This post is just way overdue…

Having spent many hours optimising the dish feed the next step was to see if I could actually keep the dish on the Moon well enough to get my first contact in the log. I tested the TX side by calling CQ unannounced just to make sure that everything switched okay and the PA didn’t get too hot. If it all went pop, only I would know. 🙂

All was good. Next it was waiting for someone with a big dish to come on and then try for my first contact. Moon times were kind, degradation was low but it was a Monday and activity was very low. The following day was looking good, Jan PA0PLY announced that he would be on and looking for contacts to check out the alignment of his dish.

Moon Degradation

Jan was decoding nicely on my side, so via HB9Q Chat we arranged a test. After a few periods Jan sent a -20 report and I replied with R-17. Then I got the RRR and we finished with 73. I had my first 10GHz EME contact in the log.  🙂

I ran some more tests later that week and finished the week off with six Initials in the log. My next period of operation was about a month later. I had been in email contact with Mirek, OK2AQ who was a regular on my WSJT-X waterfall. Mirek was keen to try another test with me. We tried the previous month but unfortunately we failed. We arranged a sked and started off running Q65-60D, I was decoding Mirek but once again I was not decoding at his end so we switched to Q65-120E. It took a while but we eventually completed. Mirek was a consistent -17 with me and he decoded me at -28! My “smallest” QSO partner to date. Mirek has a well optimised 1.8m OS dish setup. Over the next few days I worked a further four new Initials bringing the count to eleven and six DXCC.

Those two operating periods proved that with an optimised small dish setup, it’s possible to complete Q65 contacts with a number of stations and not just the “big-guns”. The AZ rotator continues to be the weak-link in my setup. This will be the focus for 2024.

I’ve not been QRV since last September but am planning to put the gear back on the dish as soon.