Well I survived another Tuesday with the malfunctioning rotator. I could
never tell where I was pointing with any degree of certainty. I was
happy to snag what I did. I worked 25 stations and pretty much the same
guys that Good Buddy Ron WZ1V worked. I missed K3SK and KA3FQS worked
by Ron. I did work N1ROZ FN31,and WW1Z FN42, and WA4YA in FN42. I tried
with K9MRI on meteors, but I ended up aimed at Philadelphia rather than
Indiana. I heard Joe, K9MRI quite well. I also heard NF3R on FT8 but he
never heard me. I was surprised he did not hear me. He was good copy
here on the FT8 MODE. That rotor issue was quite frustrating. This
morning WA1T's son Nick stopped by and we started in on swapping out the
222 rotator. He got the rotors changed out and I am now back in business
with a good rotator. He also swapped out a balky 432 rotator, so I
should be back on that band now. The funny thing was that I took the
old rotor down to the shop and it des not show any azimuth at all now. I
am not sure why. something there is messed up! I stayed around looking
for Howard WA3EOQ. At 0135 UT I bagged it without hearing him, but I was
quite happy with the activity that showed up. It was a great night!
This evening I was a presenter at a radio club in Halifax, NS. in
hopes of finding a home for the complete 500 watt 222 MHz station. I
showed videos of the transverter,, the 500 watt amplifier, and my 222
MHz station. I had a photo of KA6U on a dxpedition plus all sorts of 222
trivia. I mentioned all the activity appearing on 222 on Tuesday nights.
I estimated that someone in NS or NB might work 4 or 5 stations on a
Tuesday. I am thinking WA1MBA, N1SV, N1JEZ, me, and maybe WZ1V and
K1TEO. WA1NLG has power as well in FN42. Maybe VE2XX? Really, a 500
watt station up there in the Maritimes should do quite well. So far I
have collected the following gear for the project:
W1GHZ transverter 0.85 dB NF & 10 mw.
Larcan 500 watt PA takes 10 mw drive
DEMI tower mtd preamp
Coax relay
Roll of 7/8" heliax
50 volt power supply
16 element DS yagi
Such a setup should be quite capable. The only thing left is building
the tower preamp/relay box. I am looking for a suitable enclosure.
Incidentally, I came across a pile-o-fans for 28 vdc. They are 0.47 amps
and move lots of air. One of them looks good for the 432 pallets that
people are working on. The amps run on 28 volts too, so a good match. I
probably have 20 units.
73
Dave K1WHS
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