Hello all,

Latest news re the JW/SM2BYA operation:

Status:

The receiver chain (antenna relay, preamp, six meters of RG-213, postamp, transverter) was put on a HP8970A / 346A NF system last Sunday, measuring in at Tsys=33 Kelvin (0.47 dB NF).
All heavy equipment has now been packed in three transport crates and will be handed over to a shipper in the next days for airfreighting to Spitsbergen well ahead of time.
We will leave Kiruna by car on Oct. 13, for Tromso, Norway, flying out of there to Spitsbergen on Oct. 14.

Operations:

It is still unclear by when we can start installing the 432 MHz gear. In the very best case, we may get access to the antenna already around noon on Friday the 17th, but there is no guarantee of that.
The time slot October 17, 18 - 24 UT (or as much of it as we can cover) _will be reserved for working QRP and/or not fully EME capable stations ONLY_.
JW/SM2BYA will call CQ on 432.073 and listen for replies over the whole 432.075 - 432.080 range.

If your station runs < 20 kW EIRP,
or if you can only work on a rising / setting moon,
or if you have never had a EME QSO before,
you are welcome to call us between 18-24 UT. Please try to spread out !

If signals are marginal, we will go into strict 1 minute sequencing and expect the other party to follow suit.
For this to work out, we need the full cooperation of the established EME community. You will all have plenty of time to work us later, so please, please give the first-timers and little pistols a chance by keeping your fingers off the paddles ! We were all newcomers once...
In the Americas the moon is still below the horizon during this time interval. So we won't be able to offer our American QRP friends the same opportunity, but you shouldn't give up ! There are some simple things you can do to maximise your chances of getting through even in the thick of the contest. Some excellent advice given by the VE3ONT crew back in 1994 bears repeating here:
If you do not have full elevation capability, fix your antenna about 2 degrees below the maximum moon elevation at upper culmination at your location. That way, you can track the moon for at least two hours using azimuth rotation only, plus it minimises ground and man-made noise pickup on receive.
Avoid the European window if you can. Remember, we are so far north that the moon is above our horizon all the time.
Call us at the upper end of our receive band if your rig can work at a 7 kHz split.

Assar/-LTA and I are now off on extended business travel and won't be able to access MoonNet for the next two weeks. We will post a status update on or around October 15 - by then we should already be up on Spitsbergen. Any communication in the meantime should go to my private email (which I can access while travelling):

sm2bya@telia.com

73 and good luck to all

Gudmund SM2BYA