DIRTY DISHES
and clean signals
the official publication of The 50 MHz and UP Group located in Northern California.
Volume 2 Number 10                   October - November 1997
Visit our web site at: http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/50UP.html

Next Meeting, SUNDAY, 11/2, 1PM at Lockheed Bldg. 202.

PROGRAM:  Report by Jim Moss on the WSWSS conference recently held; report by Jeffrey Pawlan on 10GHz EME he worked while on vacation in France; begin discussions to plan the 1998 WSWSS and West Coast VHF, UHF, and Microwave Conference that we will be hosting.

The meeting place will be the Lockheed Auditorium in bldg. 202 on Hanover St. in Palo Alto, California. Access Hanover from Page Mill Road (between 280 and El Camino). Follow Hanover as it curves right and up the hill. Watch for the Lockheed sign indicating Bldg. 202 on the left side, about 2/3 of the way up the hill.

Officers
President  Jeffrey Pawlan  WA6KBL  408-371-0256  jpawlan@pawlan.com 
Vice President  Bill Rausch  AA6PA  408-637-0622  billraus@ix.netcom.com 
Treasurer  Will Jensby  W0EOM  408-296-6071  w0eom@aol.com 
Secretary  Bill Ogilvie  KQ6FY   415-968-3707  wogilvie@best.com 
Board Member  Art Lange  W6RXQ  408-735-1594   art_lange@trimble.com  
Board Member  Jim Moss  N9JIM  408-746-2789  jmoss@rockie.nsc.com 


Contests and Events

23-26 Oct 97 Microwave Update '97, Sandusky, Ohio  http://www.wa8wzg.com/update97 

3-4 Apr 98   Southeastern VHF Conference, Atlanta, GA http://www.akorn.net/~ae6e/svhfs

Livermore Swap Meet - 1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, CA, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from west, 145.35 from the east. Contact Noel Anklam, KC6QZK, (510) 447- 3857 eves.


VHF+ WeakSignal NETS
Sunday  8PM  144.240  Southern California WSWSS 
Sunday  8PM  144.250  Central California WSWSS 
Sunday  8:30PM  432.100  Central California WSWSS 
Tuesday  8PM  144.250  Northern California SWOT 
Tuesday  8PM  144.200  Arizona WSWSS 
Wednesday  8PM  144.240  Southern California WSWSS SWAP 
Thursday  8PM  144.250  Northern California SWOT SWAP 
Thursday  8PM  432.120  SCAL General, Oceanside, DM13 

50 MHz & Up Club Minutes
of Sept. 7, 1997

 The 50 MHz & Up group held their June meeting at the Lockheed-Martin auditorium on Sept. 7, 1997.   Club executives and directors present were:  Jeffrey Pawlan WA6KBL, President; Bill Rausch AA6PA, Vice President; Will Jensby W0EOM, Treasurer; Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY, Secretary;  Jim Moss WB9AJZ, director; and Art Lange W6RXQ.   There were 16 members and visitors in attendance.   The activity scheduled for this meeting was a demonstration of millimeter wave transverters, by club members and guests.

     Will Jensby, W0EOM showed a 47 GHz transverter he built.  It used a close tolerance machined aluminium parabolic reflector, with waveguide feed, mounted on a surveying tripod.   Bob Johnson, KF6KVG showed a 10 GHz transverter he built.   Lars Karlsson, AA6IW and Brian Yee, W6BY each demonstrated 24 GHz transverters, and made a contact across the room.   Lars also showed a "spy radio" he bought at the Dayton Ham Fest this spring.   It was built for the CIA to monitor frequencies from 1 - 26 GHz and is concealed in a brown Samsonite suitcase.

     In the discussion about operating on millimeter wave bands, the following calling frequencies were noted:
 10 GHz band:  10.3681 GHz   ( 9 X 1152 MHz )

 24 GHz band:  24.1921 GHz  ( ~21 X 1152 MHz )

 47 GHz band:  47.040  GHz  ( ~41 X 1152 MHz )

                                                                 de KQ6FY, Bill


Club Spirit!
How about a club T-Shirt?  We've found a source that can supply just about any type and color with whatever logo we may want.  The prices look reasonable ($8-10 depending on type).  We don't have a logo yet.  We voted to give away a free tee shirt to the design of the club logo, as a contest. We'd like to hear from you. Let any of the board members know if you have interest, or mention it at the next meeting.

50 MHz and UP will host 1998 WSWSS VHF Conference

We will be hosting the combined Western States Weak Signal VHF Conference with the return of the West Coast VHF, UHF, and Microwave Conference after an 11 year hiatus. Please come to our next meeting on November 2 to offer your ideas. We must decide which month to hold the conference and where to hold it.

This year's WESCON show and IC Expo will be held for the first time at the Santa Clara and the San Jose convention Centers. They will be held Nov. 4 - 6 and there will be free transportation connecting the 2 locations. Free admission passes for the shows are available from Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL, at the meeting or by special arrangement if you can't come to the meeting.

MT. VACA X-BAND BEACON

After three years of work, K6GZA and I placed the Mt. Vaca beacon into operation last Sunday, Sept. 14 at 1610 hrs PDST.

Call Sign:      W6ASL/BCN
Frequency:      10368.325
Grid Square:    CM88WJ
Power:          1 Watt
Antenna:        10 db Slot Omni H-Poliz
Elevation:      2704 Feet AMSL

Frequency is now at -10 Hz from target. After burning in on Ron K6GZA's bench for 9 months, the drift rate was found to be +1.5 Hz per month.

Certificates will be available for signal reports forwarded to me via E-Mail...73...jim W6ASL


WSWSS Conference: Tough to Beat!
by Jim Moss (N9JIM)
Nothing negative implied in the title here!  A fantasticly fun conference put on mostly through the effort of Robert, N7STU.  The site that was chosen was superb.  They had excellent food and facilites.  The talks were very good.  I attended the 5 GHz transceiver talk by N1BWT.  Those caps from tubing are really cool.  I even won the door prize for that talk, a 5GHz Xcvr kit!  Art, W6RXQ gave his excellent talk about GPS. Jimmy, W6JKV gave a great travellog of his VHF DXpeditions.  Bob, K6QXY gave a well documented (through great pictures) history of his 6M EME arrays (both success and failure)!  There were many other talks as well, but these were the ones I attended.  I have a copy of the papers if anyone is interested. Also you can get your own copy from Robert, N7STU.http://www.qsl.net/n7stu 
My favorite part though is meeting my VHF friends from about the Western US.  A good number of VHFers from AZ,CA,NV were there!

Everyone was eager to find out just when and where we will host the '98 conference.
73,
Jim


The guest speaker at our Dec. 7th meeting will be Steve Muther, WF6R.

He will talk about his latest addition to his ATV repeater atop Black Mountain. There is now a 10GHz receiver in addition to the 70cm and 2.4GHz inputs.  He will also give a live demonstration.


Rex Allers, KK6MK  has a new webpage with photos from our last meeting. He also has photos, discussions, and links regarding microwave mountain-topping in N. Calif. Please visit it at  http://www.dnai.com/~rexa/

Laser Communications Home Page! Jim Moss (ex WB9AJZ) is now N9JIM. He hosts this page:  http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/laser.htm
Lots of bright stuff and archives of the LASER mail reflector.

 The members of the 50MHz and Up Group will receive a new updated Roster and a list of all known non-members who are also interested in VHF, UHF, and Microwave experimentation.