10 GHz … Northwest Style Pacific Northwest VHF Society 2005 Conference, Seaside Oregon Mike Reed KD7TS and Bob Larkin W7PUA 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

Ingrediants for Successful QSO’s Portable Operation from High Spots Home Stations Exploiting Propagation 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

Portable Operation W7LHL in Graham WA 10 ft TVRO Dish Az and El Control Microwave Gear at Antenna 4 Watts DB6NT Preamp 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

10 GHz Portable QSO’s Often Line-of -Sight Choose Locations for Access Trees, Brush and Rock Path Obstructions Challenging Roads! 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

10 Milliwatt + Horn QSO’s Basic Low-Cost Setups 10 Milliwatt Crystal Control Small 17 dB Horn Antennas Example: 91 km (56 mile)path 20 dB S/N Sufficient for CW & SSB Distance 91 km (563 miles) and propagation is line-of-sight, with ground reflections Free Space path loss is 151.9 dB. This report says is that the path will have 153 db of loss, i.e., the received power will be 153 dbthan the transmitted power and lower in front of the distant end, and may go 16 db lower during fades. The transmitter has 10 mW (+10 dbm), and we get to add the transmit antenna gain to this, for an equivalent transmit signal for no antenna gain of of +27dbm. Without any antenna gain, this arrives at -126 dbm. We add the receive antenna gain of 17 db and we have an -109 dbm level coming from the antenna Assuming a receive system NF of 2 db and a bandwidth of 500 Hz, we have a noise level of about -149 dBm with an average S/N ofof -109 - (-149) or 40 dB! Fading may reduce this level or enhance it some. 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

10 Milliwatt + Horn QSO’s Basic Low-Cost Setups 10 Milliwatt Crystal Control Small 17 dB Horn Antennas Example: 91 km (56 mile)path 20 dB S/NSufficient for CW & SSB Distance 91 km (563 miles) and propagation is line-of-sight, with ground reflections Free Space path loss is 151.9 dB. This report says is that the path will have 153 db of loss, i.e., the received power will be 153 dbthan the transmitted power and lower in front of the distant end, and may go 16 db lower during fades. The transmitter has 10 mW (+10 dbm), and we get to add the transmit antenna gain to this, for an equivalent transmit signal for no antenna gain of of +27dbm. Without any antenna gain, this arrives at -126 dbm. We add the receive antenna gain of 17 db and we have an -109 dbm level coming from the antenna Assuming a receive system NF of 2 db and a bandwidth of 500 Hz, we have a noise level of about -149 dBm with an average S/N ofof -109 - (-149) or 40 dB! Fading may reduce this level or enhance it some. 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

The 17 dB Horn Simple Easy to Build Polarization as shown is Horizontal 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

Horn Pattern -3 dB at 10 degrees -8 dB when 9 degrees off

Portable Station Upgrades 1 Watt Transmit Amplifiers 2 foot Parabolic Dish Antennas !-Watt amplifiers are available at reasonable cost from the San Diego Microwave group. These are surplus from Qualcomm equipment and must be converted down in frequency from 14 GHz. Full instructions are available for this, but it requires working with very small parts. Commercial amplifiers are available ready-to-go at powers up to 10 Watts or so. The 2-foot dish size is easily handled in a portable environment. Surplus offset dishes are inexpensive, but again reqire modification for the frequency of use. Spun aluminum dishes are available requiring the construction of a centered feed. For a dish up to 2-feet, the support can be a camera tripod. 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

Portable Upgrade Performance Transmit Power +20 dB Transmit Antenna +16 dB Receive Antenna +16 dB Signal +52 dB over 17 dB Horns and 10 mW

Portable Upgrade Performance Transmit Power +20 dB Transmit Antenna +16 dB Receive Antenna +16 dB Signal +52 dB over 17 dB Horns and 10 mW

Be On Frequency! 100 Hz at 2-meters is 7.2 kHz at 10 GHz Stability is Important Use Harmonics of Reference 24 x 432.000 is 10368.000

Antenna Pointing can be Crucial! A 2 ft Dish has a 2 degree Half- Beamwidth Losing half power is not good! A high Quality Compass is Invaluable

Hand Bearing Compass

View through Compass Readable to 1/2 degree Scale Overlays Sight Requires Headings Maps Calculations - BD.EXE

Magnetic Declination True-Magnetic Difference From http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg /geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp Slow change with time

10 GHz Home Station Operation Greatly increases potential use Bigger antennas are possible Rare and non-summer propagation Slower data rates are practical It really works!!

W7LHL at Home W7LHL in Graham WA 10 ft TVRO Dish Az and El Control Microwave Gear at Antenna 4 Watts DB6NT Preamp

KD7TS at Home KD7TS in Des Moines WA 2 foot Offset Dish Az and El Control Microwave Gear at Antenna 1 Watts DB6NT Preamp

W7SZ

10 GHz - Beyond Line of Sight Tropospheric Scatter Rain Scatter Upper-Troposphere, aka “Green GOES” Airplane Scattering Tropospheric Ducting - PNW???

10 GHz Tropospheric Scatter Scattering by Tropospheric “Blobs” Similar to Lower Frequencies Useful to Hundreds of Miles Requires Low Takeoff Angles

10 GHz Rain Scatter

10 GHz Rain Scatter Scattering by Precipitation Doppler Shift & Spreading Relatively Strong Signals Andy Flowers, K0SM Program: http://www.frontiernet.net/~aflowers/rainscatter/

K0SM Rain Scatter Program

10 GHz Upper-Tropo Scatter Scattering by Water Vapor or Ice Crystals Very Weak Signals Useful to Hundreds of Miles Capable of Working Over Hills Narrow Signals Info: http://www2.arrl.org/qex/larkin.pdf

KD7TS to W7PUA Typical Obstructed Home-Station Path Common viewable volume high in troposphere Well equipped stations 1 Hz frequency Control & DSP-10 at both ends Path Worked Digital, CW and SSB Distance 91 km (563 miles) and propagation is line-of-sight, with ground reflections Free Space path loss is 151.9 dB. This report says is that the path will have 153 db of loss, i.e., the received power will be 153 dbthan the transmitted power and lower in front of the distant end, and may go 16 db lower during fades. The transmitter has 10 mW (+10 dbm), and we get to add the transmit antenna gain to this, for an equivalent transmit signal for no antenna gain of of +27dbm. Without any antenna gain, this arrives at -126 dbm. We add the receive antenna gain of 17 db and we have an -109 dbm level coming from the antenna Assuming a receive system NF of 2 db and a bandwidth of 500 Hz, we have a noise level of about -149 dBm with an average S/N ofof -109 - (-149) or 40 dB! Fading may reduce this level or enhance it some. 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

GOES WV4 Maps Distance 91 km (563 miles) and propagation is line-of-sight, with ground reflections Free Space path loss is 151.9 dB. This report says is that the path will have 153 db of loss, i.e., the received power will be 153 dbthan the transmitted power and lower in front of the distant end, and may go 16 db lower during fades. The transmitter has 10 mW (+10 dbm), and we get to add the transmit antenna gain to this, for an equivalent transmit signal for no antenna gain of of +27dbm. Without any antenna gain, this arrives at -126 dbm. We add the receive antenna gain of 17 db and we have an -109 dbm level coming from the antenna Assuming a receive system NF of 2 db and a bandwidth of 500 Hz, we have a noise level of about -149 dBm with an average S/N ofof -109 - (-149) or 40 dB! Fading may reduce this level or enhance it some. 10 GHz...NW Style KD7TS & W7PUA Sept 2005

10 GHz Reference URL’s KD7TS VHF/UHF/Microwave: http://members.ispwest.com/kd7ts/ DSP-10 I-F Radio: http://www.proaxis.com/~boblark/dsp10.htm W7CQ Eugene 10 GHz Beacon: http://home.teleport.com/~oldaker/ GOES Water Vapor Map: http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/4km/WR/WV4.GIF