K2UYH expedition to Aruba

K2UYH expedition to Aruba - P43L, November 24th & 25th 2007

From K2UYH in K1RQG Net Notes

Oct 21 2007

I have the opportunity to put Aruba, P43, on 23 cm EME (and possibly 70 cm for DL9KR - hi) for the Nov ARRL Contest weekend. I needed to go there for business and everything seems to be fitting in place.

I have found a station there who is interested in VHF/UHF and EME that has 10' TVRO dish available. If I can find a "good" feed, I should be able to put out quite a respectable signal as I have a 200 W SSPA available.

Could you ask if anyone has a feed that I could borrow for the weekend (or buy as I could use it for future trips). (If at all possible I will try to get something going on 70 cm as well. It will be marginal, but should be enough to work the big stations).

The 1296 activity looks definite, so please announce. I hope you will be willing to coordinate skeds. I expect to be QRV on the 23rd, 24th and 25th and possibly part of 26th.

Nov 11 2007

I think it is time to get serious about skeds. Everything seems to be fitting in place. Lisandro, P43L has a 12' dish! OK1DFC is making the
feed for 23 cm. I will bring my TS2000X and 200 W SSPA and LNAs, etc.

I recommend that skeds be for the 24th, 25th and 26th (Eur window only for resked and clean up).

I will arrive on the 20th and hope to be QRV earlier. I will let you know via e-mail and/or telephone if I can be QRV sooner.

I should have access to e-mail and the Internet. I had hoped to start skeds on the 23rd, but a big Thanksgiving dinner is planned for the 22nd (local). I will try to get on after the dinner.

The call will be P43L. Because of the contest I think we should operate higher in the band than .035 and suggest we use .045, but am open to
your recommendation. I want to stay away from .065 because of possible JT activity.

I will operate primarily CW (2.5 min), but will switch to JT65C upon request. If I don't hear a station in the first 15 minutes of a sked, I will call CQ. (I want to keep things simple and will try to always operate on the same frequency).

I plan to make a feed for 70 cm and take it and a 100 W SSPA with me. With the 12' dish I should be able to work DL9KR to help him finish off DXCC and possibly some of the other bigger stations. I will only operate 432 after I feel I have finished with 23 cm. If there is not enough time, I will leave the 70 cm equipment and set up Lisandro to operate 432 after I have gone. A real bonus is that Lisandro is interested in getting permanently setup for EME. He has a 736R with 1296, so all he will need is the amplifier, feed and relay.

Have I missed anything?

Thanks for your help and 73,

Al - K2UYH

From 432 & UP EME Newsletter December 2007, published 13 Nov 2007

Al Katz - K2UYH

P43L p43l@@arubanet.com in Aruba should be on 1296 in Nov as reported last month.

Everything is fitting in place. Lisandro, P43L has a 12' dish. OK1DFC is supplying a Septum feed, I will bring my TS2000X and 200 W SSPA and LNAs. WD5AGO is supplying extra LNA as backup.

Skeds are for the 24th, 25th and 26th (Eur window only) – see the end of this newsletter (NL). I will arrive on the 20th and hope to be QRV earlier than the 24th. (Please note that I am going to the island for business reasons and thus can not devote a 100% of my time to EME). I should have access to e-mail and will let folks know via e-mail if I can be QRV sooner.

Operation will be on 1296.045. I will operate primarily CW (2.5 min), but will switch to JT65C upon request. If I don't hear a station in the first 10/15 minutes of a sked, I will call CQ. Please do not call on frequency during sked times unless you hear my CQ. I want to keep things simple and will try to always operate on the same frequency.

I also plan to bring a feed for 70 cm and expect to take a 100 W SSPA with me. If 23 cm works well and time is available, I will try 70 cm on the 26th. If there is not enough time, I will leave the 70 cm equipment and try to set up Lisandro for 432 EME operation after I have gone. A real bonus is that Lisandro is interested in getting permanently setup for EME. He already has a 736R with 1296, so all he will need is a PA

22 Nov 2007

Source: Email to OK1DFC

Hi Zdenek, We arrived in Aruba all OK on Tuesday and visited P43L's QTH.

The dish needed some work to be put in operation, but all looked encouraging. The mounting of the dish should be now completed. They were doing it this afternoon. I had hoped to get started today, but now the plan is for me to start connecting up the equipment tomorrow.

All the equipment is at P43L's QTH. I plan to arrive tomorrow morning to mount the feed and connect stuff up... There is a small chance I could be QRV tomorrow, but I am committed to be at a Thanksgiving Dinner at 0000Z. If time permits I may be able to start testing before or after the dinner.

I'll send more info and picture tomorrow. Please pass on to K1RQG and others.

73, Al - K2UYH

23 Nov 2007

Source: Email to OK1DFC

Dish is up. Should be on tomorrow. Got to go, Write more later.

73, Al K2UYH

24 Nov 2007

Source: Email to OK1DFC

Hi Zdenek,

It was very close time wise. When we tried to mount the dish on Thursday, we discovered the back plate of the dish had totally rotted away. It was like paper. We had to design a different mounting arrangement and re-build the back of the dish. This took a lot of time and made operation on moonrise on Thursday/Friday not possible.

I had business meetings in the morning on Friday, and could not be at P43L until the afternoon to do the final feed mounting and equipment setup. When I arrived we had rain for the first time since I have been here. We had to work between showers, but everything was completed before sked time.

Our only problem was we had no moon to reference our readouts. Fortunately I was able to find HB9BBD's big signal on our first sked. It was close hi, but once we found him, we were in business. Things worked very well from then on. Later the moon became visible, which made operation easier. We did have another rain show that should us down for a while, but this was in a no skeds period - between end of Eur/NA skeds and beginning of JA/VK skeds.

WE QSO'd HB9BBD on sked, K1JT tailend (TE), OK1DFC (your signal was FB, but weaker than I expected - was something wrong?), K5JT TE, K9SLQ TE, PA3CSG, OE9ERC early, DF3RU TE, G4CCH early, OZ4MM TE, OK1KIR TE, DJ9YW TE, OK1CA TE, HB9Q TE, RW1AW TE, K2UYH TE, DL1YMK, W5LUA TE, DL4MEA TE, LA9NEA (called just before on low end, but did not respond), 0430 VE6TA Ran, G4CCH on JT, K1JT JT, nil WW2R, K2DH, called JA8ERE at low end, but did not respond, K5SO ran, nil JR4ZZH, nil JH1KRC, some QRZs, nil VK3UM.

We have some trees on the western horizon, but continued until 5 degrees. I hope for similar luck tonight, although some rain showers are again predicted.
We plan to give 70 cm a try on Monday morning.

73, Al - K2UYH

HOT NEWS - 25 Nov 2007

Source: E Mail to OK1DFC

Hi Zdenek,

We had problems with rain last night. I managed to keep everything dry enough to operate with the rain until about 0635 when there was a cloudburst. 4" of rain fell in a matter of minutes. I was in QSO with N2UO. He was sending OR, but I could bearly hear him from the noise of the rain falling on the tarp on my head. We then lost the control system, probably from the several inches of water on the ground. I was also afraid the PA might be wet. It kicked off too. With all the water, we decided there was no choice but to shut down. It is too bad as we easily could have easily completed with Marc and work some JAs and others.

Last night we QSO'd K2UYH again on JT, ES5PC on JT, SM5LE on JT sked, OH2DG on CW sked, 0115 SM3LBN TE, SM3AKW, SP6JLW TE, OZ6OL TE, 0200 nil PA3FXB on JT -he copied us, G3LTF - in heavy rain, F6KHM ran, nil G4RGK, nil SP5DCS, nil IZ1BPN, nil WW2R, nil WA6PY and partial N2UO (O/O) - down pour - forced off before final Rs.

The 70 cm feed is now in the dish. I have very limited time tonight as we are leaving tomorrow morning. I emailed a sked to Jan for 0000 on 432.045. I will also e-mail HB9Q about a sked for 0030. I suggest you tailend Jan or Dan. If you can't make it earlier, I will call you at 0100. Stig also wrote me for a 70 cm sked. I am also going to suggest that he tries to tailend on your sked.

I will be working with P43L to get him on EME permanently. I am leaving him everything to be operational on 70 cm (feed, feedline, relays, preamp, ... he has a 100 W SSPA that we will be using tonight.

Let's hope for better luck tonight.

73, Al - K2UYH

EME schedules, last update 18 Nov 2007, 19:44

From K1RQG