A Bunch of New Ones – 23cm EME

Alex, EA8DBM / LY3UM, has been a well-known VHF- and EME operator for a very long time. About two years ago, he started his “One Man DXPeditions” and has activated more than 20 DXCC entities over 23cm EME to date.
This fall, Alex was active with his 2.4m foldable dish, initially from the Åland Islands as OH0/EA8DBM. From there, he traveled to Latvia (YL/EA8DBM) for a few days, then on to Lithuania, where Alex operated under his home call sign LY3UM. But this wasn’t enough, and he drove across Europe to the first 23cm activation from Albania (ZA/LY3UM). Even that wasn’t enough, so he went to Turkey for two nights, where he operated as TA1/EA8DBM.
Many thanks to Alex for his endless effort and patience, and of course, four new countries for my log.

(Picture Courtesy of EA8DBM)

KH6 Hawaii – 23cm EME

Working stations from Hawaii is always a thrill, no matter on what band. It is the mixed feeling of long distance and the exoticism of the tropical island. To made a contact with Hawaii is even more difficult, because there is only a very little time slot every month, when both stations see the moon. Today I get very lucky as I saw Frank, KH6FA, on the EME-Chat. He has a 3m mesh dish and a 400 W amplifier. After I asked him for a try, the contact was done strait forward with reports -23 / -21 exchanged. Great feeling and another DXCC in the bag.

Holiday fun

Some Holiday fun from the Danish coastline. Reception of orbiting weather satellites on 137 MHz and 1.700 MHz. These weather satellites have an orbital altitide of approximately 820 km and a transmit power of 5-10 W EIRP (137 MHz) resp. 10-20 W EIRP (1.700 MHz). Equipment: V-dipole / 60cm Offset dish with SDRplay and low-noise preamp for 1.700 MHz.

There are a lot of further Informations about HRPT Reception on the web, this web page is very much recommended!

Expanding my small EME-Dish Antenna

Working via the moon on 23cm with my small, 1.75m diameter dish is possible, but sometimes difficult. Stations with a dish diameter of 3.0m and above were easy to work with, as were smaller ones down to 1.8m, provided they were optimally configured.

In recent months, the popularity of foldable 2.4m dishes has increased significantly. These antennas are equipped with a disc patch feed and a 90° hybrid coupler to provide circular polarization. To switch between LHCP and RHCP, a power relay and a set of cables are required. This combined effect causes noticeable losses. During EME experiments with such stations, I noticed that they are significantly weaker and less sensitive than comparable 2.4m stations equipped with septum feeds. For this reason, it was often very difficult, if not impossible, to complete a successful QSO with them.

1.75m solid Dish expanded to 2.35m
1.75m solid Dish expanded to 2.35m

Therefore, I decided that it was time to enlarge my solid 1.75m dish. First, the parabola was calculated and a template was created for the new intended size. Enlarging the dish results in a reduction in the f/D (focus/diameter). As a compromise, I opted for a new diameter of 2.35m, which corresponds to an f/D of 0.31 (previously 0.38). Good illumination with the existing septum feed is still given. The calculated additional gain resulted 2.5 dB for received signals and about 5.0 dB for my own EME echoes.

After completing the expansion, solar noise measurements showed an increase of Sun noise between 2.5 and 3.0 dB, which corresponds to the calculations. This was also noticeable in practical operation; stations with folded 2.4m dishes as well as stations with Yagi antennas can now also be worked, provided they are well optimized.

Sun noise vs. cold Sky
Sun noise vs. cold Sky

2024 Tokyo Ham Fair

In addition to the large amateur radio fairs in Friedrichshafen / Germany and Dayton / USA, the Tokyo Ham Fair in Japan is by far the largest of these exhibitions. In 2024, it recorded a new record with around 45,000 visitors.
I had long planned to travel to Japan and visit the Ham Fair. This year, it finally worked out. The new exhibition hall “ARIAKE GYM-EX” is located directly on the Pacific and is convenient and easy to reach by public transport.

The following pictures give a small impression of this great exhibition.

It was a great pleasure for me to meet many well-known DX’ers ​​in person and to make new friends.
See you in Tokyo or see you again on one of the amateur radio bands.

CY0S – 2m EME – DXCC #101

Back in 2019 Lee, WW2DX, and Team activated the rare DXCC St. Paul Island on 144 MHz via EME under the callsign CY9C.
This year Sable Island was his destination, CY0S the callsign. With the proven equipment of 2 x 9 Element Hpol and Amplifier, Lee was in the air for a few days. The moon was not in a favourable position but after the first rush of callers was over, I managed to get a contact and my DXCC #101 on 144 MHz was in the book. Thanks Lee for another great QSO!

(Picures courtesy of CY0S-Team)

ZC4RH – 2m EME – DXCC #100

Today a big dream came true: the 100th country on 144 MHz is in the book. It was a long and rocky road, but time and effort paid off. It’s only the 3rd time a single yagi station has reached this mark (as far as I’ve researched). Many thanks to the team at ZC4RH (Dave, Chris and Jos) for their effort and contact via EME!

(Picures courtesy of PA2CHR / PA3FYC / ZC4RH)

IARU Region-1 Marconi Memorial Contest VHF 2022

After a break of a few years, I took again part in my favorite contest, the “Marconi Contest VHF” this last weekend. In just a few hours on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, a total of 120 QSOs and a total of abt. 43,000 points with an average of 363 km/QSO were made. And it was a lot of fun working old friends and pounding the brass again!

These are the best DX contacts:

  • 9A4V JN95mm 921 km
  • IQ5NN JN63gn 907 km
  • IO2V JN54we 831 km
  • IZ5ILA/4 JN54pf 822 km
  • 9A4M JN85ei 817 km
  • IK4PMB JN54mm 789 km
  • 9A2AE JN86hf 754 km
  • HA2R JN87ue 714 km
  • HG1Z JN86ku 700 km
  • S59P JN86ao 685 km
  • S51ZO JN86dr 685 km

D2TX – 2m EME

Bernie (ZS4TX), known for his previous activations of A21EME, 7P8Z, 3DA0MB, 3B8/ZS4TX, started another “One Man” DX-Pedition in late August 2022. The goal this time was the Cuando-Cubango Province in Angola. This was Angola’s first 2m EME activation to date and a nearly 7,000 km round trip for ZS4TX.
Bernie’s Equipment for 2m were 2x 2M18XXX and IC-9700. Due to difficult weather conditions, Bernie had to stop activity after only 4 days. Nevertheless, I managed to complete a nice QSO and that’s DXCC #99 in the log.
Thanks to Bernie for another contact and the great activation!

(Picture courtesy of ZS4TX)