Another 10GHz Experiment. Murphy Canceled.

The OZ7IGY beacon has been reinstated on all bands but 2m (That one needed repair after the power cable had been cut by someone digging at the site.

Today the weather was quiet, so around noon I repeated the experiment with the LNB on the 13m telescopic mast.

This time the signal came up immediately with rain scatter, and a bit of tone now and then. 

The signals have been there for at least an hour now. Is it, maybe tropo scatter ? The rain radar does indicate some light rain in the area around the beacon.

The test needs to be repeated on a dry day.

This test indicates that it would be interesting to have a rotatable ,low gain antenna, system for 10GHz, for monitoring. A 10 - 15dB horn antenna is not too large to fit on top of a rotating structure. 

After an afternoon of testing, the signal is mainly (rain?) scatter, not much tone. 

The LNB has been lowered to about 9m, scatter signal still there.

After the end of rain scatter, with the LNB lowered to about 9m, the signal is very weak, coming in and out of the noise, but it is mostly there. Given the temperature drift of the LNB 9750MHz LO, it can be tricky to find the beacon. It looks like it needs just 10dB more gain, then the signal will be there, almost constantly. 

Final experiment today:

Lowering the LNB to about 3.6m, and moving it to a position where the trees at the other end of the garden do not block the view in the direction of the beacon. The signal is quite weak, but generally audible. With the LNB pointing towards OZ7IGY, the OZ9GHZ beacon in a direction about 60 deg. offset is quite audible, with S-meter deflection.

While writing this, sitting in the other end of my living room, I can hear the OZ7IGY from the speaker, quite clearly. I suspect there is a little bit of evening tropo, because before dark the signal was barely audible, but with a stable receiver and a good CW filter it would be 100% readable.

I have achieved another goal in phase 1 of my 10GHz activities, hearing OZ7IGY on a more regular basis, all with a very simple receiving system:

- a PLL-LNB, unmodified

- a bias tee for the LNB

- a "scanner" receiver, the AOR AR-8600 receiver.

I am quite happy with today's results.

The next step will be using modified LNBs w/connection for an external reference frequency (25MHz). Then, possibly more gain and a rotating receiving system.