Author: w7txt

I was fortunate to travel to Dayton OH last weekend to attend Microwave Update 2018.  I’ve been tinkering with microwave gear for a few years now, and this was my first time attending a microwave conference.  It was inspiring to meet so many of the leading amateurs in this field, whose articles and projects provide so much critical information and know-how.

Highlights for me included:

• Brian Justin WA1ZMS talking about extending test equipment with mmWave mixers, including how to possibly repair them.
• Jeff Kruse WA3ZKR describing how he designed and built a DSN ground station (with a 2KW uplink and a cryogenic LNA).
• Barry Malowanchuk VE4MA talking about his 47 and 78 GHz systems.
• Paul Wade W1GHZ showing how he’s been building waveguides and horns for 47 GHz, utilizing machining resources at a maker space.
• Tom Williams WA1MBA describing his work on a mmWave multiplier with output around 47 GHz, with some of the hardware being made available as a kit (soon).  This is to foster use of the 47 GHz band, which is under threat.

I’m now very keen to explore the world above 10 GHz.  Stay tuned… 🙂

A PDF of the proceedings can be downloaded here, and photos of the event have been published on facebook.

I finally got around to hooking my 10 GHz transverter up to a dish.

This is a 90cm TV satellite dish, which was relatively inexpensive and easy to ship.  I was looking for a 1.2m dish, but they are difficult to ship, and not worth it for me at this stage.

I’m using a survey tripod with a large Gitzo 3-way head (which I picked up a few months ago in Tokyo for cheap).  The dish is mounted via a cut-down roof mount pole, to a piece of wood, as quick and dirty way to get the system together for evaluation.  It’s not sturdy or accurate enough for serious use.

The transverter is locked to GPS via a Leo Bodnar mini-GPS frequency reference, powered here by a phone power bank via a USB cable.  At some point I’ll add a 5V bus to the transverter.

I’m running 200 mW barefoot out of the transverter, with a dish gain of about 40 dBi, producing an EIRP in the order of 1KW.

The next step with this is to set up my beacon at home, then drive around seeing where and how far away I can pick it up with this dish setup.  Or maybe even talk to someone.

This is where I write about amateur radio and electronics.

I recently relocated to the Seattle area from Sydney, Australia, where I was active as VK2TXP.   I’m now also W7TXT.

My amateur radio interests are mostly in VHF and above.  Current projects include a 10GHz beacon (see the status page), and a 10GHz transverter.

I also maintain a work-related Linux kernel security development blog, and a twitter account.