432 MHz



EME OK2AQ	432 MHz
JN89hf
LOG Equipment Documents Pictures QSL

II. WE of ARRL Contest on lower bands November 25 and 26, 2023
Second WE of ARRL contest on the lower bands were marked by high solar activity. This time I stroked the moon on 70 cm from the warmth of the permanent QTH. I made 10 QSOs Q65, including three initials W7JW, K5QE and OH2DG. The increased number of sunspots and frequent CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejection, when billions of tons of material are hurled into space at 3000 km/s) caused a strong geomagnetic storm accompanied by an Aurora. The Faraday rotation was constantly changing and was often non-reciprocal, i.e. it was necessary to transmit with one polarization and receive with another. Anyway, it was very interesting to observe these effects. Log.

European EME Contest organized by DUBUS February 25 and 26, 2023
The European CW EME contest organized by DUBUS magazine on 70 cm last weekend brought a significantly increased activity not only of CW, but also of digi stations. It is understandable, because more and more stations with tropo equipment (even quite modest ones) are trying their first EME QSO with "big guns" stations, which in turn are collecting an incredible number of initials. Conditions were average with around 2dB degradation. With one long (8 WL XY) Yagi antenna in an urban environment, I tried listening to CW stations, but it was miserable. In contrast, the Q65 ran quite decently and I enjoyed the comforts of home while doing so. It turned out again that the possibility to work with both polarizations is a big advantage on 70 cm. I made 14 QSOs with three new initials log. 300 W power and 0.5 dB LNA.

New Antenna M² 8WL switchable h/v: (2015)


FIRST EME Contacts: Antennas at home in JN89HF about 300 m a.s.l. designed for satellite communication. Only vertical 19 el. Yagi was used for first attempt of EME qso on 70 cm in April 2010.

Rig: FT-847, 50W output power	WSJT window of the complete qso by JT65b mode

The QSL card HB9Q confirming QSO described above
Indeed, the equipment of HB9Q is excellent: - 15.28m dish, f/d: 0.53, double cross-dipole - RX: switchable H/V, TX: circular - 7/8'' hard-line by Huber & Suhner - GaAs FET 0.4 dB NF by DJ3FI - 2x8874 by HB9SV, 1 KW - Kuhne Electronic TR 432 H into Flex 5000 - NF Filter: DSP 599zx - JT65B by K1JT
Next day another big gun succeeded fully random:

And chat following QSO: 18 17:07:16 OK2AQ Mirek PI9CAM your best -18, TNX and best 73s 18 17:04:38 PI9CAM Team CAM OK2AQ Yr best -25. mny tnx fer fine qso, best 73' 18 17:04:27 OK2AQ Mirek PI9CAM thanks for qso. I have 19Y and 50 W.