Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

FX-9A Revisted

Fred Lesnick, VE3FAL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

VE7SL - my original 2m EME antenna.

My recent round of 2m moonbounce activity reminded me of how much this mode has changed over the years. Back in the early 80's I decided that building a 2m eme system would be a good project for winter evenings and would keep me out of trouble for a few years. Back then, it was all CW, with a smattering of SSB reserved only for the big-boys.

Unlike today's widespread JT65B usage on eme, where signals can be many db into the noise and inaudible by ear, eme contacts could only be completed by actually copying signals that you could hear with your ears. This usually required big antennas and lots of power.

After a year and a half of evening work in my basement shop, my system was pretty much ready to go. I built a kilowatt amplifier, from the ARRL's VHF Handbook, along with its plate and screen power supplies.

2m 'Plumbers Delight' handbook amp.

The amplifier used a pair of 4CX250Rs ... a very popular tube to use then and readily available. The amplifier, when run in class-C, would put out nearly a kilowatt. All of the parts were reclaimed from surplus, purchased inexpensively at our local, long gone, 'Satellite Surplus' store on Vancouver's Main Street ... this was a goldmine of radio-only parts. Pete, the proprietor, was a real character. He had a good eye for a bargain and would buy government surplus lots of equipment and strip them for parts. He must have been well-connected as the place was full of gems ... but one dare not try and argue about prices! I saw more than one guy kicked-out for trying to work Pete down a few bucks.

My antennas (see above), as well as the large H-frame support, were also built in the basement and used all scrap aluminum from one of the numerous scrap yards that were in Vancouver at the time. The system consisted of sixteen separate 6 element NBS-styled yagis, all phased. Many of the two-dozen plus N connectors were bought at Boeing Surplus near Seattle, another interesting source of parts, also now long gone. Keeping water out of the phasing lines and connectors was a real challenge here in the rain forest and if one connector was not done exactly right, would create a lot of headaches.

The antenna took up a large portion of my small, 33'-wide suburban backyard. Pointing was all done by hand, using homemade scales to indicate elevation and azimuth angles, so that it could be pointed accurately even on cloud covered days and nights. A hand-cranked boat winch took care of elevation. I had a switch-box full of surplus VHF relays out at the antenna that protected my JFET preamp and also allowed me to compare sky and sun noise against a 50 ohm load.

Over the course of a few years, the system was employed to work many Europeans as well as North American VEs' and Ws'. The one contact that stands out memorable for me, was with UA3TCF, east of Moscow. This was because I had to aim the array directly into my two-story house, located about 20' away! The moon was very low as well, so that not much elevation was required.



I eventually found that trying to hold down a full-time high school teaching job and running sked requests at 0300 were not very compatible! It also became a lot of work just to maintain the system properly. I had met and completed my original goals and it became time to move on.

Eventually the array was broken down into smaller sections and sold to local 2m guys, along with the amplifier ... but it was a huge learning experience for me and the fact that I survived building and playing with a 2,000 volt power supply, still scares the heck out of me!

Plate & screen supply for the 2m amp.

The VHF rack with xvrtrs and amps 50mHz-432mHz.

My gal Sal adorning the 2m tower on a snowy Sunday morning.

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

VE7SL - my original 2m EME antenna.

My recent round of 2m moonbounce activity reminded me of how much this mode has changed over the years. Back in the early 80's I decided that building a 2m eme system would be a good project for winter evenings and would keep me out of trouble for a few years. Back then, it was all CW, with a smattering of SSB reserved only for the big-boys.

Unlike today's widespread JT65B usage on eme, where signals can be many db into the noise and inaudible by ear, eme contacts could only be completed by actually copying signals that you could hear with your ears. This usually required big antennas and lots of power.

After a year and a half of evening work in my basement shop, my system was pretty much ready to go. I built a kilowatt amplifier, from the ARRL's VHF Handbook, along with its plate and screen power supplies.

2m 'Plumbers Delight' handbook amp.

The amplifier used a pair of 4CX250Rs ... a very popular tube to use then and readily available. The amplifier, when run in class-C, would put out nearly a kilowatt. All of the parts were reclaimed from surplus, purchased inexpensively at our local, long gone, 'Satellite Surplus' store on Vancouver's Main Street ... this was a goldmine of radio-only parts. Pete, the proprietor, was a real character. He had a good eye for a bargain and would buy government surplus lots of equipment and strip them for parts. He must have been well-connected as the place was full of gems ... but one dare not try and argue about prices! I saw more than one guy kicked-out for trying to work Pete down a few bucks.

My antennas (see above), as well as the large H-frame support, were also built in the basement and used all scrap aluminum from one of the numerous scrap yards that were in Vancouver at the time. The system consisted of sixteen separate 6 element NBS-styled yagis, all phased. Many of the two-dozen plus N connectors were bought at Boeing Surplus near Seattle, another interesting source of parts, also now long gone. Keeping water out of the phasing lines and connectors was a real challenge here in the rain forest and if one connector was not done exactly right, would create a lot of headaches.

The antenna took up a large portion of my small, 33'-wide suburban backyard. Pointing was all done by hand, using homemade scales to indicate elevation and azimuth angles, so that it could be pointed accurately even on cloud covered days and nights. A hand-cranked boat winch took care of elevation. I had a switch-box full of surplus VHF relays out at the antenna that protected my JFET preamp and also allowed me to compare sky and sun noise against a 50 ohm load.

Over the course of a few years, the system was employed to work many Europeans as well as North American VEs' and Ws'. The one contact that stands out memorable for me, was with UA3TCF, east of Moscow. This was because I had to aim the array directly into my two-story house, located about 20' away! The moon was very low as well, so that not much elevation was required.



I eventually found that trying to hold down a full-time high school teaching job and running sked requests at 0300 were not very compatible! It also became a lot of work just to maintain the system properly. I had met and completed my original goals and it became time to move on.

Eventually the array was broken down into smaller sections and sold to local 2m guys, along with the amplifier ... but it was a huge learning experience for me and the fact that I survived building and playing with a 2,000 volt power supply, still scares the heck out of me!

Plate & screen supply for the 2m amp.

The VHF rack with xvrtrs and amps 50mHz-432mHz.

My gal Sal adorning the 2m tower on a snowy Sunday morning.

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Linux in the Ham Shack takes you a journey into sight and sound. Well, mostly sound. Topics include operating below 500kHz, new stuff in WSJT-X, an open letter from a young ham to the curmudgeons in the room, Ham Radio Deluxe being nefarious again, Ubuntu 16.10 with Budgie, a useful Debian utility, contributing to Open Source as a newbie (or oldbie) and much more.

We also send our thoughts and condolences to the young daughter, family and friends of Matthew Williams, Lord Drachenblut, KD9BWJ. He passed away much too young on December 6, 2016, after a long struggle against cancer. We miss you, brother.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

I’ve finished work for the remainder of the year and its a good time to take stock. I had a lot of plans, most of which didn’t happen as a result of some over optimism on the planning front so what went wrong. Well not much in fact when it comes to radio. I did however sneak a little progress here or there but its been barren for a few months. Before we get into new years resolutions I think its worth noting what did go on….

1. I bought a MTR-5B rig which has had a few outings and a couple of QSO’s. Lovely bit of kit by the way.
2. Practiced my CW a lot off air. Not so much on air.
3. I acquired a TS-850 as well. Very nice
4. I spent a bit of time perfecting the Raspberry Pi / RTL Dongle iGate. Pleased with that because I’m not that great with Linux.
5. I am typing this on a PC loaded with Ubuntu. In an attempt to learn a bit more about Linux.
6. Bought a FT-817. I really missed the old one for VHF contesting (get which section I prefer)
7. Built a towbar mounted decorating pole mast. Well prototyped one at least.
8. Attempted to programme an Arduino to display a load of GPS data. This is definitely in the work in progress tray.
9. Did programme an Arduino to decode morse
10. Wrote a piece for RSGB on the SatNOGS project we did at the club. May or may not get published

………….hang on this list is getting longer than I though it would

I suspect I’m not alone in this but looking back in the log I have not had a QSO in a few months other than on a repeater or as part of a contest. I thought that this meant I hadn’t really done much. But the reality is that, probably like quite a few, there are a more pressures on your time than you think there are. It just so happened that when this relaxed and I turned the rig on, conditions were down the khazi.

So Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and all that. Remember hams don’t just make QSO’s.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.