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The 50 MHz and Up Group is an educational and public service amateur radio organization centered in the San Francisco Bay area. The group is interested in developing and utilizing communications on frequencies from 50MHz up through light-waves. The group is open to any related topics that might be of interest to members, such as: technology, design, construction, operation, public service, contesting and antennas. Lean more . . .
Contact
For questions about this group or about programs and activities, please contact the President, Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL: jpawlan (at) pawlan [dot] com
Announcements
Renewal and annual dues payment were required on Feb. 1
For those who live within the Bay area, the annual dues for 2012 are now $10. This must be sent via mail to the Treasurer, Will Jensby W0EOM or bring to the meeting and hand it to him. Make the check payable to: 50MHz and Up Group of N. Calif. Those living outside of the Bay area do not pay dues and as Friends, do not vote. Regardless of whether you are a full Member or you are a Friend, we are required to have a current database.
If you did not respond and were unsubscribed to the private list reflector, then you will need to fill out a complete new memberform. See the Membership link for instructions.
Next meeting:
Our next meeting of the 50MHz and Up Group of N. Calif will be on Thursday, May 3 at 7:00pm. We meet in the conference center auditorium of TI (formerly NSC) off of Kifer Rd in Sunnyvale. See the map on the Meetings tab. All of our meetings are free and open to the public. Students and IEEE members are especially encouraged to attend. Rex will report on his progress regarding the microwave synthesizer project. Then Goran, AD6IW will give a talk about his 80GHz transceiver.
Meeting Minutes by Jim Moss
The Apr. 2012 meeting was called to order by Jeffrey, WA6KBL. There were 14 people present including 1 guest. Jeffrey announced that we currently have a total of 62 members which includes the out-of-area friends.Larry and Jim are both TI employees so they will try to arrange a Webex internet video conference broadcast or a phone audio conference call for those out of the area to hear or watch our meeting programs.
Rex, KK6MK gave a thorough presentation about the microwave synthesizer board project. He showed the various applications that the board might be used. He presented a breakdown of the costs at various quantities. The members present voted to authorize up to $2000 for this group project. Rex will find out more about assembly costs and report back at next month's meeting.
Jim, N9JIM told the group who was signed up to volunteer for various positions for the Microwave Update Conference. Mike, K6ML and Jeffrey led a discussion about the conference proceedings and the technical sessions. Mike has already sent out an announcement to several email lists announcing the conference and calling for people to submit papers and sign up to speak in person at the conference. Mike will talk to the ARRL about publishing details for the conference proceedings.
Jeffrey volunteered to help with vendors and especially with obtaining loans of test equipment for measurements at the conference. In addition to a network analyzer, we will have noise figure measurement. Jeffrey will also ask for a loan of phase noise measurement equipment. This will not be known until July. Joel Wilhite, KD6W will run an outdoor antenna test range at the conference.
It is too soon to know anything about the dish at the Onizuka base because the USAF must turn over the land title to the City of Sunnyvale and the Foothill-DeAnza college districts.
Goran reported that three hams participated in an experiment on the 77-81GHz band recently. They were using very low power but had excellent signals over a 51km path. Goran will give a presentation about his 80GHz radio at the May meeting.
Here are our 2012 officers
President: Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL
Vice President: Mike Lavelle, K6ML
Secretary: Jim Moss, N9JIM
Treasurer: Will Jensby, W0EOM
Board member 1: John Ekiss, AA6HA
Board member 2: Dennis Firchow, K6MGM
Board member 3: Joel Wilhite, KD6W
New! Documentation for Harris 10GHz surplus equipment
Mike Lavelle, K6ML and Oliver Barrett, KB6BA have provided us with much of the documentation for the surplus Harris DVM10 Digital Versitility Microwave radio links. Please log into the Members Only page to obtain two PDF files.
Improvement of the Stellex/Endwave YIG Synthesizer
The Stellex/Endwave mini-YIGs along with their phase locked synthesizer board are able to provide you with a stable and relatively low noise X-band signal source. However, they designed it incorrectly and most of the output power of the YIG is needlessly lost.
I have redesigned the sampling circuits so that you will now obtain +12dBm to +13.5dBm output power. It is an easy and inexpensive modification.
Because John Miles, KE5FX did the original work on using these surplus items and there are many links to his webpage, I have put my article along with nine photographs and figures on his webpage. Please click here to go to this page and then scroll down to nearly the bottom of that webpage.
Current Updated Rosters Available to Members
Members may obtain the new updated roasters in several sort orders by logging into the Members Only webpage. It has been updated on Dec. 11, 2011.The presentation by Goran AD6IW on high efficiency amplifiers.
He gave at the 2010 EME conference and also at the 50MHz and Up meeting in Sept. Click here to download it
Report on the Ham Radio Social at the International Microwave Symposium on May 25, 2010 in Anaheim
The report and all photos are now located on a separate page. Please click here to view
Two presentations by Brian Yee W6BY are available for download
A slide presentation on an Introduction to Amateur Radio Microwave Operation is available as a PDF. Click here to download itThe second presentation is located on the Events tab page.
Beacons
Microwave Beacons in operation UPDATED The following beacons are known to be operating as of 06-29-2011:
| Where | Specs |
|---|---|
| Leeson Site, near Mt Thayer, KF6KVG: | 10367.990MHz, 24191.975MHz, 47087.99, 79920MHz, 37deg 10.034min N, 121deg 55.500min W |
| Mt Allison, AD6FP power unknown | 10369.192MHz, 37deg 29.905min N, 121deg 52.206min W |
| Mt Allison, AD6FP power unknown | 24192.01MHz, 37deg 29.905min N, 121deg 52.206min W |
| Mt Allison, WA6QDP power unknown | 47061.017MHz, 37deg 29.905min N, 121deg 52.206min W |
| Mt Vaca, W6ASL: | 10368.325MHz, 38deg 24min 51sec N, 122deg 06min 50sec W |
| The Mt St Helena beacon has been removed | |
| Mt Frazier, N6CA/B DM04MS 1.3w output 8013ft | 10368.3101MHz, 34deg 46min 30sec N, 118deg 58min 09sec W |
| Palos Verdes, N6CA/B DM03TS 1.6w output 1300ft | 10368.300MHz, 33deg 46min 15sec N, 118deg 22min 30sec W. |
| Santiago Peak, KE6JUV DM13FR unknown pwr 5664ft | 10368.330MHz, 33deg 42.690min N, 117deg 32.020min W. |
| Heaps Peak, call? DM14KF unknown pwr 8000ft | 2304.11MHz (drifts 40KHz from 2304.08 to 2304.12) 34deg 14min 2.4sec N, 117deg 8min 25.2sec W |
| San Diego, K6QPV/B DM12MQ 2565ft, +34dBm EIRP horizontally polarized horn toward the LA basin | 24.192040GHz +/- 500 Hz, 32deg 41.8min N, 116deg 56.09min W. |
| San Diego, N6IZW/B DM12MQ 2565ft, omni +39dBm EIRP | 10.368360GHz GPS locked, 32deg 41.8min N, 116deg 56.09min W. |
| San Diego, K6QPV/B DM12MQ 2565ft, omni +44dBm EIRP | 5.760000 GHz GPS Locked, 32deg 41.8min N, 116deg 56.09min W. |
| San Diego, K6QPV/B DM12MQ 2565ft, 16w into a yagi | 1296.3000 GHz, 32deg 41.8min N, 116deg 56.09min W. |