SM2CEW operating 10 GHz portable
Setup:
DB6NT transverter
modified LNB preamp
Down East Microwave SSPA @3.5 watts
45cm parabolic dish
7 May 2023 SM2CEW/1/P on Gotland Island in JO97CO
On this trip to Gotland Island I was active from Högklint in JO97CO. Free horizon to the mainland.
CW QSOs with SK0EN, SM0ERR, SM0RJV, SM7GEP and SM0BSO.
Videos below. Pse ignore the frequency readout, the OCXO was a little off but there was no need to calibrate it at the time.
SM2CEW-1_SM0RJV_SM0ERR_10G.mp4
SK6WW-B_10G_20230507_113307.mp4
SM2CEW-1_SM7GEP_10G_20230507_111254.mp4
SM2CEW-1_SK0EN_10G_20230507_110513.mp4
SK6WW-B_10G_20230507_104424.mp4
30 June 2022 - QSO with SM6ESG/2/P in KP07HC
On 30 June Morgan SM6ESG operated /portable from Dundret mountain in KP07HC as seen in the picture above. This is quite a mountain, it is said that on a clear day you can visually see 1/8 of Swedens surface area from this place.
We decided to try to span a "record breaking distance" for 10G in my SM2-district with me on a hilltop in KP05XN and Morgan in KP07HC. The distance is 182 km so not really spectacular but it is inland and over a terrain with plenty of hills.
This is a video from our QSO recorded by in KP05XN
Gotland Island in May 2022.
The first video is of a QSO with SM1HOW. The distance is 22 km, over land. I am standing in a field and as you can see, there is a range of trees on the horizon. My power was down during this QSO due to an almost empty battery. It was very windy so the audio is quite affected by this.
The following day I made a sked with Per SM0DFP/SK0EN. Per is in Jo99jx and my locator was JO97lw - distance is 228 km.
I started out thinking that it would be a good idea for me to try from the Fårösund Marina.
This is the view in the direction of SK0EN, you can see Fårö Island across the water.
We were not successful from this site. I could hear Per very weak but he did not copy me. So we decided that I should change QTH by moving a but further north west where Fårö Island was not in the way of our path.
So instead I moved to this seashore QTH with an un-obstructed path over the sea on my side
The other way around - tree line behind me
I started out hearing Per pretty weak, weaker than I had expected. He tweaked the position of his antenna and picked up a little. My aiming is very rudimental, I use a compass glued to the transverter box which you can see in the videos. As it turned out, when I peaked up my aiming as Per was transmitting I noticed that I was 25 degrees off. The signas from Per were now amazingly strong.
In the first two videos I am only using my small battery and the voltage is very low on transmit. So low that the OCXO died on transmit. In the last video, where we have an SSB QSO I connected the big lead battery to get full output power. Per now report my SSB whistle tone to be 40 dB over his noise level. As you can see, there is a bit of QSB on Per but he is peaking S9+ which is about 20 dB over S9 on the FT-817 IF radio.
As you can hear, Per is using two callsings, SK0EN and SM0DFP. These are two 10G stations/antennas separated vertically on his tower, SK0EN is at a height of 82m SM0DFP is at half that height - 40m. Both stations are using a 60cm parabolic dish and 10W RF.
Again, the recordings are done with my mobile phone and it was very windy, badly affecting the recording. By the way - it is ALWAYS windy where ever you are on Gotland Island :-)