ES report 10-June-2011 from GW8IZR IO73

[GW8IZR]

All the way home from work today ten metres was open and the distance between stns on 6m was shortening – it was obvious that the MUF was going to get very high and it looked certain that 4m and maybe 2m would open. RBN was telling me that my rx was hearing lots of stuff on 6m.

It was a little frustrating to see IO82/IO81 working ES on 2m into KO20 but at least I could see that propagation wasn’t quite right for me yet. Eventually a fleeting couple of QSO’s into YL2 / US5 on 2m convinced me that 4m was going to be most productive.

All the detection technology and prediction software in the shack could be replaced by a pan of pasta and sauce as the shout for evening meal came over the intercom just as 4m opened but the band was still going nicely by the time the meal and Emmerdale was over.

As usual tnx for all the qso's.

QSO worked by GW8IZR on all bands
Type of propagation: ES Mode: All mode
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DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE QRB
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10/06/2011 20:10 OZ8ZS JO55RT 52 53 4 m. SSB 1053
10/06/2011 20:08 OZ2OE JO45VV 55 55 4 m. SSB 952
10/06/2011 20:04 LA9DL JO59KE 59 59 4 m. SSB 1139
10/06/2011 20:01 LA6MV JO59FJ 59 59 4 m. SSB 1129
10/06/2011 19:58 OZ1DJJ JO65HP 57 57 4 m. SSB 1123
10/06/2011 19:56 OZ2PBS JO55XJ 59 57 4 m. SSB 1079
10/06/2011 19:51 LA4LN JP5ØJA 59 59 4 m. SSB 1181
10/06/2011 18:03 OK1KT JO7ØWE 59 59 4 m. SSB VHFDX 1431
10/06/2011 18:01 OM3CLS JN99FC 59 59 4 m. SSB VHFDX 1650
10/06/2011 17:54 ES1CW KO29HK 599 599 4 m. CW 1889
10/06/2011 17:50 OH1LEU KPØ1VF 59 59 4 m. SSB 1782
10/06/2011 17:44 ES2JL KO29LL 59 59 4 m. SSB VHFDX 1909
10/06/2011 17:20 YL2HA KO26BV 59 59 2 m. SSB VHFDX 1839
10/06/2011 17:18 US5WU KO2ØDI 59 59 2 m. SSB 1982
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Number of QSO listed: 14

[G0EHV]

Hello,

Yes, a good opening.

Even with my modest indoor Moxon wire aerial fixed to the S.E. I managed EA1YV, OZ2LD and ES2JL plus heard a lot more! Loads of broadcast QRM from E Europe.

3 new squares and 2 new countries, quite pleased

[GW8ASD]

OK stations loud in the morning but I'm away from the radio for a few days!!!

Looks good Paul butjavascript:emoticon(':)')
10/06/2011 17:20 YL2HA KO26BV 59 59 2 m. SSB VHFDX 1839
10/06/2011 17:18 US5WU KO2ØDI 59 59 2 m. SSB 1982
Have me a little confused.

Might be firsts or -

Cheers

Tony

[G0UWK]

Missed all the 4m Es as my daft Icom IC-7600 4m transverter driver is back at Icom cause it's faulty
10yrs with a 2nd hand 1000mp and no problems, get a rig 3 times the cost and look what happens,

Congrats Paul, here only worked two stns on 2m and both of them insisted on calling cq on 144300 SP & LY2, amazed I heard them really as george eight george xray papa was on cq loop all the time too.

Missing my 4m now
I'll not forgive Icom for failing me during the Es Season.

[GW8IZR]

[quote="GW8ASD"]OK stations loud in the morning but I'm away from the radio for a few days!!!

Looks good Paul butjavascript:emoticon(':)')
10/06/2011 17:20 YL2HA KO26BV 59 59 2 m. SSB VHFDX 1839
10/06/2011 17:18 US5WU KO2ØDI 59 59 2 m. SSB 1982
Have me a little confused.

Might be firsts or - :)

Cheers

Tony[/quote]

They are as per the description, 2m QSO's Tony and I don't think much is new on 2m ES from Eu?

But its always nice to work 2m ES as its more infrequent for me....

[GW8ASD]

I got over excited and read them as 4M

Sorry about your problems Ian.
The one problem I've ever had with anything Icom got sorted very quickly.

Cheers

Tony

[GW8IZR]

Ian - G0UWK wrote : Missed all the 4m Es as my daft Icom IC-7600 4m transverter driver is back at Icom cause it's faulty

-------

Hi Ian, I read somewhere that you had fluctuating drive on the 7600.
Its odd that as the transverter output is just a few diodes that switch the rf around. I’d have thought the main output would be fluctuating as well if it was anything serious.

The ALC is still active when you select the tvrt output which is why it seems much higher than Icoms spec. (I don’t use the ALC and just accept the higher RF out) I wonder if you noticed any funny readings on the ALC bar graph when the problem was apparent?

Hopefully they will sort it out soon and get you back on air although for sitting behind a transverter either a QS1R or Perseus is very revealing.

In fact sometimes you can even find people calling CQ .... although thats not often ;-)

[G0UWK]

Hi Paul,
Appreciate your comments thank you.
From cold the o/p is steady, after about 20 mins o/p begins to fall all of a sudden
I watched it fall away over about 20 seconds the transverter went from 14w out to only 500mw.
Transverter is ok, I checked with another drive source (FT2000 for 30 mins key down- no issues) and repeated the test the next evening. Once the fans start on the IC-7600 the power begins to return although not to original level.

Like you I'm not using ALC and did not notice anything strange on the meter.

Main o/p on HF seems fine all the way through but 50 MHz is a little on the low side at about 75w max.

Yes I agree the o/p from the Icom is high about -5dbm and I can accommodate this with the OZ2M attenuator & an additional 6db pad but the fluctuation is a real pain as I set up for 160w and end up with about 20w half an hour later so it's at Icom at the moment.

They tested another IC-7600 and confirmed -10.9dbm from cold and -12.9dbm after half an hour or so- not ideal but a lot better than what I’m seeing here.
I’ll let you know how it goes, please save some dx for me
Rgds
Ian

[GW8IZR]

Ian said:
They tested another IC-7600 and confirmed -10.9dbm from cold and -12.9dbm after half an hour or so- not ideal but a lot better than what I’m seeing here.
I’ll let you know how it goes, please save some dx for me

===

I think thats where the lack of ALC becomes an issue.

Once yours is repaired don't lose sleep over that few db variation. The mmic that drives the PA driver is running fairly hard at full output. Adjust the setup so you can run full power with the driver at about -15dbm or so and accept that you may need to adjust as it gets warm. I read somewhere on a Russian website that someone had modified a '746 to use a MAV11 ( most of the Icoms from 706 to 7600etc and most between share very similar topography in this area) I think sometime down the line I'll close the ALC loop from PA to exciter. The 756 does something similar but I tend to just twiddle the knob for the power needed rather than set for max output and adjust downward.

As for saving DX for you... you and I both know thats not neccessary :-)

[G0UWK]

Had it set up nicely with the pwr control about midpoint,
Will do as you recommend regarding -15dbm and I'll decrease the transverter attenuator accordingly.
Re dx, you know what I'm like, hate missing anything, spk to you soon and as always thanks for your advice & help Paul.

Best Rgds
Ian