[Moon] 432 MHz activity from SM2BYA last week

[SM2BYA, Gudmund]

Hello all,

Was QRV from SM3BYA last week, about as advertised.

Nowadays I always feel a bit apprehensive driving up to the farmhouse after
not having been there for months - is the array still in one piece up there
on the tower, and will it work? Surprisingly, it is and it does, year after
year.

So does the rest of the rig there, although many parts of it can be
classified as antiques - the keyer is the old all-tubes W9TO keyer I built
back in the summer of 1967, right after I'd got my licence, the 28 MHz
exciter is a homemade unit I put together in 1976 and the receiver is a 1976
vintage Drake R-4C, one owner from new... Guess this goes to prove that CW
EME does not require cuttting-edge technology throughout... (All right, I
cheated a bit  - I did run VK3UM software on my laptop to get the pointing
data, but it wasn't connected to anything!).

This time, I tested a 80 watt solid-state driver amplifier that I was hoping
to use to replace my old 4X150G driver cavity. Everything worked fine to
begin with, but then I made the mistake of trying to adjust the input
circuit of my K2RIW under power - and promply blew out one of the final
transistors! Not totally unexpected though; the SS amplifier was an early
1970s unit and the transistors of that age were not rated to withstand more
than 10:1 VSWR at full power. I was lucky to have another unit of the same
type collecting dust in the barn that had not been re-tuned to 432 yet. Got
it out, hooked it up and had 35 watts out without doing anything at all;
this was just right to drive the K2RIW to 850 watts so left everything like
that.

Jan. 4  at 2100UT I worked DL5FN on sked on the first try, quick and easy.
Very good sigs, we completed in twelve minutes.

Jan. 5  had a quick QSO with UA3PTW.

Jan. 6 at 0500 had a sked with K3MF but copied only a few letters from
Wayde. My own echoes were steady throughout the sked time; probably a case
of Faraday lockout.

In the DUBUS activity period that evening worked KL6M, G3LTF, DL7APV, VK3UM
and UA3PTW. Also heard EA3DXU. At times the band appeared so dead that I
began to suspect the preamp, but it was probably just more Faraday lockout.

In the morning of Jan.7 at 0500  ran a second sked with K3MF that went a
little better. Wayde's signals were now there all the time, just readable.
After three overs I had both calls complete and started sending OOO, but
Wayde apparently never heard me at all. EU-US fixed Yagi- fixed Yagi
contacts can be a pain!

In the DUBUS activity period I went on to work NC1I, OZ4MM, F2TU and DF3RU.
Heard OZ6OL at the end, but copied nobody else.

Peter's, G3LTF activity report was interesting - it seems that the ability
to rotate RX polarisation was essential this weekend; I guess that most or
all of the stations Peter worked but which I didn't even hear were simpy
vertical at my QTH.

All in all, a few enjoyable evenings and early mornings! Thanks to all QSO
partners!

73
Gudmund SM2BYA / SM3BYA