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August 10: A project which took a long time to finish became ready: The 144 MHz RF power amplifier with two times MRFE6VP61K25HR6. I am not fun of mechnical work like welding, drilling etc, but all came together just in time for the IARU Region 1 VHF contest on september 2/3 coming. Some pictures as below. Overview:
Remote volt/ampere meters with rf meter to controle drive input:
July 8/9: I was great to be one of the operators at PA6HQ, it was the first time I worked only on 40 meter and using a two elements beam instead of a standard wire dipole. Working at the station in IJmuiden, very close to the sea, was a great pleasure!
June 27: Nice to have an antenna for 50 MHz again in the tower; enjoy the contacts i have made. Decided to make a 6-Element-28-Ohm-Yagi with 7.20m-Boom design DK7ZB in the coming months.... June 17/18: Together with Kees PA5WT we did run the IARU 50 MHz contest, lots of Sporadic E openings and we were able to work soms 265 stations in ssb/cw. Best DX EA8BPX IL18SK with 3185km. We had only a simple, but effective atenne; a 4 elements GW3XDY design below the 12 el 144 MHz LFA yagi
June 7: We enjoyed the stay at this excellent VHF/UHF qth, but were faced with problems: in spite of harmonic filter heavy qrm on 432 MHz from 144 MHz, broken amplifier for 432 Mhz after 10 qso's. But SHF worked fine: Note score is including multipliers. Next year again?
May 17: The next big VHF event will be during the Championat de France on June 3/4 2017. PA0RJV, PA0T, PE1BBI, PE1ITR, PA1NG and myself will be active from JN39FL on 144 MHz, 432 MHz,1296 MHz,2320 Mhz and 10368 MHz. QRG on 144 MHz will 144.333 MHz. Callsign will be F4VSG/p. Hope to work you! May 6: Yes, we were qrv from JN38BA worked stations over 700 km without problems, but rain, rain, rain, rain and temperature of 5 degrees....The plan was to sleep at the portable qth but we decided to stop and go home. The xyl's were very plaesed and opend some nice bottels of red wine...... April 30: Yes, confirmed by my friend Robert PA0RJV who is living in France; we will be qrv coming weekend 6/7 May during the VHF/UHF contest as F4VSG/p from JN38BA department 70 The Haute Saonne. Qrg will be around 144.333 MHz with 2 x 9el F9FT and if possible we will take also 432 MHz with us. April 23: Today i have done the test and it did confirm was i was thinking: the 4 x 3el DK7ZB yagi's are very usefull as 2nd or 3rd antenna system during a VHF contest. Yes it looks like there is a bit more noise when switchting between the 11 el LFA and the 3 element group, but gain is very close and the beamwidth much better. I received directly from Martin DK7ZB the following note: ""naturally you pick up more noise with a significant greater horizontal angle on the 3 el yagi's. That has nothing to do with the feeding system. With an OWL-Yagi (split dipole 12,5 Ohm or folded dipole 50 Ohm) you get the same G/T as with a LFA-Yagi, but it is much more easier to construct"" See for your self at:
https://youtu.be/I8-HZ4agUO4 April 20: The four 3 el 144 MHz DK7ZB yagi's were ready, today i will finanlize the stacking cables and hope for a bit a good weather so I can set them up for the next comparision... April 18: Everybody knows my friend Laurent F6HPP living in department Aisne 02. Today I saw a car with a very nice licenceplate.. . April 15: Did receive a great tip from Rob, PE1ITR: Instead of using two pieces of 50ohm coaxial cable for the 12,5/50 ohm balun, use a piece of 25ohm coax. Great, that will be tested! The four yagi's are ready, now finding time to test them as well. April 13: After my last publication on the Moxon-Beam I received many responses, many thanks! One of them was that the Moxon-Bream is an compromise antenna and yes it is. Therefore I continued with another antenna: The 3-Element-12.5-Ohm-2m-Yagis for SSB/CW. Also with a very good description on: http://www.qsl.net/dk7zb/start1.htm I have taken care of the dimensions and took a very good look to the 12,5 ohm/50 ohm balun. I have constructed it from AC 7 coax which is usefull to maximum power limit. The swr is good indeed. It is again tested with the beacon ON0VHF on 144.417 MHz. Besides checking gain i did also tested the beamwidth: The 11 elements LFA yagi did win obvouis with gain, but the beamwidth: For contest usage the 3 elements yagi is to prefered. Please check: https://youtu.be/vJ0bXgmT1Xc Next is to test 4 x 3 elements yagi's stacked vertical, so more to follow! March 31: Obvious I have enough 144 MHz antennas, mainly the famous 9 el F9FT design. Time to do some experiments with some small antennas: the The DK7ZB-Quadruple-Oblong and the The Moxon-Beam http://www.qsl.net/dk7zb/start1.htm Both very simple to make. They were compared to my 11 el LFA yagi which is at 14 meters above the ground. The Oblong was placed in the garden on a 6 meter pole. As beacon I used ON0VHF on 144.417 MHz at Leuven Belgium distance 195 km. The swr of the Oblong was fine indeed, however I could not hear the beacon while it was on the LFA yagi 20 dB above the noise, so no good. Second the Moxon, carefully aligned the front and the back and put it on the 6 meter pole. Swr was also very good, rx was also good indeed; for the result please listen to the next file: from 00.00 to 00.34 the Moxon and from 00.36 to 00.56 the LFA yagi. https://youtu.be/sxuIfzWMTss In the coming month I will make 4 moxons....... March 27: Had to spend time on the familiy, so a great weekend, but not to much contacts during the CW WW WPX Contest only 467. HF propagation was bad on the higher bands. Now its time for expriments with some VHF antennes (more later) and prepare for the SP Contest coming weekend..Q W March 6: The ARRL DX contest did give 476 qso's but very nominal conditions, nothing on 10 meters and only 19 contacts on 15. Next large contest will be the WPX on 25/26 March. Febr 11: Yes, a fine contest indeed! The PACC 2017 was in a weekend with limited conditions, I was able to make 700 qso's: Band QSOs Pts Cty Pt/Q Very nice to be called by YB on 40 mtr in phone on the inverted V and working PY on 10 mtr who was 4 minutes audible in PA. I was using only low power from the YEASU FT-920. It was sometimes very difficult to remain on the calling qrg, was able to run 21 of the 24 hours, therefor: Many thanks to the XYL for her support! (coffee, tea, soft drinks, sandwitches etc, etc). I have to go back to the PACC 2002 for the same good results. I used a setup as standard on 144 MHz: Main tx/rx Yeasu FT920 with: or yagi for 10/15/20 or inverted V for 40/80/160, second tx/rx Yaesu FT847 with vertical for 10 to 80 mtr. Giving cq on one band and listening on two bands on a stereo audio unit, no reply when giving cq? Hearing on another a station on the second trx ? Just call on the vertical! Small protection unit makes sure not transmitting on the same band or at the same time with 2 trx's. It worked well indeed on low power. Below a printout of stations worked (D1DNR is invalid)
See picture down below for the antenna set-up which was the same this year. IARU VHF activity: Together with Alex PA2CV, Eric PE1RLF and good old Kees PA5WT we were qrv from Trintelhaven JO22QP in the center of the Netherlands, a qth surrounded with 360 degrees of water. This during the IARU Region 1 VHF contest in September 2016. We had 3 antennes groups of 2 stacked 9 el yagis and 1 group of 2 stacked 17 el yagis. HA8ET and PA3BIY preamps and 4 amplfiers. No propogation on 144 MHz, but we made 602 qso's and ended as NR 1 in The Netherlands in multi-opertor section. Many tnx to my co-operators!!!! Below some pictures: Yes 360 degrees of only water for miles.......
Background: In april 1975 received first license as PE1ALA, Late 80's as PA3FPS. Upgraded to PA1TK november 1998. Active from 1.8 MHz till 10 GHz. Right top picture is taken at the contestplace in Luxembourg in 2012 during the IARU VHF contest in JN39. We were active with 4 x 4 x 9el F9FT + 2 x 12 el Dk7ZB+ 6 x BigWheels and 7 operators, lots of fun! Active on HF: 6 el beam for 10-15-20, vertical for 40/80 and only during major contest dipole for 80 and 160 with loop for RX and on 144 MHz with 12el LFA beam. Will be back on VHF in april 2017 with 50 MHz/4el GW3YDX beam and later this year: 432 MHz 3 x 17 el. 23/13/9 cm: 1,5 mtr dish, 6/3 cm: 1 mtr dish HF and 50 MHz: Yeasu FT920, 70 MHz SP2DMB trv, 144 MHz FT847 HA8ET preamp, 432MHz: Yeasu 847 WA2ODO preamp. 23/13/9/6/3cm: 28MHz/144 MHz HA5IW transverter and homemade transverters and user of pstRotatorAz Software of YO3DMU, excellent program and service ! Hope to work you on the bands! vy 73, Theo Below my home qth: free take off with tower erected 360 degrees. 6el JP tribander at 18 meters high, inverted V for 40/80/160 mtr with top at 23 meter high, used only in the Dutch PACC contest and other big contests and when no cows at the land....
Multi 144 MHz antenna's at the LX contestplace at Hossingen at the picture below: 18 x 9 el F9FT and one 12 el I0JXX (S&P): We made 864 qso's, best DX EA1DDU IN73EM 1141 km with lots of Alu ! Best 3th place together with Kees PA5WT and Rob PA3GVI in the IARU Region 1 VHF contests as multi operator station in 2006 and 2nd place as single operator station in 2009.
8272947 Last modified: 2017-08-14 20:31:19, 24185 bytes
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