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SMALL STATION EME ON 70 AND 23 CM USING JT44/65. BY AL, K2UYH. OBJECTIVES. GET YOU INTERESTED IN WORKING EME. (Most hams still believe exotic equipment, huge antennas, and very high power are needed to work EME.)
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SMALL STATION EME ON 70 AND 23 CM USING JT44/65 BY AL, K2UYH
OBJECTIVES • GET YOU INTERESTED IN WORKING EME. (Most hams still believe exotic equipment, huge antennas, and very high power are needed to work EME.) • SHOW THAT YOU CAN ENJOY THE THRILL OF MOONBOUNCE WITH A MODEST SETUP. (Basically the equipment you already have.) • INCREASE EME ON 432 AND 1296 MHz. (There is already a lot of small station EME on 6 & 2 m.)
WHY WORK MOONBOUNCE 70 & 23CM EME • IT IS EXCITING! • MOST FUN IN HAM RADIO IS MAKING RARE, UNUSUAL, OR DIFFICULT CONTACTS. • EME ALLOWS YOU TO WORK WORLDWIDE DX ON ANY BAND - 6 M UP. • WAY TO INCREASE YOUR GRID SQUARE AND STATE COUNT. K2UYH
A BIG STATION IS NOT NEEDED! OH3MCK • MY 1ST JT44 CONTACT WAS ON 23 CM WITH OH3MCK. • OH3MCK WAS USING 2 X 22 dBi YAGIES (LINEAR POL.) AND 40 W.
2ND JT44 QSO WITH OH1FF/p • OH FIELD DAY STATION • ALSO ON 23 CM • USING A 1.8 M DISH (CIR. POL?) AND 50 W • WE COULD HAVE QSO’D VIA CW, BUT JT44 DEFINITELY HELPED!
1ST JT44 ON 70 CM WITH ES8X 144 MHz • EUR. VHF FIELD DAY STATION ON KIHNU ISLAND (KO18xc). • 4 x 12 EL YAGIS (WITH ELEV.) AND 300 W PA. 432 MHz
KIHNU IS A SMALL ISLAND ABOUT 40 KM OFF THE COAST OF ESTONIA IN THE GULF OF RIGA, BETWEEN ESTONIA AND LATVIA. (IN ESTONIA)
1ST JT44 ON 70 CM WITH ES8X 144 MHz • EUR. VHF FIELD DAY STATION ON KIHNU ISLAND (KO18xc). • 4 x 12 EL YAGIS (WITH ELEV.) AND 300 W PA. 432 MHz
K2TXB OPERATES JT44 ON 2 m • RUSS USES 2 X KLM 16 LBX YAGIS ON A POLAR MOUNT AND A KW. • WORKED 42 STATIONS IN 15 COUNTRIES AND 15 STATES
EME PRACTICE • EME OPERATED USING CONVENTIONAL (CW & SSB) OR DIGITAL MODES • SOME STATIONS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH DIGITAL MODES AS PUA43 THAT PROVIDE MANY DB ADANTAGE, BUT REQUIRES SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AND TRADES TIME AND PRECISE FREQUENCY FOR SIGNAL LEVEL. • MOST DIGITAL EME IS WITH JT44/65. • JT44/65 USES STANDARD EQUIPMENT, WORKS IN VIRTUALLY REAL TIME AND HAS RELAXED FREQUENCY STANDARDS.
JT44/65 BASICS -TX • EACH TRANSMISSION IS 30/60 SECONDS LONG AND CONSISTS OF MESSAGE AND SYNC INFORMATION. (*JT65 CAN DECODE BF TX). • THE MESSAGE IS 22/13* CHARACTERS LONG AND REPEATED 3 TIMES IN JT44. • THE SYNC IS INTERSPERSED WITH THE MESSAGE AND SENT ABOUT HALF THE TIME. • A UNIQUE FREQUENCY IS ASSIGNED TO LETTERS, NUMERALS AND PUNCTUATION CHARACTERS (43 TONES) + SYNC = 44! • JT65 USES ERROR CORRECTING CODE -- 6 BITS/SYMBOLE (64 TONES) + SYNC =65!
JT44/65 BASICS - RX AT THE END OF THE RECEPTION PERIOD JT44/65: • SEARCHES FOR TIME SYNC (SYNC PATTERN) OVER -4 TO 2 SECOND DELAY PERIOD. • SEARCHES FOR FREQ OFFSET (+/- 600 Hz). • DETERMINES AND DISPLAYS MESSAGE. • JT44 - AVERAGES CHARACTERS IN EACH TIME SLOT OF THE 22 CHARACTER MESSAGE. • JT65 – USES REED SOLOMON ERROR CORRECTION – NO GIBBERISH! • JT65 HAS SPECIAL CODES FOR “O”, “OR”, “73”
VE7BBG’S JT44 SIGNALCOR RUNS A 7.5’ DISH AND 120W AT THE FEED TIME SYNC – FREQ –- TIME AMP -
AVERAGING IN JT44 • WHEN A SIGNAL IS STRONG CAN GET FULL COPY IN A SINGLE SEQUENCE – (QSO in < 2.5 min!) • OFTEN SIGNALS ARE WEAK AND THE MESSAGE GARBLED – (This is where JT44’s averaging pays off.) • IF THE SAME MESSAGE IS SENT EACH SEQUENCE, JT44 WILL AVERAGE THE RESULTS OF ALL PERIODS. • THE MESSAGE WILL CORRECT ITSELF WITH EACH SUCCESSIVE PERIOD.
JT65 VS. JT44 • JT65 HAS 3 MODES: A, B AND C. JT44 TONE SPACING (Hz) 2.7 5.4 10.8 5.4 dB ADVANTAGE 4.0 3.0 2.0 --- • SPECIAL CODES HAVE EVEN GREATER ADVANTAGE. • SPECTRAL SPREADING AT HIGHER BANDS DEGRADES JT65’S PERFORMANCE (if W > 5 use C).
OK1DFC’S JT65C SIGNALZDENEK RUNS A SINGLE YAGI ON HORIZ WITH 1 kW TIME SYNC FREQ –- TIME AMP - HE’S WORKED 2 YAGI STN
ECHO MODE – WANT TO TRY EVEN IF DON’T USE JT4465 FOR EME! • LET’S YOU EVALUATE EME SYSTEM CAPABILITY. • NOT GOOD FOR COMMUNICATIONS. • ON 70 CM COPIED ECHOES WITH 200 W ON HORZ WITH TROPO STATION.
STATION REQUIREMENTS IT DEPEND ON HOW BIG THE STATION IS ON THE OTHER SIDE? • ON 70 CM – SINGLE LONG YAGI AND > 100 W. *** WANT TO ELEVATE (REALLY A MUST)! *** PREAMP AT THE ANTENNA (AND PA AT ANT). *** POLARIZATION ROTATION? • ON 23 CM – SINGLE LONG LOOP YAGI OR 5’ DISH WITH CIRCULAR FEED AND > 50 W. *** CIRCULAR POL GAIN + 3 dB!
PORTABLE EME – DL3OCH STYLE • BODO USES IC-706, HB TRANSVERTER WITH 100 W AND A 59 EL YAGI (5 m long & 18.7 dBd) FROM HIS CAR. • BESIDES DL, HE HAS OPERATED FROM 3A, HB0, EA8...
ZB2/DL3OCH IN GIBRALTAR BODO CHOSE TO USE JT44 FOR THIS DXPEDITION.
YOU NEED A COMPUTER AND SOUND CARD • SHOULD RUN 32 BIT VERSIONS OF THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM AND BE FAST ENOUGH TO HANDLE JT44/65 AND SEVERAL OTHER TASKS. • A 300 MHz PENTIUM OR BETTER WITH WINDOWS 98 OR PREFERABLY WINDOWS 2000 OR XP WILL BE MORE THAN SUFFICIENT. • NEED TO INTERFACE THE COMPUTER TO YOUR RIG: 1) PTT FROM SERIAL PORT (VOX will work), 2) TX AUDIO FROM AUDIO OUT OF SOUND CARD, & 3) RX AUDIO TO INPUT OF SOUND CARD. (DL3OCH uses Acer laptop – 650 MHz Celeron)
OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS • FREQUENCY ACCURACY AND STABILITY *** WANT TO BE WITH IN +/- 600 Hz. (No problem on 144 MHz, but on 1296 – Can tune?) *** FREQ DRIFT < FEW Hz IN 30 SECS. *** I USE GPS STANDARD. • DOPPLAR SHIFT CORRECTION *** NOT IMPORTANT ON 144, BUT SIGNIFICANT ON 432 (can be > 1 kHz) AND 1296 (can be > 3 kHz). *** MUTUAL DOPPLAR CAN BE VERY DIFFERENT FROM LOCAL ECHO SHIFT! *** JT44 HAS BUILT IN CORRECTION. (DL3OCH – nothing special)
OTHER REQUIREMENTS CONT’D • MUST KNOW TIME TO ~ 1 SECOND. *** I USED RADIO SHACK WWV CLOCK AND SET MY COMPUTER BEFORE SKEDS *** SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE TO AUTOMATICALLY TO UPDATE YOUR CLOCK VIA THE INTERNET <http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/>. *** CAN ALSO USE GPS STANDARD. • MUST BE ABLE TO TRACK THE MOON *** JT44 HAS BUILT IN TRACKING. (DL3OCH has GPS & digital radio clock)
CONCLUSION • EME WITH JT44/65 IS NEW AND CHALLENGING. • IT’S NOT JUST HAVING A YAGI, A100 W AND A COMPUTER! • THE COMPUTER DOES NOT DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU! • IT IS PRETTY EASY WITH A BIG STATION, BUT THERE IS STILL A LOT TO IT: ACCURATE FREQ AND TIME, MOON TRACKING, DOPPLAR, POLARIZATION (ON 432). • WITH A WEAK STATION, ALL THE ABOVE PLUS MUST UNDERSTANDING HOW TO USE JT44/65 FULLY (EXCLUDE/INCLUDE, CLEAR, FOLD, FREEZE, CLIP, ETC.) • FOR SKEDS CHECK INTO K1RQG’S 20 M NET (14.345 MHz 1600Z SAT & SUN) AND READ 70 CM & UP EME NEWSLETTER <http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/em70cm.html> .
THANKS……. • TO A LOT OF FOLKS, • ESPECIALLY JOE, K1JT • AND RUSS, K2TXB – MY JT44 MENTOR, • AND TO ALL OF YOU FOR LISTENING. QUESTIONS?