I was first licenced in 1974, my hobbies have always included electronics since the age of 14. Which progressed in to RF engineering.
My RF preferences have always been VHF to microwave, HF has never really bitten me, although I have the capability.
Transceivers:- Homebrew multimode multiband 50,70,144 &432 MHz.
TS-530S For HF.: The antennas for HF are a Delta loop for 28 MHz, mutiple half wave dipoles for 7,14,18,21, spaced 0.5 mtrs aprt with a common feed, and for the LF bands there is a 5 mtr dia mag loop for 3.5 & 1.9 MHz
For all the microwave bands another homebrew multimode 144 MHz IF, all the transverters are controlled from this new transceiver.
Which is built in 2011. All the microwave bands should be back up and running by the summer of 2011, :)
The antenna farm was completely rehashed and GRP is now used for the cross boom on 2 mtrs and the top 3 mtrs of the stub mast.,
However, the weight of the 67 ele 23 cms antenna caused the GRP stub to bend, so the 70 cms 2x 19 ele have been moved to vertically stacked
I do have problems with my hearing, I only have one partly functional ear, so unfortunately weak signals can be difficult
Bands active:-
HF + 6mtrs 200W, 4 mtrs 150 W, 2mtrs 400W, 70 cms 200W, 23 cms 150W, 13 cms 100W, 6 cms 15W, 3cms 5 W.
e-mail richardATg8jvm.com
replace the AT with @
Current status:- January 2013
70 MHz SSPA rebuilt 180W
2320 MHz Masthead transverter has been repaired after water damage.and thye power output increase slightly
5760 MHz masthead transverter being repaired due to water damage, both caused by condensation NOT GOOD !
A new driver has been obtained and all parts are ready to be reinstalled
Anyone desparate for a QSL card, send direct, My address is correct QTHR. I do QSL: via the bureau , but I have a backlog
Below are views to the East and SE from this QTH, visible horizon is about 40 miles
In 2012 our cat we had for 16 years died, and in the fall we gave a little black rescue cat a home, Hector follows me everywhere and
below he is discovering how to stop the cooling fan on the DDS VFO on the microwave IF rig.
Further work has been done to improve this tranceiver, with the refernce clock incresed to 1 GHz and the o/p from the DDS increased to +20dBm
to drive a high level mixer , that has inprovrd the Rx dynamic range, which on 23 cms is important due to the high level radar QRM from a nearby site.
This transceiver controls all the transverter switching from the from panel.
The software for this transceiver and the main VHF/UHF rig has been written by my very good friend Buck KD8RRI
Projects for 2013 are:-
Replace the LO chain in the 23 cms transverter, at the moment the LO chain is from a SSB electronic receive converter about 30 years old now
The new one will be loosedly base on the DDK2001 LO board, but using a very low noise VCXO at 96 MHz, that will be locked to a 10MHz referenece.
The another project which must be completed is the 9MHz FM modulator and source for the main HB rig which since changing the VFO to DDS has has no FM Tx capability. It will just be a Si571 with the freq set by a smal PIC and the pre-emphasis audio stage.
The next in line is the FM IF Rx & TX for the little microwave HB 2 mtr rig above.
Then either rebuild the 6 cms masthead transverter, now I have all the parts needed, or finish the 1 GHz clock for the DDS VFO in the main HB rig.
This should provide me with a low pase noise clock loosely locked to a 10MHz reference. I have been told my method of locking up a SAW ocillator at 1 GHz by controlling the temperature of the SAW module cant be done, so I'll proceed on and show it can be done. My target is to hold the SAW oscillator to within 5 Hz of its nominal 1 GHz.
Then when that lot is completed I'd like to buid another multimode rig just for 70 MHz. At the moment I can only monitor one VHF band at a time.
Thats of course if something in the shack doesn't fail and need repairing, some of the test equipment is more that 40 yrs old
Below shows the shack, it is not just a clean desk with a rig on top !
