Tag Archives: 6m Magic Band

Satellite Station 4.0 Part 1 – New Tower

by

2

New Satellite and 6m Tower

New Satellite and 6m Tower

Our plans for Satellite Station 4.0 are based, in part, on the idea that we can extend our current remote operating environment to include Satellite Operations. Now that our ISS Crew Contact is complete, the antennas from the current Satellite Station 3.0 can be permanently installed at our QTH.

Tower Footing

Tower Footing

The first step in the project is to put up a second, 35′ house bracketed tower. Our new tower will also feature a new 6m yagi along with a permanent installation of our Satellite 3.0 Antennas. The first step in the project was to secure a building permit and prepare the footing for our new tower. Using Rohn’s specifications for the 45G Tower that we are using calls for the first section of the tower to be placed 4′ below ground in a concrete form. It’s important to place a foot or so of stone at the base of the footing and to ensure that the legs of the tower remain open so water can drain. Failure to do this part of the preparation properly will result in water freezing in the Tower Legs which will split them open and ruin the tower.

Also, note the rebar reinforcing material in the hole around the tower and the bracing to keep the first section of the tower level and plumb. The folks at Form King did an excellent job in preparing and pouring the footing for our new tower.

Tower Base

Tower Base

The picture above shows the completed tower base. We’ve also installed a lightning ground on each of the three legs of the tower and the ground are bonded to each other and to the rest of our station’s ground system.

Tower Section on Gin Pole

Tower Section on Gin Pole

With the base complete, Andrew and Matt from XX Towers helped me to put the tower up. Here Andrew is using a Gin Pole to hoist a section of the 45G Tower into place.

House Bracket

House Bracket

With a few sections of the tower in place, it was time to install the house bracket. The bracket needs to be reinforced with blocking material on both sides of the wall. The blocking and the bracket are held together with 10″ galvanized bolts.

Rotator and Mast

Rotator and Mast

We chose a 2″ x 25′ Chrome Molly Mast for our tower. We wanted to have about 10′ of mast above the top of the tower. Rather than cut the mast, we choose to keep the mast full length by setting our M2 Orion Rotator down a section and a half from the top of the tower. This is a good thing to do for several reasons. First, it makes the rotator easier to access for service. Also, the mast can twist a bit to absorb the torque on the rotator when the antennas start and stop moving.

The combination of the 25′ tower and the 10′ of mast above top will place our Satellite Antennas at a height of about 45′. This will provide additional clearance above the trees in our backyard for low angle satellite contacts.

The next step in our project will be to rebuild and reinforce the Satellite 3.0 Antenna Cross Boom and rotator system, build our new 6m yagi, and install the antennas on our new tower. You can read about other parts of our project via the links below.

Fred, AB1OC

Meteor Scatter Rocks! – Work’in the Orionids

by

0

AB1OC 6m USA Grids

AB1OC 6m USA Grids

I’ve been pretty active on the 6m Band the past few years. As you can see from the image above, we’ve worked most of the grid squares in the eastern third of the United States on 6m. I use a mix of modes on 6m, including SSB Phone, CW, JT65, FT8, and MSK144. The addition of the MSK144 mode for Meteor Scatter contacts has been a lot of fun and has added some new grid squares to my total.

Orionid Meteor Shower Forecast

Orionid Meteor Shower Forecast

One of the fall Meteor Showers, the Orionids, occurred not too long ago, and I decided to focus on MSK144 during the Orionids to see how many grid squares I could work. The shower was most active over 3 days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).

MSK144 QSO with WA3LBI Using WSJT-X

MSK144 QSO with WA3LBI Using WSJT-X

The latest WSJT-X software supports a relatively new digital mode for Meteor Scatter contacts – MSK144. A Meteor Scatter contact made using MSK144 is shown above.

Meteor Scatter Pings Detected via MSK144

Meteor Scatter Pings Detected via MSK144

Meteors create short propagation enhancements when they burn up in the atmosphere. These short propagation bursts enable very brief (approximately 1-5 second) propagation on the 6m Band.

The video above shows an example of an MSK144 Meteor Scatter QSO using WSJT-X.

6m MSK144 QSOs During Orionids

6m MSK144 QSOs During Orionids

So I bet you may wonder how many 6m QSOs and grid squares I could work during the Orionids? I made 23 Meteor Scatter QSOs using MSK144 during the 2017 Orionids. The image above shows the 16 grids I worked using MSK144 during the three days. A few of these grids were new for me on 6m.

I used our Flex-6700 SDR, our SteppIR Yagis, and about 200w of power to make these contacts. It was a lot of fun making contacts using MSK144 Meteor Scatter on 6m. I am looking forward to future Meteor Shower activity!

Fred, AB1OC

Orionid Meteor Shower: Friday Night Brings Excellent Conditions In Eastern US

by

0

Orionid Meteor Shower Forecast

Orionid Meteor Shower Forecast

One of the best meteor showers of the fall, the Orionid Meteor Shower, will peak on Friday night with over a dozen meteors streaking across the night sky every hour.

Source: Orionid meteor shower: Friday night to bring excellent viewing conditions in the Eastern US.

This weekend will be a good time to work Meteor Scatter contacts on 6m! The Orionid’s peak tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night, October 20th and 21st. We’ll be operating using WSJT-X MSK144 mode on 6m. We plan to use our Remote Operating setup to take advantage of our SDR’s receiver capabilities and the connected 500w amplifier.

Fred, AB1OC