KA6U Activations Update - June 14, 2022

Activations start on June 20th - 5 States 2M/222/70cm/23cm EME

Current plan with more detail on specific locations to follow:
  • June 20 - Colorado near Olathe, CO
  • June 22 - New Mexico - 4 corners area near Teec No Pos, AZ
  • June 23 - Arizona - 4 corners area near Teec No Pos, AZ
  • June 24 - Utah - 4 corners area near Teec No Pos, AZ
  • June 26 - Nevada near Mesquite, NV
Operating times will start in the very early mornings due to the extreme heat expected.  Moonrise will be between 0800UTC and 0930UTC during these operations. The CO, NM, AZ, UT activations will be in DM56/DM57.  Nevada in DM26.

I have the dual station operation working again.  I replaced the ICOM 7300 and 9700 radios with two ICOM 705 radios.  The 705s do not appear to be affected by high RF levels during portable operations.  The ICOM 705s are very compact and use only 6 inch USB cables for computer connections.  All of my PAs are driven to full output with 5 watts drive.  This will allow me to run 23cm continuously and switch between 2M, 222 and 70cm operations using the second ICOM 705.

The photo below from the EM24/Oklahoma activation shows what the station looks like now.  The 2M EME antennas are mounted on the tripod.  The 70cm and 222 yagis are on the ground at the base of the tripod.  It now takes about 10 minutes to switch the 2M/70cm/222 antennas.  23cm EME continues to run while I switch antennas on the tripod (Q65 Auto-sequence).  The 23cm dish is offset in front of the antenna tripod to minimize the microwave oven effect.


We had a very successful June VHF Contest at K5QE Marshall's place in Texas.  This included over 1000 SSB contacts on 6M during a nationwide Es opening that lasted most of the day Sunday.  We also had a double hop 2M Es opening to the North and Northeast for several hours.  Very little moonbounce because of the very low moon.

During my visit to Marshall's place we built and installed a 4.5M dish for 23cm.   We made first contacts during the June ARRL contest on Saturday.  Marshall is currently running 400W and will increase to 600W in a few weeks.  It took 5 days to build, install and test the dish in 90 - 100F weather.  Marshall should have a big 23cm signal in future contests.  In the background to the left is the 8x18H 2M array.  At the right in the background is 8x25HV 222 Mhz array.  Out of sight to the left is the 70cm array with more elements than I can count.









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