144 MHz EME antennas

Autumn is here, and the weather has become rainy. It is frequently blowing and occasionally we have storms. Antenna work is difficult now, especially when you only have weekends for this kind of job. I have decided to mount 2 x 8 element yagis for 144 MHz as my first EME antenna array. The yagis will be vertical polarized, and two rotators will turn the array.

Two 8-element yagis on the ground.

I have replaced the standard 200 W balun on both antennas with high-power baluns from Wimo. I intend to use 1 kW output for EME, and each antenna will be fed with 500 W RF.

73 from OZ1BXM Lars Petersen
http://oz1bxm.dk

Completing WAZ

I have been chasing WAZ for many years. Two years ago, I worked the last of the 40 zones. It was zone 6 (Mexico). You can read a short story on how I worked this zone.

Working 40 zones is not enough. You have to collect QSL in order to apply for the diploma. The most difficult QSL to obtain was 5R8Z (Madagascar) from zone 39. My first two snail-mail letters to Madagascar went unnoticed. Then 5R8Z got a QSL-manager in USA, and this gave me hope. The precious card arrived in the mail two weeks ago. I opened the envelope and held the card in my hands 2 years after the QSO took place! Oh yes, patience is a virtue.



My 40 QSL-cards were checked in Denmark by OZ1ACB, the award manager of EDR. The verified and signed list was then scanned and sent via email to the WAZ award manager N5FG. I transferred the award fee and postage for the paper award via PayPal. Two days later, I received a mail from N5FG: WAZ #9053 was granted to me! The paper award will follow in 5-6 months.

The end of this story: We had a WAZ celebration in our home. A delicious cake was bought, shared, and eaten with great delight. You have to celebrate your victories!

See you next month.

73 from OZ1BXM Lars Petersen
In pursuit of WAZ - done

Bringing order to chaos

The headline may be a bit grandiose, but there has been chaos for some time in my shack, mainly due to space limitations. I started to utilize the floor for larger objects like antenna rotor, HF-transceiver, power supplies, etc.

Component rack.

Two months ago, a new floor was laid down in the shack. This gave me the opportunity to rearrange things, and as I received two big component racks for my birthday, I can now say that chaos in the shack is under control. Saying that there is no chaos left would be an exaggeration!

Click this link to view another picture of the component racks.

See you next month!

73 from OZ1BXM Lars Petersen
My homepage: http://oz1bxm.dk
 

New QSL-card

After 10 years I became tired of my old QSL-Card. I needed a new one. Since my main interest right now is EME, it was only natural for me to search for a front page theme related to Moonbounce. I visited several QSL-printer's homepages before I found what I wanted.

QSL by IT9EJW became my preferred source. As described in my eHam product review, the only obstacle when ordering was the Italian tax number SSN. Since I am not an Italian citizen, I had to enter a dummy number, and this is 123456. You can use that number as well, if you order from IT9EJW! Besides this kink, the process went smoothly. I received the cards in the mail about 3 weeks after the order was submitted.

The rear side of the card is almost blank. Since my logging program DXKeeper supports label printing, I'll start using labels for the QSO details.


OZ1BXM has got a new QSL card.
 

Vy 73 and see you next month!

 

OZ1BXM Lars Petersen

My homepage: http://oz1bxm.dk

SSPA for 2 meters - Finished project

Finally! My SSPA for 2 meters is now finished. The building process has been long, but the learning experience was good. The picture below shows the SSPA as seen from the front:
On top of cabinet:
Two black 140 mm fans cool the radiator. The air is taken in below the radiator.
The black radiator exchange heat between the cooling water and the air.
The cabinet:
Upper row: Output meters (forward and reflected power).
Center: Voltage and Amps are monitored.
Lower row: Water and heatspread temperature are monitored.
The square to the left: Switches and control lamps for 12V, 48V, and PTT.

You can read the full SSPA story on my homepage, where more than 20 SSPA pictures are found, and where I've calculated the cost of the project.

73 from OZ1BXM Lars



SSPA for 2 meters with Freescale MRFE6VP61K25H

Polar bears in Copenhagen Zoo

I went to Copenhagen last weekend together with my wife to visit our daughter and her husband. As my daughter lives near Copenhagen Zoo, it was an easy decision to go there and spend the afternoon looking at wild animals. We spent most of the time in the new facility called The arctic Ring, which specializes in animals from the Arctic.

The polar bears are busy eating fish.

Two polar bears caught our eyes. They were busy eating fish, but as the fish were frozen inside a block of ice, it was a tough job for the bears to get the food out. However, it seemed as if they were entertained by the chore. And so were we!

Next month I'll tell you more on the progress of my 144 MHz SSPA.

OZ1BXM Lars Petersen

Homepage: oz1bxm.dk

Visiting Kennedy Space Center

This month I'll mention my journey to USA to visit my sister, who lives there. I also visited Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex, which is located near Cape Canaveral in Florida.

I have always loved space exploration, and being at the Kennedy Space Center feels like Heaven! There is so much to see and do. I went on a tour to visit the historic launch-pads at Cape Canaveral from where the different space missions and satellites have been launched. The highlight of the tour was visiting the control centre from where the first american flew into space. Allan Shepard's trip was a short one: he returned to Earth after just 15 minutes in space. However, the russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space - he went there just 23 days before Shepard!

I am in the control center with my fingers
on the launch button!

This Mercury-Redstone rocket launched
Alan Shepard into space in 1961.

 If you ever get the opportunity, do pay a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. I can heartily recommend it.

OZ1BXM, Lars Petersen, oz1bxm.dk