[Moon-net] SV1BTR report DUBUS 2m cw activity event-December

[Lee Scott - AA1YN]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dimitris Vitorakis" <jimmyv at hol.gr>
To: <moon-net at list-serv.davidv.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 11:20 AM
Subject: [Moon-net] SV1BTR report DUBUS 2m cw activity event-December


> Hello All
>
> first of all I would like to thank ALL the fine stations and operators who
> were qrv for Dubus 2m cw eme activity event of December! I had a terrific
> time, activity was excellent (except last 1.5 hr of the 2nd pass), with
> big presence from Europe and good activity from US. No stations from
> JA/VK/AF/SA. Where are you boys?
> QSO rate was 6-7 QSOs/hour, almost like in contest time!
>
...
>
> Thank you, it was GREAT!
>
> 73
> Jimmy SV1BTR
> 2m: 16*6el. xpol 21.5dbd
> 70cm: 8*26el. 25.8dbd
> KM18no


Hi Jimmy,

I wanted the opportunity to thank you for my first random CW EME contact.

You would not believe the work getting ready for this contact. I decided I 
needed to do some CW EME contacts. After the first leg of the EME contest, I 
practiced using WSJT in CW mode without transmitting.  I would mentally 
listen to a fictitious CW signal returning my call. I studied and practiced 
what I had to send in return. I read and re-read W5UN's webpage and 
practiced again until it all made sense. I then cornered W5UN into making a 
real CW contact. Ok Jimmy, you weren't the first CW contact I made but this 
one was really manufactured and I really had a very hard time following Dave's 
lead.

I decided I needed a better CW receiver. I had to hook up my DSP-10 for CW 
reception. The IC-746 is not set up for CW though it transmits well. MY 
DSP-10 had a problem with transmit (until today) and I could only count on 
about 30w output as I could not get it interfaced with the TE Systems 
amplifier.

I've got the DSP-10 receiving, but I had to get the receive antenna switched 
to it. Easy - just grab the Tohtsu CZX3500 from my 903 rig - Right?, I had a 
sequencer built from a PIC Microcontroller so just add a driver and 
reprogram. But wait - No more I/O lines, redesign with a larger PIC 
controller built on a new board, add LEDs for indication, add switches to 
tell the controller what I wanted to do, add phono jacks to connect 
everything up, modify the DSP-10 to kill the receiver during xmit, write 
checking routines in the PIC to prevent blowing my LNA, repair my LNA, 
purchase another CZX-3500 to add a protection relay on the tower, add 
another phono jack and run wires to the tower, rewrite some more routines 
and add another relay driver - repair the LNA again.

Now I have a working CW setup. - Oh yea - I need to write macros for CwType 
so I can transmit the right calling sequences, and re-write them, and 
re-write them. Test them, re-write them and test some more. Now I can 
practice - low power into a dummy load (my 20db power attenuator)

All this was accomplished prior to the 2nd half of the EME contest - and no 
CW contact during the contest. But I was bound and determined, DUBUS has the 
2 meter activity night so don't change a thing.

Dec 1st, weather is unusually warm, 65 degree F ( 18.3 deg C for those who 
don't think like me) when it really should be freezing. Rain - yea, we've 
got lots of it. Lay down boards to walk on so we don't get wet, fill in the 
low spots as I haven't had time to landscape around the shack. Watch the 
weather reports - not good - 20 to 30 knot winds maybe gusts to 40 for the 
evening and all day on Dec 2nd. Shut down the equipment, lash down the array 
so nothing breaks and go to a Christmas party next door. At 5PM, wind seems 
quite calm - maybe 5 knots. (knots you say? - I lived aboard a sailboat for 
some years so I think in knots - you do the math )

Kiss the XYL goodbye and thank the host/hostess for the great time and head 
home, power up the equipment, unleash the array, get some good echoes off 
the moon and start searching for a CW contact - I know I'm going to get my 
first one this evening.

All of a sudden, the wind is howling - bet a 30 knot gust. Array is dancing 
all over the place. Go outside to see if the array will come down - and the 
wind dies down. Ok, go back inside and look for a contact. I start out at 
144.040 and scan up 1kc per minute. Check the antenna position - Moon is at 
85 degrees with 8 degrees elevation. From past experience, I figure someone 
should be between there and 060 but I get to 060 and nothing. Tell the 
computer to swing the array to 270 degrees and it turns, and it turns - 
(keep in mind, my array takes 2 seconds per degree) - and it turns. Finally 
at 270 degrees - move the elevation to 0 degrees and up pops a 2 meter 
beacon located about 130 miles away - good and strong so the LNA is ok. - 
tell the array to swing back to 95 degrees - and it turns, and it turns - 
you get the picture :-) set the freq back down to 040 and on the way down, I 
hear a CW signal. Get the signal centered on 600hz and turn on the MITCH12 
filter for CW copy.

It's hard copy but no problem, I have a Heil quiet set. Plug in the headset 
and nothing. Unplug the headset and plug in the speaker - no problem. 
Partner forgot to turn it off after the EME contest so batteries dead. Run 
into the house and swipe the batteries out of the TV remote :-) Boy am I 
smart!

XYL comes out to the shack - HOW COME I CAN'T TURN ON THE *%!$#*&^% TV! BLA 
BLA BLA YADA YADA YADA. Run back into the house with the batteries, get the 
TV turned on and find an old remote with good batteries - now I'm smarter 
:-)

Get back to the shack, put in the batteries, headphones work - good noise - 
and strange - nothing but good noise - where did my CW signal go? Tune up 
and down some more and finally - a strong (for EME) CW signal. Grab my pen 
and notepad - start jotting down the letters - DAH-DAH-DAH DAH-DAH-DAH 
DAH-DAH-DAH - as I write down OOO. Boy is this easy copy. At least easy 
enough for me to copy. Now I'm getting really good at my CW - DAH-DAH-DAH 
DAH-DAH-DAH DAH-DAH-DAH and I write down another 3 OOOs. And then ... ... 
... nothing - I look at the DSP-10 display - no trace. And I watch, and 
watch, and watch. A minute goes by and a faint signal too weak for me to 
copy. I look at the array position - I'm still ahead of the moon by a degree 
so all set there. I didn't transmit so I know the LNA is good. Then I heard 
DAH-DIT-DIT  DIT ........HISS HISS. There had to be a signal there somewhere 
but it was weak.  I turned on the binaural feature of the DSP-10, ran out to 
the array to double check it's position, ran back in and adjusted the array 
1 degree in elev and 2 degrees in azimuth.  I'm hearing the familiar 
DAH-DIT-DAH-DIT DAH-DAH-DIT-DAH - sounds like a CQ to me.

After a while, I copy an S, then a V, and I'm sure a 1 - and find myself 
filling in BTR mentally.  I've got that feeling - I just know it has to be 
Jimmy. The next time the call comes around, I verify it is Jimmy.  I had 
made myself a promise that if I found him, I would work Jimmy on CW if it 
was the only thing I did.  Now, I have to set up the transmit portion, Put 
the call into it's box in CW Type, look at the macros and click on Ctrl-F2, 
CW Type generates the return call.  Something doesn't look right - delete 
the message to transmit, open the macros for edit and realize I had set up 
the F2 for a two minute transmit sequence.  Click on ctrl-F2 and it looks 
right. Move the antenna to the current moon position.  I'm ready for when he 
calls CQ again.  Ok, there's Jimmy again calling CQ. As soon as he is done 
calling, I click on the TX button. Relays click, LEDs flash, hissing stops, 
and the 746 goes into xmit mode. I wait for the CW to start but nothing. 
Everything looks right but nothing.  I look at the HP 435B, no power. I look 
at the HW-2102 and there is no power out of the 746. No CW tones out of the 
746.  Quickly, I look at the 746 and realize I still had the manual tune key 
plugged into the 746 and not the auto key from my EME sequencer. Flip the 
switch on the tune key and there is the power.  Remove the tune key and plug 
in the auto key line and I here KKK then back to receive. Lost that 
sequence.

I wait for Jimmy to send his CQ again and then generate the xmit message. As 
soon as he transmits KKK, I click on the TX button and relays click, LEDs 
flash, I hear the CW message, the HW-2102 kicks up to the 10w indication and 
the HP-435 kicks up to the 5mw indication. Finally, I'm returning someone's 
CQ call.

After about 10 minutes of calling him, I hear QRZ de SV1BTR. My heart jumps, 
I may have my first CW contact! 5 more times, I hear QRZ de SV1BTR. Then I 
hear Jimmy calling - I don't recognize my callsign, again he calls but I'm 
sure its not my callsign. I don't have an F in my callsign Jimmy - I know I 
don't. Jimmy - you've got my callsign wrong! So It's not me you are 
calling - I'll wait.  I tune around for a short looking for another signal - 
then return to Jimmy's frequency.  I hear 73 73 and get ready to call him 
again.  Finally I hear the CQ, click on F2 - no that's wrong, delete the 
message and click on ctrl-F2 and wait for the end of his call.  Click on the 
TX button, listen to the relays, watch the flashing LEDs, and listen to my 
message. This goes on for at least 5 more minutes when I hear the QRZ de 
SV1BTR again.  Ok This time I've got him. 3 more QRZs and I'm positive I've 
got him listening to my call.

Again, I hear him calling someone else since my callsign does not have a 4 
in it. Just to make a long story short, I practice calling Jimmy for the 
next ¾ of an hour all the time, watching the meters move during transmit, 
making sure the antenna is pointing at the moon, running out to doubly make 
sure the antenna IS pointing at the moon. I hear the familiar CQ so again, I 
click on F2. I watch CwType type out the message SV1BTR de AA1YN over and 
over again and over again and over again. Then I realize I'm transmitting 
during his period also - clicked on the wrong button - it's ctrl-F2 not 
alt-F2. I quickly click on the TX button to stop the transmission 15 seconds 
into his sequence.

AND THEN . I copy DIT-DAH DIT-DAH an AA, de SV1BTR. My mind races - It could 
be me, what do I do now? I listen some more, there is a 1. Again, I listen 
some more, there is a YN.  My mind begins to put together who he is 
calling - AA 1 Y N - It's me! He has heard me and is returning my call! And 
then the all important OOO - OOO - The excitement races on, he transmits 
KKK, and I listen some more, nothing - I think and I think some more - 
something is missing, Finally it dawns on me - I need to click the TX 
button - relays click, LEDs flash and nothing. 10 seconds goes by, I look at 
my computer monitor - nothing. CLICK ON THE CTRL-F2 button dummy - you have 
to generate a message to be able to transmit back to him - DUH. Wrong button 
dummy, I'm suppose to tell him I've copied my call, his call, and his OOO - 
what is the message button I'm suppose to click on. I've programmed this 
into CwType. It's the next button up in the sequence - ctrl-F3.

Ok, I've been transmitting the wrong message and it's almost done, just let 
it finish and the next sequence, I'll transmit the right message.  I know I 
can accomplish that task. Jimmy calls me again. This time I click on 
ctrl-F3. It generates the message SV1BTR DE AA1YN RO RO RO. He is finished, 
I click on the TX button and listen to my message back to him.

His turn - I hear AA1YN DE SV1BTR RRR RRR RRR.  I've really got Jimmy's 
attention now. I just know it. I'm not going to blow this contact so I look 
at the macros in CwType and decide I should generate the 73 message by 
clicking on ctrl-F4. Sort of seems anti-climatic at this point - like there 
should be more to do - but, I click on the TX button, listen to the relays 
click, watch the meters dance and listen sadly to the 73 message back to 
Jimmy knowing this is the end of my contact. There is nothing more to do but 
listen and hear Jimmy send 73s back to me.

With my first CW EME contact finished, I start searching for more signals, 
listening intently and watching the DSP-10 screen for a tell-tale trace of 
what could be a CW signal. There's a trace but I can't seem to hear it.  I 
watch for 2 minutes and it's still there - just another birdie. But wait - 
up at the high end of the screen, I see a signal start - move up in 
frequency and watch it move down until it gets within the MITCH12 range. 
Finally, I hear the unmistakable sound of CW but I can't make it out. Then I 
hear the familiar sound of KKK. A minute goes by - DAH-DIT-DAH-DIT, there's 
a C. DAH-DAH-DIT-DAH - and a Q.  I've found another EMEr and he's calling 
CQ. I am now a well seasoned CW EME operator so I know I can do this. Time 
to crank up the gray cells into high gear again.

Very weak - quickly, I apply my mental FFTs and I pull out a letter - 
DAH-DAH-DIT-DIT  DIT.  I run through my decoding algorithms all the way 
through the alphabet - looks like a Z and an E to me. I begin to jot down 
the letters I hear analyzing each of them.



S    W    S

   Y     Z    E

                      J



More FFTs, More Decode Algorithms as I listen to his signal.



S Z E

      Y  J

              S



Further analysis and some more FFTs, it begins to look like there is 3 dits 
and not 2 so I begin to believe it is a 7.



S    7

         Y       J

               S



Add more of the signal together, More FFTs, Dig down for that best decode 
algorithm, crank up the volume on the headphones, tweak the frequency to get 
the signal centered into the MITCH12 filter. I just wish I wasn't so CW 
Challanged.



S   7

        Y  S  J



Definitely a 7, starts with an S, ends with SJ.  Contemplating my next 
algorithm - THE_DEE_EEE_EP_SEARCH. What I need is a good database with DUBUS 
EME CW participants. I remember seeing something that might do - where was 
it.  Seems to me, I saw a web page with logs so I go to my email DUBUS 
folder, open up Jimmy's email and there is a link to ww.sm2cew.com - open it 
up in Firefox.  Click on the tab logs.  Since I was positive of the last two 
letters of the call, I do a search for SJ and look for any call beginning 
with S, it must contain a 7, and ends with SJ. Right off the bat I find 
SM7WSJ. It fits as the Y could be a W.  I listen more to his call while 
looking at the results page and follow along.  Definitely S M 7 W S J.



I'm Ready !

I'm Ready !

2 minutes goes by, nothing

I'm still ready !

4 minutes goes by, still nothing.

10 minutes goes by, still nothing.

20 minutes goes by, still nothing.



I look at the clock,  it's 0250, plenty of moon both in Europe and of course 
here.  Time for another deep search - what was the ending time? - Look at 
Jimmy's email. Ever get that sinking lost feeling you've been spinning 
motors, wheels, gears, linear actuators and the like for nothing?



So - here is my log for my first DUBUS EME CW activity night:



Start of Log

20061203            0057            SV1BTR          O/RO                1.5 
Pnts     SV1 mult.

End of Log




(for those who really need my new email address - it is

dit dah-dah dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit-dit dit-dah dah-dit-dah-dit 
dah-dit-dah

dit-dah dah

dit-dah dit-dah dit-dah-dah-dah-dah dah-dit-dah-dah dah-dit (everyone knows 
what my callsign is)

dah-dit-dit dah-dah-dah dah

dah-dit-dah-dit dah-dah-dah dah dah

but please do not publish it anywhere - tnx)



Till next time - dah-dah-dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit-dah-dah's



Lee Scott - AA1YN http://www.aa1yn.com
Home of the VHF & Up Register http://www.aa1yn.com/vhf
Home of the VHF Talk chatroom http://vhftalk.aa1yn.com
Hooksett, NH
FN43gc52