ZL3NW Rod  

I first me Rod at Chris's (WOS) Summer BBQ, I knew of him because he had been in the UKSMG magazine along with Ian (M0BCG) when they had completed the first ever G > ZL 6m QSO & 1st 6m EME QSO contact in January this year 2005. Rod did a talk at the meeting and we had chatted after and exchanged contact info. 

Our first sked was on 17th October at 17:00z  on 50.195Mhz with me taking the first period, it was 3 days after Perigee, the Moon being at 375,000Kms. Rod like me only has a single Yagi with no elevation, so the sked was set for my Moonrise as it coincided with Rod's Moonset. The sked window was very small, only 30 minuets, just 15 periods each within which to try and make contact and complete, highly unlikely but it would test the water (18,867Kms) between us.

We had an amazing sked and were very close to completing! Rod heard me on my second period at 17:04, sadly although Rod received all my messages to complete a QSO, I failed to receive his final message 'RRR', truly amazing for a first sked with 2x smaller EME stations at near to maximum Earth distances.

This is my messages received at Rod's, note the big signal -25db,

Tuesday 18th,

Again we didn't complete, I didn't hear Rod at all, but he heard me on my Moonrise when I was between 2 & 6 degrees, Rod received 9 period decodes from me! With best signal at -23db for 3 periods, being 2db better than yesterday. Fantastic signals into ZL with just a single 10.4m Yagi and the Moon at 376,500Kms.

Wednesday 19th, Was even better at Rod's end, as seen below, but again I struggled with signal from him, best signal today -22db !

Thursday 20th, This is why EME is difficult with 2x stations using single Yagi's, Rod received nothing from me tonight, but I got 2 decodes from him.......

184100 1 -30 1.9 -5 37 * G8PL ZL3NW RE66 

185500 1 -26 1.7 -11 3 * G8PL ZL3NW RE66 

Friday 21st, Tonight Rod heard me again for four period out of our 1hr & 10 minuets sked, but me not him!

Saturday 22nd - No sked, Rod had a  sked with a UT7 station. Ian (M0BCG) came over to stay the weekend, My FT920 was playing up and dropping out of TX during my ZL sked's, so he brought over his spare JRC JST-245, a tokyo HL116V amp with pre-amp and some test equipment. During testing we had some RF feedback that blew my SP-6 pre-amp, so we set up the Tokyo just running the pre-amp side, we switched the JRC internal pre-amp down to -12db and then ran it through the Tokyo's pre-amp, this gave us a few extra db against the just running the JRC's pre-amp alone. Next we added a coax relay from a Sea King Helicopter, then added some extra safety cooling to the Hunter-six amp, we turned the manufactures extractor fan around to work as a blower, Ian had made up a new case-lid and cut out to 5" holes over the tube and transformer and we fitted a pair of 120v German fans as extractors in series.

New Hunter case lid with 2x 120v Extractor fans.

Ian M0BCG Getting to grips with the station.

Sunday 23rd - A good sked, but lots of false decodes, I though we might have completed, but hadn't !

Monday 24th - With the Moon at 403,082Kms (21:40z)and moving away from the Earth, being 10 days after Perigee our sked window was from 21:40z until 22:40z again my Moonrise, Rod's Moonset. Because of the false decodes the night before we decided to work split frequencies, I TX on 50.196 and Rod on 50.183. I took the first period sending calls on the even minutes. At 22:13 I received Rod's calls and 'OOO's, I replied at 22:14 with 'RO', and at 22:15 got Rod's 'RRR's, at 22:16 I started sending '73's to Rod, he then received 7 periods of 73's from me. A complete contact G - ZL, a first for to two single Yagi stations without elevation, and the 2nd ever G >ZL EME contact ! 

My best signal to Rod -21db, he's best to me -28db

Rod ZL3NW in his shack.

Time    G8PL                       ZL3NW                         Sky       Moon       

                  Beam     Elev                            Beam    Elev

22:13z  055°,+4°,0dB,+4°    311°,+4°,+25°,3.0dB     2705°K,403086,-10 Hz

22:15z  055°,+5°,0 dB,+4°   311°,+3°,+25°,3.0dB     2705°K,403089,-10 Hz

22:17z  056°,+5°,0 dB,+4°   311°,+3°,+25°,3.0dB     2705°K,403092,-10 Hz

Rod's screen shot, note him sending 73's

My screen shot at G8PL

You can see Rod's, Call's & OOOs at 22:13, RRR's at 22:15, and the screen shot shows me sending 73's at 22:18, which I started sending at 21:16

Note Rod's screen shot shows my RO's at 22:14, and my 73's at 22:16

Data  (TSKY 4388, Doppler -12, db -2.11, Dgrd -3.66)

Note the JRC Radio, HL116V amp and Coax relay, on loan from M0BCG.

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IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/SHF/EHF/DX Records (8th November 2005)

_______________________This One's For Kip__________________________