[HamWAN PSDR] Gold-S1 back on the air

[Bart Kus]

Yeah, there is that fledgling 900MHz service up @ Gold, but I doubt you 
can receive it all the way in Seattle unless you've got like a 10ft 
satellite dish or something.  We need to invent bidirectional amps for 
that service, and my first pass at this failed in inexplicable 
oscillations.  After carefully measuring the impedances / losses / 
isolation of all interface ports for the pre-made amplifier module, I 
can only conclude something inside the module was causing the 
oscillations.  At some point I might get enough time to attempt pass #2 
with discrete transistors and custom matching networks for the gain block.

In case anyone feels like playing microwave engineer with me, the design 
target is 500W peak output, linear response, 900MHz band, high 
efficiency which tracks TX duty cycle, and supporting about 10dB 
peak-to-average power ratio signals.  Commercial 20W amps like this are 
about $600 - $700, and it'd be great if that price point could be hit @ 
20x the power level.  Might be unrealistic tho.

--Bart

On 4/4/2018 5:12 PM, Carl wrote:
> And I need to say, sincerely, THANK YOU for the effort today, and for all the work that has gone into making HamWAN a fantastic resource.  Being a little bummed personally is not meant to demean all the great work and effort that goes on. Microwave is all about line of sight, and some of us have less than others :-)
>
> Carl
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PSDR [mailto:psdr-bounces at hamwan.org] On Behalf Of Bart Kus
> Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 4:54 PM
> To: psdr at hamwan.org
> Subject: Re: [HamWAN PSDR] Gold-S1 back on the air
>
> Well, that sucks, but thanks for the data point.  BTW, the other towers shouldn't be in the way, things are mounted high up and clear all local obstacles.
>
> --Bart
>
>
> On 4/4/2018 4:11 PM, Carl wrote:
>> Just checked, Gold S1 is 10db worse than Gold S2 for me.  S2 is running about -78, S1 is running about -88.
>>
>> As memory serves, that was about the difference I saw many months ago when I first put my dish in.
>>
>> Carl
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: PSDR [mailto:psdr-bounces at hamwan.org] On Behalf Of Carl
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 4:04 PM
>> To: 'Puget Sound Data Ring'
>> Subject: Re: [HamWAN PSDR] Gold-S1 back on the air
>>
>> I'll look at S1, I'm about 1.13 degrees inside the edge of S1, but have always had a better signal off S2. The attached screen capture of Google Earth shows three red lines. The center line is 60 degrees true from Gold. The other two are 2 degrees either side, or at 58 true and 62 true.  My house is the blue pushpin labeled Home at 58.87 degrees true.  The last time I tried S1 was many months ago when I first installed my dish.  Of course, the bearings from Gold are obviously dependent on the accuracy of the initial installation, which I can only assume was correct.  Also dependent on my using the correct site on Gold, and it appears I was not.  Snap10 shows the path from the correct Gold to my house (yellow line), which appears to be going very near or right through the tower at the other Gold site slightly north-east of the HamWAN location.  That could also be playing a role in my signal strength (or anyone's along that path). Snap11 shows I'm at 58.87 degrees and a distance of 23.32 miles.
>>
>> So a variety of factors may be impacting my ability to use Gold (no other option though): Distance, right on the edge of the sector pattern, possibly down tilt of the sector antenna, and potentially an obstacle - the other site tower - in the way. Plus a limited (peek-a-boo) view of Gold from my location.
>>
>> George on the other hand is well south of me, and is at about 71.5 degrees true from Gold, very substantially within the S2 sector.
>>
>> Randy - thanks for the flag, planned to check that (S1) out specifically.
>>
>> Carl, N7KUW
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: PSDR [mailto:psdr-bounces at hamwan.org] On Behalf Of Bart Kus
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 2:58 PM
>> To: Puget Sound Data Ring
>> Subject: [HamWAN PSDR] Gold-S1 back on the air
>>
>> There was an expedition to Gold Mtn earlier today to fix our power distribution there.  Now that our ability to power cycle devices remotely has been restored, the Sector 1 modem @ Gold has been brought back online from its long winter slumber.  For any folks who are currently riding the northern signal fringe of Gold-S2, you may want to switch to 5.92GHz and try Gold-S1.
>>
>> Please do report how it goes!
>>
>> --Bart
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> PSDR mailing list
>> PSDR at hamwan.org
>> http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> PSDR mailing list
>> PSDR at hamwan.org
>> http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr
>
> _______________________________________________
> PSDR mailing list
> PSDR at hamwan.org
> http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr
>
> _______________________________________________
> PSDR mailing list
> PSDR at hamwan.org
> http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr