EME or Earth-Moon-Earth contacts involve bouncing signals off the moon to make contacts. An EME station provides a means to make DX contacts using the VHF and higher bands. There are also some EME Contests in…
The article above explains our goals, plans, and design of a new 2m EME station at our QTH. The article covers plans for a new tower, antennas, and an SDR-based receive system.
Our plans are to build an 80th percentile station that utilizes four large, dual-polarity antennas in an array. The station will use the JT65 digital protocol and will support adaptive polarity via MAP65. The new setup will utilize WSJT and MAP65 software created for EME use by Joe Taylor.
Our plans are to begin construction of our new EME Station later this week with a new 26′ Rohn 55G tower going in first. You can read all about our plans via the link above.
We’ve recently received our L24TX Transmit Converter from Down East Microwave. The unit is compact, simple, and produces up to 25W output in the satellite section of the 23 cm band (1260 MHz – 1270 MHz, actually 24 cm). The L24TX is a transmit-only device that is intended to enable L-band uplinks for Satellite use. This article is about our most recent project which involved integrating the L24TX into our Flex Satellite SDR System to enable L-Band Satellite operation …
We are making progress on our project to enable remote Satellite operation via the Internet. The latest step is the addition of L-band (24 cm) uplink support to our Flex Satellite SDR System.
L-Band 24 cm Transmit Converter
We’ve also made some good progress on custom software to link MacDoppler and our Flex Radio Satellite System via the Internet.
The article in the link above shares information about how to go about adding Transverters and Band Transmit Converters to a Flex SDR. the step needed to configure the Flex SmartSDR software, as well as links, cover other aspects for our Satellite System 4.0 Project are included.
You can read the latest updates about this project via the link above.
Burns, WB1FJ approached me a few weeks ago doing some portable satellite activations as part of the AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration. The idea was to use the AMSAT Callsign WZ3M/1 to put the states of CT and RI on satellites.
Preparations for our activations included creating a Pass Summary of predictions for the day of our activation using prediction data from MacDoopler. You can take a look at our pass summary here.
W3ZM/1 Activation in RI
Our first activation was near the fire station in Burrillville, RI. We found an open spot and set up our station, antenna, and solar power system. This was a great public spot and we had several visitors come by to take a look at our setup and ask questions about satellites and Amateur Radio.
We made quite a few contacts at this location using both FM satellites like AO-92, AO-92, and SO-50 as well as a few contacts using linear satellites like CAS-4A and CAS-4B.
W3ZM/1 Activation in CT
We moved to a Church in CT for the next part of our activation early in the afternoon. This site was a little less open than the first one but we were still able to make a number of contacts here.
The photo above shows a view of our portable setup which consisted of an Icom 910H transceiver, a MacBook Air Laptop running MacDoppler, and an Elk Log-periodic antenna on a tripod. The computer and MacDoppler controlled the radio VFOs to automatically correct for Doppler shift which enabled us to do contacts using linear satellites. We used an iPhone running a satellite tracking app to help point the antenna during satellite passes.
We used a pair of 90W portable solar panels, a pair of LIPO batteries, and an MPPT charging system to provide power for our radio and the computer. It was a sunny day and our solar power system kept our batteries fully charged through both activations.
We did pretty well overall making a total of 15 contacts between. The downlink side of our antenna system was the weakest link in the setup. Folks that we worked on linear satellites indicated that our uplink signals were solid but we had some trouble hearing weaker stations on the downlinks. We have some ideas for an improved antenna system for our next portable activation – stay tuned for more on this.
All in all, Burns and I were pretty pleased with these activations. We had a lot of fun, helped a few folks some new states, contributed to AMSAT’s 50th Celebration, and we learned some things that we can use to improve our portable station.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
