Having done a lot of work on my dish and receiver

Having done a lot of work on my dish and receiver, I was hoping to give a more positive report, but although I had good echoes, including my best SSB echoes so far, and RW1AW was his normal 559, signals from many other people seemed strangely weak, and a number of 'regulars' seemed to be missing. Perhaps it was the shock to my system caused by getting out of bed before 4am! Stations heard or worked (#)
RW1AW #
IK2RTI cwnr
F2TU #
F5JWF cwnr
WA6PY
WA7CJO (started QSO then carelessly lost the Moon below the horizon!)
IQ4DF #
There were a few other stations heard but they didn't make it onto my scratch pad... I plan to be QRV later today and tomorrow from 2300 - 0000 and 0430 - 0730 utc. I'll be happy to accept skeds during those times.
Vy 73 Chris GW4DGU

From 0000 to 0326 I worked 14 stations. DF3RU #, F2TU, RW1AW, OH2DG, OK1KIR, ES5PC, IK2RTI #, SM3AKW, OE9ERC, HB9SV, ( Xband) F5JWF #,SP6GWN #, K1JT (Xband) DL4MEA. CWNR were W5LUA,WD5AGO, NA4N I then had a short nap and in the next three hours to 0915 I worked only PA0BAT. But as usual I did hear a lot of others on 2304 ... and called them, mostly many times, WD5AGO, WA6PY,KL6M, NA4N, K7XQ, IW2FZR,and OK1CA. I would be interested to hear of anyone who called me X band and didn't get a reply, when the RIT runs out its easy to make an setting error on split operation. Hope some of you US guys will be on tomorrow.

73 GL Peter G3LTF

During the second pass I worked the following ,( * denotes X band QSO) VK3NX*, JA4BLC*, JA8IAD*, IW2FZR, OK1CA, G3LQR, DL4MEA ssb,VE6TA, W5LUA*, WD5AGO*, OZ4MM, WA6PY*, DL0SHF, HB9Q*. CWNR JA8ERE, also heard SP6GWN who I worked yesterday. On 9cm I worked W5LUA after a 4am fight with Mr Murphy that I eventually won. I plan to be on tonight. Signals shortly after moonrise seemed incredibly good, I guess it was low libration. I hope 6 and 3cm were similarly good. Thanks to everyone for the great QSOs. I think we shall find this had the highest number of stations active of any 13 cm eme contest ever.

73 Peter G3LTF

Well the winds are still strong but I re-installed the feed..........preamp working and all systems go. I will be on 13 cm with MANY skeds............but I will ALWAYS be Tx on 2301.950. I will be QRV from 1245-1530 and ~1800 - 2200 If you do not have a sked and hear me calling CQ please remember I will listen on 2304.950 & 2320.950 for any replies to my CQ's Especially for NA stations if I am responding to ANY CQ's I will be Tx on 2301.950
73 VK3NX Charlie

Hello everyone...
It was my first time QRV on 13cm. Many tnx to all who called me. It took a lot of effort listening on 2 bands. I also had some random contacts on my own QRG.....I didn't realise that some countries have 2300-2304 as an allocation. I am very sorry that I missed some stations on 2320...I did QSY for Rx on that band as I said I would. Wx was very bad here...wind gusts 60 km/h...created a lot of QSB...but nonetheless I was AMAZED at how loud the signals were.. I think my feed efficiency is very good as I am receiving at least 0.3dB Moon noise...(due to wind accurate pointing difficult) I was also amazed to hear my own echoes through the ground noise and some big signals. Here is my Wkd list...almost all planned skeds were completed random before the sked time.
W5LUA 579/559 , RW1AW 559/559, OK1CA 579/579, OK1KIR 539/539, ES5PC 519/559, F2TU 569/559, F2TU SSB 45/44, SM4DHN 519/549, IW2FZR 529/549 , G3LTF 579/569, G3LTF SSB 52/42.
9 new initials ...made getting up at 3am local time worthwhile! I will be happy to work on 13cm again next WE for those i missed out on but I have placed the 6cm feed in the dish and I will operate on 6cm on the 2nd pass. Please be patient as the winds are forecast to continue which will make operation on 6cm very difficult. I look forward to working lots of stations.
I am happy to take skeds for NA as my window is limited.............starts at ~1330 and I am available to 1500 My european ops will start from ~ 1930 through until moonset (Wx permitting)
73 Charlie VK3NX

Hi 13CM ops Sorry I couldn't join the first part of this weekend 13CM activity. But Mr. Murphy really visit me last night. When starting tracking found the control system was out of control. After trying to find the fault, a relay went dead at the F1EHN tracking board. Finally after repair found my 3 phase supply from the house main group was missing one phase!. Hmmmm, remembered yesterday we got a new circuit breaker changed the the main group. Yeps after some research, 1 phase was NOT attached the right way, so the 3 phase motor for the azimuth in the dish, got only 2 phases. No wonder why the azimuth motor didn't turn at all. Now it seems the tracking and motor system for the dish are again running the right way. Tracking the sun is OK now, so I HOPE to be active in next pass. First activity from my station will be at moonset Sunday, as we are out tonight bad planning). Maybe some activity at Sunday evening too. Good luck to all, hope CU some of your tomorrow on 13CM.

Hello, Better first part than last year: 13cm: 20 qsos, heard stations calling me before laying down it the moon, but I had at this time already the noise of the trees. Initials DF3RU, K1JT. 10 GHz: QRV 3 hours, 10 qsos, of the qsb, the antenna moved sometimes of 0.5° because of the wind. But the propagation was very good in the second part: only 10 Hz of band wide thus of the very clear signals and my echoes with peaks of 18db! Very happy to contact K6RE absent for me since 8 years. Disappointed not to have heard a OK, HB and DL only DF3RU.
For that I modify my planning for second part: 13cm today start 20:00 If the 13cm activity is weak the morning, I will work on 10GHz 03:30 - around 06:00 5.7 GHz around 006:30 - 07:30, 20:00 - 22:00 13cm 07:30 - 08:30 good, 08:30 - 09:30 for big gun! (trees) 13cm Sunday 22:00 - 24:00
Cu 73 Philippe PIERRAT - F2TU

Folks, In answer to the "more attractive" comment from Guenter, I hope to get back on 13cm shortly. In addition to the well-known 'European' 3G amplifiers, we have been fortunate enough to find some other 3G amps that are giving ~200W output on 2320MHz without significant modifications. I was able to work 2 stations with just 50W to my 2.3m dish sometime last year, but the septum polarize feed was not optimized and therefore the spill over noise was higher than it should have been. I will need to do some more work on the feed, but after my work with the 9cm EME feed, I think I now know what to do and better, how to do it! I will be able to listen on 2304 but not on 2424, at least initially. Hoping to be back on 13cm soon.
73 de Sam, G4DDK

Hi! We have had a lot of rain the last 24 hours. Things cleared up and we set up the equipment outside and everything seems to be working. We can receive all frequencies but are limited TX to 2320 MHz so please look for me there. We will start activity at 20.30 GMT and stay on when there is activity .. Looking forward working you all! Depending on weather we might show up tomorrow morning as well.

Three out of six of my 28v@15A supplies are now toast. The fourth one went with a loud bang! Scared the daylights out of me. I have a new 120A supply coming in the mail, but not soon enough.I managed to work F2TU (559/549), ES5PC (559/559), WD5AGO (549/559), K7XQ (O/O) #23, RW1AW (569/569), OK1CA (559/579).
When finally clear of trees, my echos were GREAT! 1.2dB moon noise. Heard many stations, DF3RU, K1JT, K2UYH, NA4N, OH2DG, IW2FZR, OK1KIR, VK3NX (Nice sig! I called many times on 2304.950). Listened 2424 much, but no sigs. Only heard DF3RU on 2320. I don't have the energy to rig up the car batteries, especially considering that tree blockage severely hindered my performance on moonrise yesterday. So I will try 432 at my moonrise tonight. Skeds anyone????????
Thanks Mike, KL6M BP51dc

My first experience on 13 cM EME, very long hours but a good first success, time to optimize now. Operated for 14 hours. Worked two stations OK1CA#1, KL6M #2, CWNR: F2TU, RW1AW, VK7MO ( JT-65 ) very loud above noise. Tried but no copy: W5LUA ( about 8 db above noise, not quite enough for me to pick him out). Echoes were consistant most all night at 8 – 10 dB above the noise. 200 watts at PA output. Will be on again tonight at moonrise at 0400 UTC. Will again operate throughout the night. Need to get used to signals on 2304, much more fluttery than 1296. Hard to find right settings in radio to pickout characters.

Hi all
A short story about this short 13cm experiment. Some time ago I asked Dany HB9CRQ if we want to try 13cm with his large dish. He told me that the dish may not be accurate enough for 13cm but worthwile a try. I told him that ARRL Contest would be a good chance for lot's off QSO's. Then he told me that he won't be here in that time, but I can try myself. Some instructions have been given me about how the station works and some additional cable have been put all the way to the feed. Last saturday I installed my 13cm setup with DL3OCH Bodo. First testing on the sun showed lot's off sun noise. So as it is when something functions, no further improvement been made. A Initial test with HB9SV failed on Wednesday as Enrico had lot's off wind and rain, but Bodo was able to hear echos very well. Then the Contest. Bodo started at 21ut and worked the following stations:
2123 ES5PC 539 579 2304
2131 HB9SV 559 569 2304
2137 IW2FZR 539 579 2304
2141 F2TU 559 589 2304
2146 OK1CA 539 579 2304
2216 OK1KIR 529 579 2304
2256 SM3AKW 429 579 2304

At 23 UT I showed up at HB9Q. Some small talk with Bodo and trying some Echo's. They were there, but weak. Not really satisfiing. Never the less we started calling but no one heard. Sudden F5JWF heard on 2320.098. But he would not reply to our call on 2304.098. (I think he is only on 2320.100?) After that nothing for hours. At 0049 IK2RTI 429 579 2304 (This is a surprise as I must have worked him with a broken Preamp.) Then I called over 1 hours, but could not hear the echos anymore. Tryed adjusting the antenne, but nothing. Frustrated I went for a nap. At 06.00 I wake up and went for a system test. Weak echos again. After a while I turned antenna to the sun and discovered no Sunnoise. Preamp must be dead. Exchanging the preamp to a old home brew one the antenna on the sun again, there was sunnoise back. (Back at home I discovered that the first stage off my DB6NT Preamp was smoked. Don't know why)
0721 K1JT 559 579 2304
0727 VE6TA 559 579 2304
0733 OE9ERC 579 579 2304
0736 RW1AW 559 559 2304
0741 W5LUA 579 579 2304
0747 WD5AGO 539 559 2304
0753 G3LTF 559 589 2304 2320
0759 DL4MEA 559 579 2304 2320
0812 NA4N 539 559 2304
0816 WA6PY 559 579 2304
0849 DL0SHF 579 579 2304
0857 KL6M 539 559 2304
So far 20 QSO's and Initials. Bodo would be on 13cm tonight again but only if there is interest from 20 to 22 GMT. Send him a mail for a Sked request or just let him know that you also will be on. After 22gmt HB9Q will be QRT for I don't know how long....... Mail Adress is: dl3och@gmx.de Many thanks for all the QSO's and sorry if you have called while we were with a broken preamp and did not reply to your call. I hope there is again some activity tonight so we can boost the Initials off HB9Q a little higher. hi

Hi, and again the moon just got hidden behind my neighbour's house and so I can make a short intermediate report

worked: es5pc, ok1kir, g3ltf, iw2fzr, ve6ta, ok1ca, df3ru, rw1aw
called ssb but no answer: dl0shf
called crossband but no answer: wd5ago, k1jt(k2uyh), kl6m (lost in moonset)
heard crossband: sm3akw, hb9sv

2nd pass - started 0420UT
worked 2320 only: oe9erc, f5jwf, sm3akw, g3ltf SSB dupe, oz4mm, dl0shf, f2tu(*1)
worked crossband: wd5ago, k1jt(operated by k2uyh), w5lua, wa6py, kl6m, hb9q
called crossband: na4n (*2)

(*1) very fine, speeded down to match my cw knowledge, worth to mention, thanks
(*2) called many many times, but now answer...

Just one note to crossband: Today it worked perfectly. I just have one more request: Would those that have the capabilty to listen on both check both bands before CQing if the downlink is free? It happend several times that my mirror on 2304 became occupied by bigger stations capable of listening. I will be back tonight from moonrise until about 2100UT or even a little later, depending on the activity.

73, Günter, DL4MEA