13cms Narrow Band Projects.

As there are no local ATV signals for me to receive with my basic ATV equipment (from my home QTH) I thought it wise to gain some 13cms experience by getting active on 13cms SSB. I know there are one or two active people less than 50 Km away and maybe a beacon within range.

Rather than start from scratch I thought it best to go for a known and proven design. I have therefore bought from G3WDG (i.e. the RSGB Microwave Committee components service) the following basic modules required to get started: Transverter + 1088 LO + 1W PA

This is inside my transverter (Oct 2003).
	Top left: WDG010 transverter module, lid removed Top right: WDG016 LO module Midd left: WDG035 1W 2-stage FET PA Bot. left: gate -ve supply PCB Bot.right: coax relay and 12v to 28v SM PSU --- Ratsnest above relay is relay driver from +12v TX line

Stations heard so far (before I had TX working): G4LDR Neil near Salisbury (44Km), G3MEH Roger in Tring (142Km) and G8OHM/P Ian with the South Birmingham Radio Club (208Km).

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I have added an SMA socket on the LO module to provide a loose coupling from the output to a counter so that I can check its frequency. I have also added a lid to the whole unit and applied paint not just to hide the mess but to keep the dust out and enable things to be placed on top! When I took the photo I noticed a dent in the lid so it is also providing protection from heavy objects.

Another addition to my 13cm equipment is a 6 Watt PA. I built it from a kit designed and produced by Philipp Prinz, DL2AM. (Beware; the instructions are only in German but otherwise an excellent kit). So far I have virtually no test gear for these sort of frequencies; all I can report is that the PA looks nice, gets very hot (even on a big heatsink) and makes my signal considerably stronger. This new PA has to be shared between my ATV and SSB stations so I may build it into a case with a proposed sequencer and coax relay.