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The 10 GHZ Microwave Page - Projects and Experiment

Getting on the Air the First Time - ARRL 10GHZ & Up Contest

I have been wanting to get on the Microwave bands for quite some time.  This seems to be a larger challenge than most ham radio frequencies because of the limited amount of commercial equipment,  antennas, etc.  This also includes the limited number of available ham radio operators in the State of Utah. Someone told me there were only about 5 Hams in the State working at this high of frequency and they only usually operated during contests. I stumbled across the Utah Microwave Group on Yahoo and quickly connected with Ron - K7RJ who would be able to quickly guide me the various ways to get on the air.  The first step, was to roll-up the sleeves and gets hands on, so Ron and a few others were participating in ARRL 10GHZ & Up contest the upcoming weekend and invited me along.  The video to the left summarizes our 12-hour adventure to a mountain top in Utah allowing us to work contacts around 107 miles! Check out the videos to the left.

Setting up the 10GHZ Base Station - Kenwood TS-790A

I was able to get online using the Kuhne 10GHZ transverters and a mobile Icom IC-706MKIIG to drive the IF, but several of us were anxious to establish permanent 10GHZ base station  units we could work anytime from the shack. In fact, on our weekly 2-meter SSB net, we set a goal for Jan 2009 to be able to start holding a weekly microwave net on 10.368.100 GHZ!  

 Since I I already had a Kenwood TS-790A Tribander for 144/432/1.2GHZ, I decided to pick-up a second rig unit LESS the 1.2 GHZ module and use that space for the 10GHZ/24GHZ transverters.  Plus, this would also provide me a nice backup rig for my primary TS-790A as parts are becoming more scarce. The photo slide show to left shows a few shots of the integration.

The next step was tp permanently mount the 10GHZ Dish. I was able to find some room on my current VHF/SHF/Satellite Array so I mounted the dish close to the center to help with the anticipated wind loading.  Since the dish would have about a 3 degree beamwidth, it was advantageous to have it mounted so I could adjust both azimuth and elevation, especially for rainscatter contacts.  I  mounted the dish and feed it with about 50' LMR-400, which is fairly high loss, but recent tests still prove it works 'ok'.  In the Spring, I plan to mount the units nearer to the dish to reduce the transmission line loss, especially since at this stage, I am only running 200mw!