144MHz ES 26 June 2017

Monday 26 June   A remarkable day!

Noticed cluster spot's   DL  reporting  TA1D/3  144.300

I switched on the old FT225RD  ( 30W USB 20W CW/FM)
antenna  DK7ZB 223  ( 2e 4m / 6m  3e 2m  mini antenna  f.b!)

After some time listening  some DL's calling at 144.300
And sudden woow TA1D/3  calling cq  Kadri from KM39BP  West Turkye coast
 In and out  i called several times  then signal became stronger S7 and QSO
woow  Turkye on 2m  never heard before even not in the golden ES years  of the 90's

audio recording TA1D/3
https://pa0o.stackstorage.com/s/3aB6JfAYL1jRTpj

Monday band was very quiet few hams only no big pile Working hams could not be QRV
Sorry for the working class this type of special DX occasions always seem to happen outside the weekends.  In the past  the interesting DX at 6m allway happens at working days.
 2/7 * 100%  30% would be the weekend chance by calculation
Evening times are not as good for real dx or it must be afternoon just before dinner time
normally during dinner time of course..
I would have been at QRL too but last year a became pensioner.

My recordings  unfortunately with HTC one  with HTC thermal defect CAM  the purple haze effect.
And ironically the the HTC did destroy it's own camera by heating up internally
Some aps heath the HTC up like a toaster..
Initial the HTC cam was real good but soon after i got it the camera showed the purple haze at low light situations.. it needs broad daylight now to get reasonable pictures.
This is a known HTC-one flaw
It is extreme difficult to replace sort of brain surgery is needed
Total loss almost out of the box.
Most people would dump it right away for a new one
It is responding  slow or just does not respond to  commands or typing.
When recording a video in landscape format it can random change to portrait when replay
this smart phone really knows how to inform the user that it needs recycling...
Bit like the feeling of sending commands to the Mars robots, that takes hours to complete
On the other hand the HTC can be very quick doing something it should'nt
like deleting everything you just typed  or unsolicited starting app you do not need
 Why did'nt i buy a decent phone 2 years ago...

i am trying  to upload video clips to You tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI-nKstuew4
older  Ukraine 144MHz opening 16 June
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXnDxbc_sg


also SV2JN  was worked that morning and recorded

great DX at 2m!

How different  Wednesday Thursday  rain lot of rain and thunderstorms
 no! beacons at 23cm detectable  Thursday morning
But a heavy QRM/QRN s9+ mainly direction South  SSE
must be the T-storms in DL Ruhrgebiet

Burned out my IC706 RX 144   due high power TX-ing 6m with K3 on 7e yagi
 just below the VHF 2 4 6m antenna , still connected to the ICOM706
Monitoring Graves at 143.050 lot of pings and scatter traces.

I use the IC706 146-150  i.f. with 23cm XVTR  now 23 was very quiet.. :-((
Also another problem water intruded the Frontend mast box
the 13.2V dropped to 5V
After drying ,all was okay 13.2V stable and output normal level, but RX totally deaf.
Before i started TX-ing at 6m  still there was the usual s3 noise from 23cm  until the supply voltage dropped to below 7V
It became clear to me what happened, forgot  remove the 2nd  antenna before starting 6m
So i burned out my IC706 144 RX.
This is a problem when using more antenna's in the same mast
The 3 band VHF  does have 2 6m elements that pick up the RF field too much
Temporary the old FT221R  is in use for 23cm now
no CAT  no online  logging N1MM   i had to adjust the PLL to lock at 144....148

But 23 was QRV again beacons heard but very weak in the present rain / ts wx conditions that could be normal.
I found that i can point out accurate areas with lightning / thunderstorm activity
Very high humidity  wx  rain drizzle  bad for 1296MHz waves

The IC706 on the work bench
 found  a defective double diode bandswitch   D6 on the  PA  board
   D6 = MA862   double Si diode
   just a simple Si diode pair  that switches the bandfilters 144 / 60-200MHz
  the broad band preamp IC1 seems not damaged still noise rase when preamp is pushed on.
   if this is the only damage i'f been lucky

IC706     144MHz antenna connection is protected  by this ABSORBER 2P 50A 301  R38

this will  protect against lightning maybe,but not against excessive RF levels

never the less well done by ICOM  this IC706 is a wonder of engineering!

CAT okay, frequency readout 1Hz and stable enough for WSPR mode at 144

Operating tuning frequency and bands is easier than with the K3

despite its small size and limited buttons.  The tuning /  knobs are of higher quality than the K3

where some knobs already show haircuts.

Icom is my best investment of radio's . 

Still 100% usable in 2017 while other rigs from almost same building years are technologically aged too much.. 

Also still using the IC451  70cm all mode 10W