NARROWBAND EQUIPMENT

1296MHz:

Down East Microwave transverter (1296/144MHz) at 18 watts output.  Assembled from a kit many years ago. Antenna: 35 element Tonna yagi. I use a home made interdigital bandpass filter in front of this transceiver to eliminate cross modulation problems caused by nearby high power TV transmitters and the like.

3.4GHz

DB6NT TRANSVERTER + 15 WATT SOLID STATE PA assembled from a kitset and made into a high power portable system with the addition of a surplus SSPA. I use this with a 1.2m dish and chaparral (scalar) type feedhorn.

5.7GHz:

DB6NT transverter assembled from kitset and a surplus 12 watt PA.  Antenna: 1.2m prime focus dish mounted on an E.M.I professional outside broadcast tripod and using a VE4MA type feedhorn.

10GHz:

DB6NT transverter  assembled from kitset driving a modified surplus Qualcomm PA to 750 milliwatts which in turn drives a DB6NT 5 watt solid state PA. Antenna -- usually  1.2m dish with prime focus scalar ring horn feed mounted 3 metres above ground level on a mast. This is my main station for portable work. For short period /P work I use a 60cm offset fed dish with home-made  dual mode feedhorn. For my home station I use 48cm priome focus dish at 30 feet above ground.

24GHz:

Homemade transverter based around DB6NT kits with local oscillator chain assembled from kitself modules designed by DF9LN, G4DDK and G3WDG.

I added a half watt PA to the system described at the first link in this section.

I then increased the output to 2 watts during the early part of 2003.

Presently, in 2020, my 24GHz narrowband equipment is not working properly. It has a receiver fault and I just don't have the time to sort it at the moment.

47GHz

Due to an amateur microwaver friend deciding to quite the millimetre bands I have been fortunate in obtaining his 47GHz equipment! While I would naturally like to be able to say I built my own, at least this aquisition means Dave's gear is still going to be used on a regular basis and I have more free time to build for my remaining lower microwave band ... 2.3GHz! My present portable 47GHz station can be seen by clicking here. It is a separate fixed frequency transmitter producing 22 milliwatts of CW or NBFM and a separate mixer receiver/transmitter with just a few microwatts o/p (which can be used on ssb semi locally or on line-of-sight paths ).

In 2018 I gave this 47GHz equipment to my good friend Barry, G8AGN as I could not see me going out portable again on this band.

WIDEBAND EQUIPMENT

I also still have some microwave wideband FM equipment which is not used much these days but I will, on request, activate this for newcomers to microwaves or anyone who wants to try this mode.

3.4GHz:

 If you are really desperate I can come on with a 60 milliwatt Polarplexer
 transceiver based around a 723A/B klystron! This feeds a 90cm prime focus dish.  30MHz IF. I would need a week or two warning before I got this gear out of the basement!  It's been there for 20 years and still works! For nostalgia buffs only!

10GHz:

Home made transceiver based on a Microwave Associates  Gunnplexer, gunn diode module. 10 milliwatts output. 30MHz IF. Duplex operation possible. Antenna: either 60cm offset fed or 1.2m prime focus (see narrowband section above).

24GHz: 

Home made transceiver based around a Plessey GDHM32 gunn module. 10.7MHz IF with duplex operation available. 5 millwatts output. In addition, I have a separate 50 milliwatts Gunn transmitter.