G0RUZ Weak-signal DX on 50,144,432 and 1296 Mhz for the Radio Amateur

In October 2005 during the first leg of the ARRL moonbounce contest I had the privilege of operating 432 MHz and 1296 MHz eme at HB9Q.  HB9Q, which is usually operated by Dan HB9CRQ and Mark HB9DBM, features a 15.28m dish! This results in huge SSB echoes on both of these bands. 

Fortunately for me Mark was out of town so I got to use the equipment and what a fantastic experience. The problem for me will be the comparatively weak signals that I will receive on 1296 MHz with my 3.7m dish, oh well . . . . . . 

Below are a few photos of the station and at the bottom of the page are a few links to the logs for the contest weekend. Click on the photos for a high resolution image.

HB9Q 15.28m dish, this gives a sense of scale, the very small person with his arms outstretched is me!

The inner sanctum! Dan HB9CRQ and Joachim DF1GL in the HB9Q shack

Dan HB9CRQ and Conrad G0RUZ in the HB9Q shack

The best thing about the shack is that the noisy blowers, amplifiers etc are in a separate machine room downstairs. This is something that I must do for all future eme operation. It is much more relaxing to operate, the only noisy thing left was the coffee grinder in the espresso machine which raised the noise floor by 30dB even with the headphones on! Joachim came for a look around and was instantly forced to operate by me, I needed to wake up a little so the 15 minute walk to the local store really helped, thanks Joachim.

Dan HB9CRQ changing the feed, this is really quick!

Seeing this feed gave me lots of good ideas for my feeds and quick band changing. I hope to be active on 23, 13 and 3cms eme initially with my 3.7m solid dish.

Detail of the 432 MHz feed, dual horizontally and vertically polarised dipoles

Note the sliding arrangement so that the  23cms and 70cms feeds can be set in the optimum position, they are locked in place by quick lock clamps, similar to those used in welding, very elegant and efficient. The blue plastic you can see keeps water off the feed mounted relays and the LNA.

Detail of the 1296 MHz feed, W2IMU dual mode horn with polarizer section to generate circular polarisation 

Looks as though Dan has a good aim! One of the 8 x 18 ele M2 2m yagis pointing at the moon

A view of the HB9Q site at moonset

Link to the 432 MHz logs G0RUZ operator

Link to the 1296 MHz logs G0RUZ operator