Getting on the new 2300Mhz NoV band with a 2320 transverter

The threat to our 2320MHz (13cm) band from commercial interests is real, but those nice people at Ofcom have given us a the option of a full power NoV (Notice of variation) to operate between 2300 and 2302MHz. I've already modified by homebrew transverter that I use for terrestrial by adding a switchable LO between 2176 for 2320 and 2156 for 2300, but currently my DB6NT based EME system is stuck on 2320.      
This afternoon I've been doing some basic tests on my DB6NT Mk3 13cm 2320MHz transverter to see if it might work on 2300MHz. The MK3 is a PLL locked transverter so simply switching in a different crystal to put the Lo at 2156 instead of 2176 is not an option as it would require a firmware change.
My simple plan is to drive it at 124MHz instead of 144MHz giving an output 20MHz lower.
I've already confirmed that the receive side works at 2304, (the US EME band) with a separate receive converter at 128MHz and I wrote about it in RadCom "GHz bands" last year  
Using just a signal generator at + 18dBm as IF drive (my system's standard drive level), I measured the output from the transverter using first 144MHz, then 124MHz at the same level.
The 13cm output at 2300MHz dropped by just 4dB! Result, considering my 2320MHz PA should have more gain at 2300 that is not going to be an issue. Increasing the 124MHz drive by the same 4dB and the 2300MHz output level came back to the 2320MHz level.
I still need to check the LO leakage and the harmonic levels but it's looking really good so far and I'll do that tomorrow.
 So my plan will be  to build a 124MHz version of the excellent G4DDK Anglian 144MHz transverter kit allowing me to use my Elecraft K3 with suitable IF switchery on 2300 and  2320MHz TX and RX plus cross band combinations and to receive on 2304 by tuning the K3 to 32MHz. I've already verified that the K3 will receive via it's transverter ports at 32MHz with little drop off in performance.
Once it's all complete I'll write up the project for Scatterpoint  
 

Yes, system improvements are addictive!

A lot of newcomers to the GHz bands ask me about how to improve the performance of their systems, andI reply that it's down to transmitted ERP and receiver noise figure. While QRO is king, noise figure is an altogether more subtle thing. Improving noise figure does not quite give you the same improvements when your dish is looking at the "hot" horizon as it does when looking at cold sky for EME. The "bible" on this is (The sadly recently deceased) VK3UM's article so read it, I don't intend to repackage it here! Receiver performance depends a lot upon on how much coax/waveguide you have between the input of the preamp/transverter and the dish feed. Remember that every 0.1 of a dB loss between the feed and the front end adds 0.1dB to your noise figure, but a 0.1dB improvement in Noise figure can give you more than  0.1dB improvement in signal to noise under certain circumstances. So your first aim should be to reduce this front end loss as much as possible by putting the preamp/transverter close to the feed. You can get a real feel for all this by downloading  VK3UM's) "EMEcalc" and doing some "what ifs" with the RX performance page. There you can change gains, noise figures and antenna temperatures and see how it effects your output S/N ratio.
In my case, my 10GHz transverter/PA is in the loft by the gable end and I have a run of about 5m of FSJ2-50 up to the dish, giving me around 2dB loss. The dish mounted 1dB preamp makes a notable difference, as I can switch it in and out of circuit from the shack.
Dish upgrades are always a good thing, giving you better RX and more TX ERP but remember the narrower beam width will make it all that more difficult to point. I find my 60cm dish is OK with a bog standard G450 rotator on 10GHz but it is a pain on 24GHz. Also make sure that you get the elevation spot on (more difficult) I cheated and used an elevation rotator as well but it's all weight on the pole. EMEcalc allows you to calculate your dish beam width.

See my August 2015 "GHz Bands" column in RadCom for more ramblings about preamps and noise figure.

Bilbao, “el paises vascos”

The Spaghetti Files, day 5

Discovered yesterday that we have two free tours included in the cruise package! Trips to Bilbao and Santiago de Compostella.

Bonus!

Early alarm call at 7am, already in Getxo harbour, then a quick cuppa and a stroll round the deck while V gets herself ready for breakfast. There was the usual scrum for breakfast, then on to the tour bus and away in to Bilbao. My initial impression is the similarity to Sheffield; not just because of its recent past as the steel capital of Spain, but the situation with high hills and the post-industrial landscape, now filled with new housing and shopping areas.

The bus took us past the sights, the Titanium-clad Guggenheim museum with its floral dog, and dropped us in the old town where we were left to wander around on our own due to the guide setting off before giving everyone a toilet break. Bad form if you ask me! Like most of Spain, going to the toilet involves buying a couple of “cafes con leche.” The extent of my Spanish these days.

Bilbao is a very impressive place; it has had huge amounts of investment to transform a run-down steel town in to a modern European city of culture. Clean? The total lack of litter in the streets made me realise what shit-holes London or Manchester are by comparison and, having watched the feral looting thugs on Sky News last night, I just felt even more ashamed to be British.

I asked our guide where the money came from to fund this investment and it seems to be a very good example of the type of public-private partnership that the new UK government is moving towards. I asked him about debts and apparently Bilbao is the only Spanish city that does not have any! If that is true we have something to learn from them.

Returning to Getxo, past the mansions of the rich and influential of Bilbao's past and present, you realise that this is the Monte Carlo of Northern Spain; mansions owned by olive oil magnates and steel barons who've now sold their old steel mills, brick by brick, machine by machine, to Mital, to rebuild in India where the labour's cheaper and less demanding. I guess it must be these same companies that have backed the government and invested in Bilbao's reconstruction.

La Belle France

The Spaghetti Files day 3-4

One full day, sailing South West getting warmer as we go and beginning to feel like a holiday. Despite its bad press, breakdowns, collisions with Argentinian harbour walls the MSC Opera is not half bad. Not half good either, when compared with the “Independence of the Seas” that we sailed on last year. Like it or not, the Americans know how to do customer service, and entertainment. The “Opera” is clean and well kept but somehow the food and the service, while adequate, doesn't quite match the genuine 5 star rating of the Independence. It's been said before, but I think they suffer slightly from doing everything in 5 languages, causing it to all be a bit “rushed” for my liking. That said, if you want a “multicultural experience” the Opera is for you.

La Rochelle was only memorable for the industrial harbour that you land at, where you are “carted around in buses surrounded by.........” In fact I remember very little of note in La Rochelle, apart from three defensive towers, a craft market, and a very pleasant Frenchman with immaculate English that sold us a lovely bracelet, sorting out at least part of the annual “what am I going to buy for a birthday present for Vicki?” nightmare.

La Belle France

The Spaghetti Files day 3-4

One full day, sailing South West getting warmer as we go and beginning to feel like a holiday. Despite its bad press, breakdowns, collisions with Argentinian harbour walls the MSC Opera is not half bad. Not half good either, when compared with the “Independence of the Seas” that we sailed on last year. Like it or not, the Americans know how to do customer service, and entertainment. The “Opera” is clean and well kept but somehow the food and the service, while adequate, doesn't quite match the genuine 5 star rating of the Independence. It's been said before, but I think they suffer slightly from doing everything in 5 languages, causing it to all be a bit “rushed” for my liking. That said, if you want a “multicultural experience” the Opera is for you.

La Rochelle was only memorable for the industrial harbour that you land at, where you are “carted around in buses surrounded by.........” In fact I remember very little of note in La Rochelle, apart from three defensive towers, a craft market, and a very pleasant Frenchman with immaculate English that sold us a lovely bracelet, sorting out at least part of the annual “what am I going to buy for a birthday present for Vicki?” nightmare.

Dutch Spaghetti met kaas

The Spaghetti Files day 2

Day two took us to Amsterdam to drop off and pick up the Dutch contingent. Now I understand the strange diversion North; the Cruise actually starts and ends in Amsterdam and they drop off and pick up stragglers on the way.

The Amsterdam Ship Canal from the North Sea in to the city centre is quite an experience, floating along at 15 knots, 10 storeys up, looking over the flatland vista of huge wind turbines, and massive barges.

Amsterdam city looks a somehow more modern since the last time I visited without a taxi dispatch salesman in tow, some 20 years ago. The harbour and docks area has (like most European cites) gone gang-busters with expansion; what is it about city dwellers that attracts them to slightly smelly former docks? Maybe it's our distant amphibian genes.

We spent the day wandering amongst the narrow streets and canals of the old quarter, still awash with Asian restaurants, cannabis cafés and (this always amuses me) signs for “slagroom” maybe that's what the note in the ship's instruction manual “go as hore” referred to, but I'm reliably informed that it has something to do with cream cakes. Oh the joys of language!

We ended up with a gourmet lunch of pizza, muffins and coffee squatting on the floor of the memorial in Dam square. We know how to live... :-)

A final wander round a market that seemed to consist mainly of junk, bicycle parts and tee shirts with vaguely drug-themed logos, then we made our way back to the ship in time for the lifeboat drill.

Now, imagine if you can, what Italian lifeboat drill is going to be like. Firstly, everyone will be checked for the correct designer labels and issued with Armarni sunglasses. Then the ship's hairdresser ensures that none of the ladies get in to the lifeboat without a shampoo and set, and a full manicure, while all men under the age of 40 are instructed on how to ensure that their mothers get a seat with a sea view. At one point a potentially dangerous situation occurs where a group of Italian teenagers flatly refuse to don the life jackets because, “like , orange-a just does not-a-go with my green shoes!” Finally, in a flurry of arm-waving everyone else makes a mad scramble for the boats.

Tomorrow a full day at sea, sailing down to la Rochelle for our first landfall in France.

“Standing on the Dock at Southampton, Trying to get to Holland or France”

The Spaghetti Files day 1

We were woken up at 7am by a ring on the doorbell from Slavek, our Polish Builder calling for the keys to workshop@g4bao so he could finish off. We got a tale of woe from him; poor lad's van had broken down and he had had to drive up to Doncaster late last night to look at a replacement. From the sound of it, the local pikeys must have had a good deal, but he seems to think the van is sound. Once up and about we eventually got away by about 9-30 and had an uneventful drive down to Southampton. Ended up in an Industrial estate instead of the docks at one point, but the embarkation went like a dream. One our from pulling up at the dock gates to going in to our cabin. So far so good. Compared to the “Independence” the “MSC Opera” is a pale second best, but so far they seem pretty efficient, the cabin is compact and functional and so signs of breaking down or hitting the harbour wall as we cruised out of the Solent and up the Channel.

I was amused to read in the ship's manual, “instructions for going as hore”

Clearly one of the evening events will have a “Tarts and Vicars” theme. Now, where did I put my suspender belt?