KA6U Update - June 19, 2022 - 2030UTC

I have arrived in Denver, CO.  I hope to leave my RV Trailer for service in the morning and then drive to Utah.

Today I installed and tested the new W6PQL 23cm PA.  With the new PA I will be at least 3db and maybe 4db louder on TX.

I am having problems getting the 23cm dish correctly aligned if the Sun is not available to calibrate Azimuth.  I attempt to align to the Moon only visually, however I have found the best I can do manually is 2-3 degrees which results in significant loss.

I hope that with the extra TX power I will be able to hear my echo off the moon reliably.  I am able to find my echo rarely with the previous PA.  I suspect the power at the feed was only 200W or so based on accurate measurements I can make using the PA with calibrated power measurement.  With 400W at the feed this should help with aiming.

My pstrotator program went crazy today and wrapped the cables until the controller blew the fuse....
I am still working to recover from that.  Replacing the AZ cable because pulse count not working.

Please watch for an update on when I will be QRV in Utah.  I hope to be on the 21st but it will depend on what else goes wrong.

Last year I had almost no issues.  This year, not so good so far :-)

73 Peter KA6U

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