144MHz Activity Report VERON Zomercontest 2017

(2017-08-24) PE1ITR


In the first full weekend of August (5-6/8) I partially participated on 144MHz in the VERON Summer Contest. The main purpose was to try my new 2 meter setup. It consists of linrad with a sdr-iq as receiver and for transmission a yeasu FT-450D. All connected to a new 28 to 144MHz transverter. I also modified my 9 el OWL antenna.

The tropo radio propagation was medium. My plan was to try to work Italian stations. Italy is not so far away but it's always something special to hear vhf signals across the Alps. The chances were high to work southern stations because this weekend, the famous Alpe-Adria contest was also being held. At the start of the contest I could immediately work IQ3XL and that made me happy. Furthermore, Several Austrian stations where QRV that I could work. I also noticed a lot of activity from France. All in all, I had a great time.

I had a Linrad version compiled with cat frequency control. This enabled me to tune my transmitter to the correct frequency with a press on the a button when I had found a dxstation on the waterfall display. The method of searching stations in the waterfall display worked very well because you see them much earlier than you can detect on audio alone. When the station's call name is clearly detected on audio, press the Q key to set the tx frequency. Then call the station and work him. This way using the dxcluster to detect stations is almost no longer necessary. I like the unassisted operations; just me and my radio. :-)

I bought a month ago out of curiosity a cheap transverter from the Transverters Store and used it in this contest. The transverter does what it should do on ssb/cw.
I tried it also on weaksignal modes like JT65, but then it is not usable because of to much frequency drift during transmission. I added also a vhf bandfilter on the output for the suppression of unwanted signals to feel legal again.


Fig 1: screenshot of linrad showing activity on 2m.



Fig 2: transverter


I changed the impedance transformer of all my 4 9el owl antenna's. I wanted to experience the performance of the antenna. A stack of 3 of these antennas will be used in 144MHz IARU September Contest.


Fig 3: Antenna 9el OWL. 6 meters above ground. QTF 140 degrees


Between other domestic activities I was qrv and worked 27 stations. My top 6 dx. When you click on some callsigns you can hear an audio file:

CallsignLocatorDistance
OE5NNN/PJN77DX747 km
IQ3XLJN56UO709 km
OE5DJN68PC679 km
OE5BGN/PJN68WS675 km
F6DZRIN96RT671 km
OK1DOLJN69OU580 km



Fig 4: qso mapping


Thanks for the qso's and cu next year.

73 Rob PE1ITR


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