Back to SATs! (2)

Well, there were some problems with my antenna setup of last week... one of the problems is that I have replaced the sepparate rotor controls (Yaesu G-400RC and Kenpro KR-500) for a all-in-one Yaesu G-5600B (note that I have replaced only the control box, which I bought used some years ago). I have done this in order to control the rotors from the PC easily, as the G-5600B control includes internal relays and has buffered positioning signals.

But one problem is that it is a South referenced control... and my antennas were North referenced. This was not hard to fix :-)

Then a worse problem arised, as there was some miscalculation on the 2m elevation antenna and one director collided with the 6m boom from about 50º elevation... not a good thing!

In order to fix the bent element, I needed to access to the 2m Yagi. But it was too far to reach. So I modified the antenna position by displacing the elevation boom. Current positioning is shown on next picture, with the elevation antennas pointing to sky:

I have also reshuffled the rigs on my main radio station position, so now I have a rig devoted to SATs (Yaesu FT-847), another for Earth work :-) (Yaesu FT-736R) and another for local work (Kenwood TS-790E). Of course, all of them could be used in the others roles, but this is my first approach.

I have ordered an AMSAT-UK LVB Tracker Kit (I have ordered the cheapest one, as I plan to do a custom case and add my own display and buttons) and will work also on the FT-847 CAT control from a tracking program (I will look for a program which cares about Doppler)

So, all in all, things are progressing!

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Back to SATs!

Well, not yet, but, after 10 years without elevation antennas, they are back in my tower !

Here you have a picture of the installation done during this weekend. Now is the turn for the tracking interface... more to come!!!

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Yaesu FT-1000MP MkV repair

I have added a new page to my WEB about the repair of a seriously ill Yaesu FT-1000MP MKV


You can check it at:

http://jvgavila.com/ft1000mpv.htm

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Worse than the H1N1... ceramic filter pandemic

Well, it could be a false alarm (pun intended) but lately I have been getting more and more rigs for repairs, and from diferent manufacturers, with bad Toko black ceramic filters (6 and 9 kHz by now)

I have fixed three rigs in the last few weeks with this problem, two Yaesu FT-897 and one Kenwood TS-2000. Symptoms could range from lower sensitivity, to cracking noises and, usually, you have both. There is also an interesting effect, at least on FT-897s, which is that they receive in DSB instead of SSB when filter fails.

I have opened one filter and it had some greenish looking residue on it, so I guess sealing had failed and moisture did the dirty job.

I would be interested in hearing other people experiences with those small "BLACK NOISIES" (*) (remember you saw it first here, (c) EB5AGV ;-) )

Best regards,

JOSE

(*) the equivalent to "BLACK BEAUTIES" caps in old boatanchors!

R&S NV 1/156 VHF Multi-coupler

This is one project I had stored for a long time... I got the unit some time ago and worked on it to fix some transport damage and clean it:

EB5AGV's Workbench: Rohde & Schwarz NV 1/156 VHF MULTI-COUPLER repair

But, as I said in that page, it was deaf and, suspiciously, one of the tubes, an EC80 UHF triode, measured low in the unit's own multi-meter (a great idea, BTW)

Finally, I got some EC80 spares and was able to check it. Wow!!!. This unit was manufactured in 1966 so it is 44 years old (2 more than myself, hi!). But it still works fine and, even if its noise figure is for sure higher than the modern equivalent, as it is specified from 100 to 156MHz, it is perfectly usable for FM broadcasting, monitoring air band (around 120MHz) and, of course, 2 meters ham band.

Here you have one picture of the unit, still cover less, connected to two rigs:



The multi-coupler has 5 outputs so I will add more rigs to it and use as a monitoring system.

It is great to mix old technology with 21st century rigs :-)

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Shack 2.0 up and running!

Well, I have finally my new shack setup!. It is an ongoing work but I have been able to work on half a dozen rigs so far on new workbench.

Here you have a picture of myself (courtesy of my friend Alf, EA5AMM) at the controls of the Enterprise... err, workbench :-D


More repair works to come soon!

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Shack 2.0 Project: Second Part

Well, once workers were gone, I started working on the shack. I have put a new WEB page to document these works:

EB5AGV's Shack 2.0: Second Part

Here you have one picture of the current looks. Of course, still a work in progress:



73 JOSE EB5AGV