[Moon] The Swedish 4Th 432 & UP EME meeting CW

Lars Pettersson sm4ive at telia.com
Sat Aug 16 08:51:35 CEST 2014


I thought that part of this hobby was to do as much as possible by your 
self ?
The parts that are possible to build.
Antennas   4x 10 elem PA0MS   later expanded to 8
Powerdividers  not needed did all transformation with cables
16m Tower  military surplus  got it for free
Rotor heavy duty from a friends Electriacl company   cost ! a Cake :-)
Elevation 2 pieces of iron and barn hinges and a rope down to my window  
indication with potmeter and small panelinstrument
Later was changed to syngon elemnts found on Yunkyard for free
cables found on yunkjard
sequenser Hb from ARRL handbook
Yaesu Ft221R bought   biggest investment ~$300  1977
Amp  hb 2x4cx250  box made of Copperlaminate   (SM4GVF idea)
Preamp hb  U310 later BF981  only cost BF981 $2
Koaxrelays Transco  bought from K1FO (SK)    cheap

So its not a matter of cost if you want, Amateur radio Yes
Buy all stuff expensive yes   Plug and play Amateur radio YES
Just comparance to MR Alaska
Lars SM4IVE

Edward R Cole skrev 2014-08-15 23:25:
> First off comparing what it cost in 1980 or 1990 with what it costs in 
> 2014 is a fallacy.  One should compare costs for CW-eme vs JT65-eme 
> with today's equipment.
>
> My system was bought in 1998-2000 for CW-eme as digital modes had yet 
> to be created.
> My antenna system is almost entirely M2:
> 4x 2mxp20 ...$208 then ...$350 today  ....$1400
> H-Frame ...$1038 today
> 2x 4-way dividers ...$200 today  ....$400
> Rotator (used) Ham-IV ....$250 then
> Actuator (new) ...$99 then ....$150est now
> Elevation Bracket (custom welded)  ...$500 then
> 50-foot Rohn-25G tower ...$500 then
> Concrete ...$400
> Cable LMR-400 ...$150 then
> Cable 1-5/8 Heliax (30-years old) ...free for $75 gas to get it 
> 200miles away
> DEMI sequencer  ...$40
> FT-847 ...$1600 then
> 8877 ...$800 est
> HVPS ...$500 est
> ARR preamp ...$79
> 3x TR relays ...$105  ...$315
> A bunch of small stuff but this is enough to get a gross value
> total today = $8197
> I also bought a Hazer-4 with winch and other accessories ...$700 which 
> are not included in the total
>
> JT65 was done without the 8877+ HVPS
> initial PA was 120w from MOT FM mobile radio ...$free
> replaced by 150w RFC 2-315 ...$300
> Computer interface cost about $30 (RS parts)
> computer was one used for internet ... no cost
> JT44/JT65 ...$free
> total cost = $6927-7227
>
> I did not include my Astron 12v PS in either total.
>
> But as Russ showed one can spend less if not buying all new M2 stuff.
> *I could not begin to purchase this today!
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>
>
> At 11:31 AM 8/15/2014, Russ K2TXB wrote:
>> Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>> boundary="----=_NextPart_000_05ED_01CFB89E.0A613500"
>> Content-Language: en-us
>>
>> Ã~  I respectfully disagree with your suggestion that CW (dino) EME 
>> must be more expensive than digital operation. Some of us have 
>> assembled reasonably effective 2m and 70cm CW stations at what I 
>> suspect is a lower cost than anyone has done with digital
>> Hello Ron. I do not understand why you think this.  My 2 meter EME 
>> station consists of a used 25 foot aluminum tower (free), 2 KLM 16LBX 
>> antennas (bought new in 1983 when they first came out, so cheap by 
>> todayâEUR^(TM)s standards), A Yaesu EL/AL rotator pair (G5500 bought 
>> used for $250). Â I built the polarity rotation system entirely from 
>> junk box parts, using an old TV rotator.  Also needed a 2 way 
>> splitter (bought used for $50), some aluminum tubing to make the 
>> supporting masts, and quite a bit of hand work (free as I did not 
>> charge myself). For the digital side, The software was free, The 
>> computer was free (cast off from work, but could have been bought for 
>> under $200), and I built my own computer to rig interface (for under 
>> $30 in radio shack parts plus junk box parts).  I donâEUR^(TM)t 
>> remember what the antennas cost but I am guessing around $300 for the 
>> pair (maybe less).  So, for the whole digital system I spent less 
>> than $650 dollars ($850 if I had to buy the computer).
>> Contrast that to putting together a comparable 2 meter EME station 
>> capable of making a similar number of CW contacts.  Here I would 
>> need at least four antennas (probably more).  So the cheap aluminum 
>> tower is out.  I would need an H frame, a much heavier duty (and 
>> separate) AZ and EL rotators, and a four way or multiple power 
>> splitters, more phasing lines, connectors....  The extra cost for 
>> all of that is more than the cost of my whole system. Â And that 
>> would not even include the ability to change polarity (I can not 
>> figure out a reasonable method of mechanically rotating polarity of 
>> Yagis on an H frame, and XPOL Yagis are much much more expensive to 
>> buy and to support.)
>> All of the other parts of my station (receiver, transmitter, feed 
>> lines, preamps, amplifier, automatic rotator control system, 
>> connectors, etc.) are required for both systems and can be ignored.  
>> Also it is likely that most hams already have a computer in the shack 
>> so that can be left out of the digital cost too.
>> I suppose that my setup is among the cheapest around, but it is still 
>> capable of generating more contacts in a year than I made in 15 years 
>> on CW with 4 of the same kind of Yagis.
>> Maybe you want to reconsider?
>> 73, Russ K2TXB
>>
>>
>> On Aug 14, 2014, at 2:13 PM, Michael Barlow <badl79 at yahoo.com 
>> <mailto:badl79 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi Guy,
>>     I respectfully disagree with your suggestion that CW (dino) EME
>>     must be more expensive than digital operation. Some of us have
>>     assembled reasonably effective 2m and 70cm CW stations at what I
>>     suspect is a lower cost than anyone has done with digital.
>>     As for required space, an effective 70cm antenna system can be
>>     quite small. An HB9 (I regret to say that I am unable to remember
>>     his entire call) had an absolutely superb signal, some years ago,
>>     while using an antenna array that was erected on his apartment
>>     balcony. As I recall, his receive capability was a match for his
>>     ufb transmit signal.
>>     73 de "a dino", Ron  n4gjv
>>
>>
>>
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>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
> http://www.kl7uw.com <http://www.kl7uw.com/>
>     "Kits made by KL7UW"
> Dubus Mag business:
>     dubususa at gmail.com
>
>
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-- 
I only work real EME no chatts no Bagpipes
CW is King!!!!

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