SSB Electronics? (See the for sale section.)

WA9FWD John worked in Aug on 432 PY5ZBU to complete WAC! He now needs (only?) UTAH to complete WAS on 70 cm. On 1296 he QSO’d PY5ZBU, OE9ERC, G3LTF, W6HD and OK1KIR no sign on their sked, but he found him later on random.

ZS6AXT Ivo sends his greetings and reports -- On Saturday 7 Aug I worked on 23 cm OK1DFC, VE1ALQ, S59DCD, K5JL, PA3CSG, K2UYH, W6HD and GW3XYW. Heard was DJ9YW. On Sunday 8 Aug I added OZ6OL, OH2AXH, HB9BBD, DK5MV for initial #145, DJ5MN, K4QI, K5JL, OE9ERC and VE1ALQ. Heard were S59DCD, OK1DFC and PA3CSG - all with good signals. Signals were up and down, especially with my EL below 25 degs. On Wednesday 11 Aug, Erich OE9ERC phoned me and we tried a QSO on 23 cm during his total eclipse. We made it at 1038, (579/449) - normal reports are (589/569). Erich was (569 peaking 579), and (559) at the end of QSO. My power was a bit down. I heard some cooking noises from my HV PSU! At that moment the Moon was about 1.2 degree from the Sun (center to center). So I was getting virtually full Sun noise! I hope that all in Eur enjoyed the eclipse. On 6 cm I spent some time selecting SMA jumpers from the lot I bought last year in DL and found one that is very good. I installed it and measuring ground noise. I am now getting 6.3 dB CS/G noise (with Sun overhead), which adds a bit. This is at least 0.3 dB better than before.

K2UYH I was active on 23 cm on Saturday this month. This is a switch from my normal pattern. I wanted to spend some time on 1296 after only operating 432 for the past 2 SWs. Activity and conditions seemed good on 23 cm. I QSO'd on 7 Aug at 0914 OK1DFC (559/559), 0927 OZ6OL (549/559), 0938 (559/559), 0950 DJ9YW (569/569), 0959 K5JL (47/57) on SSB - Jay had a distortion problem which he later fixed, 1011 S59DCD (559/539), 1031 ZS6AXT (559/579), 1050 VE1ALQ (56/57) on SSB, 1056 W1ZX (559/55) on 1- way SSB for initial #169, 1114 W6HD (579/559), 1128 OE9ERC (57/57) on SSB and 1204 W2UHI (559/559) and (55/55) on SSB. The next day I switched to 70 cm, but had to attend an IEEE conference that limited my operating time to about an hour. I contacted on 8 Aug at 1048 DF3RU (569/559) and (55/54) on SSB and 1121 K0RZ (559- FN20559/559-DM79) for ARRL UHF Contest points. I also CWNR G3HUL. There did not seem to be too much activity at the time I was on the Moon. I believe I am caught up on all my QSLs. With most stations getting their NL by e-mail, I can not just include my QSLs with the NL. If I owe you a QSL please let me know.

NETNEWS

by G4RGK
CT1DMK could not be on for his 5.7 GHz Aug skeds on Saturday due to personal problems.
LU6DW, Marc reports that his 1296 power amp (60 W) is out of service, so we will not be QRV until we can get it to working again.
LU4DHD, Willy is listening on 23 cm with a 3.6 m dish.
W0PHD is considering getting on 432 and/or 1296 EME from his ND QTH. Wally can be reached at .
KD5FZX (EM12) needs AZ > 105 deg and EL >15 deg EL for 1296 EME operation. His Aug sked with S59DCD was out of his window.
ON4UV is working on 10 GHz EME, but has been slowed down by the illness of his wife.
KD4LT is looking for AL7OB on 70 cm as he could not make his Aug sked due to storms.
K9BCT/4 reports that the SSB Amps run fine. He has 2 combined. They require about 10 W per unit for about 400 W+ out.
N2IQU is QRV on 70 and 23 cm and listening on 10 GHz.
W7QX was unable to get on 70 cm for the SW. He had a match problem, and thinks there may be water in his feedline. He is working on a 23 cm EME system. He has also changed his e-mail address to: W7QX
W7CNK had a good time at the CSVHF Conference. He reports the Sun noise on 70 cm is hot - 14.75 dB. During the SW he worked OH2AXH in a sked on 5.7 GHz but heard nothing else there. He also worked G3SEK on 432, but heard little other activity on 70 cm.
N6BQ had problems and was unable to be QRV on 23 cm from home for the SW. He could not find the Moon. His 5 m dish is working well on receive. Jeff heard many stations and 18.5 dB of Sun noise. Hoppy hopes to have the 5 m dish going on TX in a couple of weeks.
W5LUA is working on 24 GHz gear.
W4HHK has just got out of the hospital and is doing better.
DK3WG has not been active this summer and missed the Aug SW.
SM2CEW also was not able to be on fore the SW.
W7SZ is running 100 W and 4 x M2 yagis. He was also away from home on the SW.
W4RDI is not QRV as he lost his tracking system due to a lightning strike.
WE2Y worked on 70 cm OK1KIR (O/O), RW1AW (O/O) and DL9NDD during the SW.
DL9KR reports little activity on 432 during the SW.
PA3CSG was on 23 cm during the SW, but heard nil from W1ZX and did not work anyone else. He was also on 3 cm and QSO’d GW3XYW with a good sig.
GM0ONN is QRV with 4 x 21 el yagis and 800 W on 432.
WA4NJP will be somewhat inactive until Labor Day weekend due to QRL.

FOR SALE
KL7FB has 10 RCA 7213 pulls for sale. He does not know if they are good or not. They were pulled out as routine scheduled maintenance for some USAF PA's. Chris paid $US50 to take a chance on some of them being good, and is offering them for sale for what he paid plus shipping.
He also has for sale the following items plus more:
1) UPX-4 1296 MHz PA, which was machined and modified for 1296. Six water-cooled tubes are included. This unit was tested and worked well, but was a bit touchy on the tuning. This unit has never been set up with a power supply/meter or water-cooling, but was tested. It comes with a filament transformer, but no power supply. Make an offer.
2) 2 x 7289 air-cooled SSB Electronics 1296 MHz PA. It was never used, has no power supply, but does have tubes in it. Make an offer.
3) Hughes C-band 6 GHz 40 W TWTAs. They are complete and run off of 48 Vdc. The rating is for commercial use, non-compressed linear RF for multiple RF carriers, and will do more for single carrier CW. He had someone tell him they got 60 W out of one. Chris wants $US400 each. They work and are guaranteed to be as specified here.
4) 2 sets of 3 amps continuous 6 kV full wave bridge rectifiers. 4 diodes in each set. Best offer, includes heat sinks. Contact Chris at:

KL7FB
KJ4SO, Woody is looking for some ideas on using a dual band feed for 5760 and 10368.
NA4N wants info on a hybrid junction made by Anzac Electronics, model H-9. Its a 180 deg power combiner that's supposed to cover 2 MHz to 2 GHz.
W7CNK has state-of-the-art 1296 pre-amps for sale for only $US135 - see K5JL's report.
K9BCT/4 has a 70 cm array for sale. 8 x 18 el yagis plus H frame is available for pick-up only. Call Randy and negotiate.
DH1SBJ has for sale a klystron (linear) amplifier tuned to 10368 MHz. Pmaxout = 2.5 kW at Vcoll = 11 kV. He used it with Vcoll = 6 kV only (Icoll = 400 mA) and got 400 W out with 24 dB gain. WR90 in-out. It is very easy to operate with only one heater and one collector-voltage (5-11 kV). Contact: Rolf, DH1SBJ, at e-mail:
DH1SBJ

TECHNICAL

Have you wondered why AZ pointing feels so sharp near the horizon, while EL angle is the critical setting near zenith? W8MQW explains why in this month’s technical contribution.

FINAL
This NL is being set out a few days late. I thought I had everything worked out, so that I could attend the EME Symposium and get the NL out on time. Unfortunately the best plans do not always work out as expected. When I returned I found that the Sept skeds had not yet arrived. K1RQG offered to help, but could not do anything for several days. I decided it would be best to delay any have some skeds, rather than send the NL out with none.
? I had a great time at the EME Symposium organized by Mark, N2IQU, and especially want to thank everyone for the lovely award I received for producing the NL these many years. It was a complete surprise. Thank You. Just seeing Mark's station and his PAs for 10 GHz made the trip worthwhile. Mark personally arranged for much of the food, which was outstanding. Breakfast, lunch, diner and snacks made the Symposium feel more like a cruise than a conference. The abundance of food and drink stimulated socializing for which plenty of time was allocated. The Symposium CD, edited by KB2AH and produced by K2DH contained volumes of information! Talks were provided by W4RDI on EME basics, AA4TJ on receivers, W3XS on finding the Moon and tracking, W8MQW on determining pathloss, K2UYH on polarization rotation, WA8ZWG on connectors and transmission lines, KB2AH on dish construction, K1FO on system measurements, and W6/PA0ZN on his WEB site.
? Interested in #A on 432 and/or 1296 EME, see ON5FF’s report.
? Now is the time to start making plans Rio2000, see PY5ZPU’s report.
? In response to my query regarding needed states, W8TN surveyed 10 432 EME stations to find out, which states they still need on 432 EME. Nine of those stations need less than 10 states to complete WAS. The 10th station needs 19 states. By far, the most needed state is KY (9 stations need KY.) Two of the stations surveyed only need a KY QSO to complete WAS. The most wanted states in order of demand were: KY (9), ND (5), NE (5), WY (5), HI (4), NM (4), RI (4), VT (4), ID (3), NV (3), SD (3), UT (3), NH (2), OR (2), AR (1), IN (1), MA (1), ME (1), MO (1), MT (1), PA (1), SC (1), VT (1) and WI (1). Clark noted that this survey was made after KA0RYT’s dxpedition to NE and yet 5 of the 10 stations surveyed still need NE, which is tied for 2nd place in demand!
? The results of the CSVHF Antenna Gain Contest can be found at:
CSVHF ANtenna gains
and Preamp NF Contest at:
PreAmp. Contest
?Keep the reports and technical info coming. Remember the ARRL EME Contest is only a little over a month away (30/31 Oct and 27/28 Nov). CU you off the Moon during the Sept SW.
73, Al - K2UYH

EME Schedules SEP 4 Time 432.040 432.045 0030z G3SEK -VK2BEK 0730z OH2DG -S51ZO 0800z F5KDK -OH2DG 0830z PY5ZBU-EA3DXU 0900z WE2Y -EA3DXU 0930z KB4CNI-EA3DXU 1030z AL7OB -W7QX G3SEK -RW1AW 1100z AL7OB -WE2Y G3SEK -HG4I 1130z W7SZ -PA3CSG W7BBM -OH2DG 1200z AL7OB -G3SEK W7SZ -K2UYH 1230z W7SZ -G3SEK 1330z W7SZ -K5WXN SEP 5 Time 432.040 432.045 0030z AL7OB -DL9NDD 1200z KL7HFQ-OH2DG SEP 5 Time 1296.050 0230z DJ5MN -JA7BMB 0300z DJ5MN -JF3HUC 0330z DJ5MN -JH5LUZ 0830z EA3UM -DJ5MN 0900z ON5RR -DJ5MN 0930z PY5ZBU-DJ5MN 1000z LU6DW -DJ5MN 1100z WA1JOF-W2UHI 1130z WA1JOF-WA6KBL 1200z WA1JOF-K2UYH 1230z 1300z KD5FZX-S59DCD SEP 11 Time 1296.050 1200z HB9BBD-DL/LZ1DP 1230z OE9ERC-DL/LZ1DP 1330z ZS6AXT-DL/LZ1DP 1400z VE1ALQ-DL/LZ1DP SEP 4 Time 2304.050 2304.075 0930z G3LQR -OK1KIR 1000z NU7Z -OH2AXH VE1ZJ -OK1KIR 1030z NU7Z -OK1KIR 1100z NU7Z -GW3XYW OH2DG -OK1KIR 1130z DF3RU -OK1KIR

EME 2000, the upcoming EME conference in Rio, Brazil.

Most recent Schedules from Klaus, DL4EBY

Lunar Calendar for 1999 prepared by G3SEK

Netnotes by K1RQG

Leave Contest Info or Comments to Allen Here

This information was obtained from: Scott, KD4LT

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Rein, W6/PA0ZN

19990615