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Building Equipment and Operatingon 10 GHz

Bob Gormley WA5YWC

and

Al Webb W5RLG

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NTMSA Little History

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Basic Components

•Down East Microwave 10 GHz Transverter Kit

•2 meter I/F transceiver

•Relay and rigid coax

•Dish or Horn antenna

2 Meter Xcvr DEMI Xvtr

Relay

Dish Antenna

Rigid Coax

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2 Meter Multimode I/F Radio

• My choice is the ICOM IC-706. Affordable and readily available

• 10 Watts out on 2 meters, adjustable to 0.5 watts out

• Built-in keyer, Accessory jack for transceiver interface

• FT-817

• FT-857

• IC-202

• FT-290

• IC-251

• TS-700A

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DEMI Transverter Kit

Top View

Pipe Cap Filters

DC ControlBoard

Osc/multiplier

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DEMI Transverter Kit

Bottom View

Surface mountconstruction

144 MHz in/out

10 GHz in

10 GHz out

(10 mW)

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Dish Antenna

• 18 inch offset dish

• Readily available

• High gain typically 30 dB

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Low Noise Block Converter with integralFeedhorn (LNBF)

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Designing the New Feed

Template for a 10 GHz feed horn forDSS offset dish.

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WR90 Waveguide to Coax Transition

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Building the Feed Horn

Shielding from inside of anold computer monitor. Alsocould use K&S Metals,Altoids tin.

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Solder it all together

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New Horn and Waveguide Transition

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Setting Correct Angle

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Adjustability

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Finding the Focal Point

Vertical Length (mm)

Horizontal Length (mm)

Dish Depth (mm)

Max Depth to BottomLength (mm)

Measure Dimensions

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W1GHZ Online Microwave Antenna Book

http://www.w1ghz.org/antbook/contents.htm

Software Page:

Run HDL_ANT.exe

Select “Offset Dish Calculations”

Enter measured dish dimension data

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Enter Dimensions

Frequency in MHz: 10368.1

Diameter of Large axis of dish in mm: 490

Diameter of small axis of dish in mm: 452

Depth of dish at deepest point in mm: 45

Distance from deepest point to bottom edge along large axis inmm: 218

Results

Focal length = 256 mm

The focal point of the dish is 255.98 mm from the bottom edge ofthe reflector and 452.68 mm from the top edge of the reflector.

The large axis is tilted forward 66.3 degrees above the horizontal.

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String and knot method to find phase center

453 mm

256 mm

66.3 degrees tilt

RF

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NTMSMay 2011

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Douglass, KA2UPW Sun Umbrella Antenna

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NTMSW5RLG 10 GHz Rig

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NTMSW5RLG at Pikes Peak, CO

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2010 ARRL 10 GHz and Above Contest

I-20 near Ranger, TX looking east (EM02ni)

Contact with W5LUA at 227 km (141 miles) on SSB 59+

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Conclusion• Building a 10 GHz station is not difficult

• Parts are readily available online or athamfests.

• 10 GHz is one of the fastest growingmicrowave bands.

• North Texas Microwave Society offerssupport and welcomes newcomers to themicrowave amateur community.