Annual SLAMS/BARS lunch 2023

We have met with the SLAMS group for our traditional lunch at the famous Chandler Hill winery on Saturday November 11, 2023 once again. 

Chandler Hill Winery

Some pictures and more info was published on the SLAMS blog site here (click to open). Nice location, tasty food and good company. Hope to meet here again next year!

Annual SLAMS / BARS lunch at Chandler Hill again

Another year passed away and we have met at the Chandler Hill winery for our annual lunch again. This was actually the 4th lunch of both groups (SLAMS and BARS) together. There already is a posting on the SLAMS blog site (click here to display).

The Chandler Hill winery is very nice, dog-friendly place with plenty of indoor-outdoor seating, good wine and more than edible food. The only problem is that the place is very popular - you have to arrive before Noon if you want to park in front of the entrance. Late comers have to leave the car at their remote parking lot and use their shuttle service (which is fast and convenient).

Several pictures from the event:

Annual SLAMS / BARS lunch at Chandler Hill

We have held the annual lunch at the Chandler Hill Winery today. Please look at the posting on the SLAMS blog site (click here) for some pictures.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

Higher And Higher, past radio waves and visible light

I still remember my first 23cm transverter and my fear from frequencies above 1 GHz. What am I going to do? How am I supposed to measure, even how to tune anything on these high frequencies? It's not that long ago, about 15 years. Of course we managed that frequency. We also managed 10 GHz, later even 24 GHz. I have bought my 47GHz transverter from DB6NT. Now, these wonderful units from VK put us on 122 GHz ...

Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF made several short QSOs on 122GHz before making our 5.25 km contact on November 7th. See the posting here (click).

We have been playing with optical communications in the early days of the SLAMS group, see pictures here (click). The BARS group was also planning on some optical communications here (click), but we have never made a full bi-directional QSO until today (click here). Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF used the opportunity and tested their old equipment while waiting for other participants of the team meeting that we started holding in the Creve Coeur Memorial Park again. Witnessed by Ron KO0Z, our first QSO using red light took place. Harry used his station with two Fresnel lenses, TX with red LED diode wavelength 635 nm and RX with photo diode BPW34. Herbert used his old 5 mW red laser module wavelength 650 nm and a solar panel (!!) from old garden light as RX. No additional lenses used on Herbert's side. First QSO was difficult, especially aiming the stations at each other. We clearly have some work to do here, similar to our experience with 122GHz mentioned above. Using rifle scopes on these frequencies is a MUST!

Harry was actually using voice audio on transmit. That was surprisingly clear and easy to understand on Herbert's side. Herbert responded with 30% AM modulated CW (using shunt modulator).

Harry also built an optical beacon with infrared diodes (the little box on a smaller tripod on the right picture above). These diodes have lenses built in and the beam width is about 5 degrees. Built-in processor transmits beacon patterns and some text with Harry's callsign. I will try to record it and post the recording here next time.

So, what is next? Definitely attempt on longer distances on both, 122 GHz and 462 THz. We will keep working on mechanical stability, improving precise aiming and get more ready for next year.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

Many things happened in September

The SLAMS/BARS group was unusually active in September. Here are the events that took place and links to postings on the SLAMS page (click on the links for more details):

SLAMS September 2020 Breakfast

Sunday, September 6th, Mel K0PFX, Harry WA0CNS, Herbert AF4JF, Armand KD0PFX, Ron KO0Z, Debbie KC9ULA convened at Creve Coeur Park at 9:00 am to test out some gear.  Mike N0OBI came by, but somehow we missed each other.  COVID-19 is still among us, so we met outdoors, wore masks and kept socially distant.

WB9PNU Beacon back on the air

After several months of being off the air, the WB9PNU 10 GHz beacon is once again up and operating from DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton, MO EM48ss thanks to the hard work and dedication of Mel K0PFX and John WB9PNU.  The beacon was thoroughly checked out by Mel and the slot antenna mount was replaced with a stronger mount and the assembly put into a water proof container. 

The beacon operates at 10.368.900 with an AFSK CW telemetry.  The telemetry data is no longer accurate because of control voltage issues.  That will be a future project to re-calibrate the telemetry.

September 2020 Tropo Opening

Tuesday evening, September 15 around 7:25 pm (September 16,00:25 Z), we set up our 10 GHz stations to attempt a 10 GHz QSO with Gedas W8BYA in northern Indiana EN70jt and with Russ KB8U in EN71sw. We didn't make any QSO, but we heard each other with Gedas. Click on the link to know more.

ARRL 10 GHz And Up Contest - September 2020

COVID-19, busy work schedules, grandchildren, moving QTH locations all combined took its toll on this year's SLAMS efforts to be radio active for the ARRL 10 GHz and Up contest.  Still, it's hard to keep uW hams away from a contest and Harry WA0CNS, Herbert AF4JF and Ron KO0Z put in a day's worth of activity on Sunday, September 20, 2020.  We weren't trying to break any records.  Instead, we wanted to try 122 GHz and get some activity on the air.  Herbert and Harry tried to work Gedas W8BYA in Indiana, but the path just wasn't there.  KO0Z didn't even try.  His path to Gedas would involve shooting into a thick forest.

ARRL 10 GHz And Up 2020 as seen by AF4JF

The short contest attempt as seen by AF4JF.

ARRL VHF June Contest 2020

It has been a while since I have obtained a new SDR (Software Defined Radio) Unit made by Analog Devices, called "ADALM PLUTO".

This is actually a learning module, capable of operation in a frequency range (after a simple hack) from 70MHz to 6GHz. There are several software programs able to work with PLUTO, I am using the SDR Console (note that this software does both, receive and transmit).

I am usually operating from outdoor locations, sometimes as a "rover". That brings a big challenge - how to squeeze everything inside one car? I have used this year's ARRL VHF June Contest to test my idea of using the PLUTO with simple wide band amplifiers and antenna for multi-band operation.

The antenna used for this VHF contest was a logarithmic-periodic PCB antenna made by Kent WA5VJB.

This antenna gives me access to all HAM bands between 900MHz and 6GHz. During this test, I have concentrated on 1296 MHz, 2304 MHz and 3456 MHz. I have also used the PLUTO on 222 MHz, but that was a different antenna.

I have obtained a cheap RX preamp from eBay (35dB gain / 2.5dB noise). I know this is not the greatest, but is was cheap, quick and simple.

The TX exciter (used as a PA capable of up to 100mW here) with GALI84 was from eBay too.

Along with these modules, I also used RX-TX Relay (cheap version on W1GHZ board) and USB-controlled relay board to switch the antenna relay and power for RX or TX amplifiers.

During the contest, I made 14 QSOs during its first 2 hours - 8 of them using the PLUTO. Distance covered by these QSOs was around 4.6 km, the station worked was Harry WA0CNS. However, we have made a test with Zack W9SZ one week before the contest (see here) and made a contact on 2.3 GHz SSB over 24.3 km with good signal.

I believe that the PLUTO is a good way how to improve VHF and microwave activity on HAM bands. I will work on improvements and post them here after next contest.

As for the lower bands, I have used FT857D and ring antennas installed on my car. The multiband microwave antenna was inside the car on the dashboard.

Harry WA0CNS used his home made transverters and antennas on azimuth rotor installed on his car.

My dog Darcey (on last picture) supervised the activity and made sure we followed the contest rules :-)

73 Herbert
AF4JF

ARRL 10GHz And Up, Part 2 by Herbert AF4JF

There is not much to add after reading Ron's posting about Part 2 of this year's ARRL 10GHz Contest. Ron  KO0Z spent the day on a hill top in Pere Marquette State Park above the river in Illinois while Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF drove I-70 west from Saint Louis to EM38 near Kingdom City (the only location outside EM48 that we have visited that day).

First of all, my travel companion Darcey was present. She is a true HAM radio dog. Maybe I should try to tech her CW some day:

How did we get the idea to put someone on the Eagle's Roost and have rest of the team driving the I-70 West as far as we can hear each other? That's simple - our numbers dwindled over the years. By saying that, I mean that there were more HAMs QRV on 10GHz in Saint Louis area just a few years ago. In addition to that, some of our colleagues whom we usually work on microwave bands during contests decided to go the the Great Lakes in the North to participate in the contest from there. We have tried several strategies for such situations before and ended up with this "leap frogging" and driving around concept. See also our other postings on this blog here and here.

Ron's position on a cliff above the river turned out to be excellent, we have made a QSO from every stop. Even better, we extended our trip way further out to the West than originally planned. It wasn't always easy to find a spot to set up without facing either corn field, a building or even a property owner curious about our activities (happened twice, means 20% of our locations). 

Ron's posting shows some of our locations in fast food parking lots, behind restaurants etc. Following picture shows how we set up at a gas station:

There is another picture with me masking as a cellphone company worker behind one of their towers in a church parking lot (note the magnetic ARRL radio communications sign on my car):

Last picture to share today shows the side road next to I-70 in EM38 where we set up. The view is actually towards West (I was taking a picture of my dog, not of the view) but the other direction looked exactly the same. This was the same location we used years ago, described in another posting:

So, that's about it. We have spent a day with our precious hobby, got some sunburn again (believe it or not, there was some sunshine between the rains too) and found some locations to plan with for the contests to come.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

2019 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest 1 as seen by Herbert, AF4JF

Ron KO0Z posted a nice report about our weekend activities around the ARRL 10GHz And Up contest this year. He mentioned the weather, but didn't post any picture .. so, here is one taken by me (Herbert) from a highway rest area on my way to the gob. This was at 8:15 am, about 30 minutes driving distance from the gob site:

We were actually considering to cancel the outing, for the weather forecast was nowhere close to acceptable. However, the forecast was wrong once again. The skies cleared and we all got the usual sunburn. My dog Darcey discovered that our car provides some shade and cool shelter, especially with several doors kept open:

Unfortunately for us, our microwave stations were built to operate outside of the cars, so we have really spent over 8 hours outdoors on the hill. We didn't even bring a folding chair, not to mention a canopy! We have both had (identical) umbrellas - probably the reason (per Murphy's law) why the rain stopped. Here are our stations, note the distance from our cars:

Ron was our only guy driving between the locations. It took him approximately one hour to pack up, move to the next spot, set up and call us. I am sure it was busy for him, but very lonely for us on the hill. For the future, we need at least one more "rover", preferably driving around in opposite direction. Some additional stations to work in reasonable distance from the gob would be nice too. This will be much easier in VHF+ contests where we can make more microwave contacts on 23cm.

We have tested our stations and identified what might make our stay on the hill more convenient (hope someone finds out how to get rid of the sweet bees, they were very annoying even for Darcey). I have had a big cooler full with beverages, but didn't get ice in the morning because the weather made any ideas about hot temperatures look foolish. Won't make that mistake again!

Everything considered, we have had a great time. The plan is to return to the gob for ARRL VHF contest on September 14-15!

73 Herbert

AF4JF

CSVHF Conference 2019 as seen by AF4JF

Several HAMs from St. Louis area attended the 53rd CSVHF Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska between July 25-28, 2019.

The conference was nicely organized, attendance was a little higher than usual and everybody seemed to be happy with the results. I certainly am. Next year's conference is scheduled to take place in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Watch the main CSVHFS web page for updates.

Several pictures from Lincoln:

Large 23 / 13cm (1296MHz) EME antenna

Something for the true microwavers (78GHz transverters)

Some of us do not hesitate to drive (and operate) Rovers

Even optical (infrared) communications were involved

Herbert's (AF4JF) dream - dual feed for 10/24GHz

I am sure some of the other participants will add another posting with more pictures and details. 

73 Herbert

AF4JF

BARS March Madness cont.

We have discovered a nice promising microwave site above Klondike Park during our "March Madness" trip last week. Problem was that the site was not accessible by car and we didn't have enough time to climb the steep road:

However, Klondike Park is less than 30 minutes of driving from my home, so I have decided to investigate one week later. We took off with my co-pilot Darcey (K-9-DOG), armed with GPS and a bag full of goodies:

The road up turned out to be acceptable, especially for my eager companion who kept pulling on the leash and made the climb easier for me:

With such setup, we approached the top of the viewing plateau shortly. First impression was that we are entering eagle's nest (there will be a picture of one later):

I have immediately remembered why we came there - yes, this will be a good microwave site (if we manage to pull the heavy equipment up here from the car somehow). Here is how the plateau looks from the access road:

Nice! Let's look around .. following picture shows the view towards North-East (and yes, there is a rest room in that little park building):

The opposite direction looks much better (and you can see the eagle I promised before on following picture):

Next picture shows what South looks like. This is the most promising microwave direction from this location:

The North isn't bad either, but I believe that there are higher hills not visible from that location in this direction:

We have also tried to climb the hill that was shielding the view in NE direction. There was a nice trail leading in that direction:

However, this was not a scenic trail. Definitely not good for microwave signals! We have climbed it anyway, got rid of all the goodies in my bag (why did I not think about it at the bottom of the hill ...) and returned back to our car. We have made another short trip the same day, but that's a different story.

73 Herbert 

AF4JF

BARS Breakfast Meeting

Breakfast at Denny's on Dorsett Rd. next week on Sunday January 27th starting at 8:00 am. 73 Herbert AF4JF

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! 

(picture courtesy of NASA)

73 from Herbert, AF4JF