During August 2019, the 6m band opened and enabled rare sporadic-E propagation between Central Europe and North-West Africa. We were lucky and worked Algeria and Western Sahara in FT8 with our 6-element Yagi EF0606W1. designed by OM Ljubisa YU7EF.
The Radio-Amateur-Klub of the TU Wien participates in the CQ World-Wide DX Contest with its callsign OE1XTU. The „CQ WW“ is the largest amateur radio competition: Over 35000 hams compete on the short wave bands during the last weekend of October (SSB) and November (CW). The goal is to complete as many two-way contacts as possible in 48 hours with as many different countries as possible.
For the SSB contest, the OE1XTU team consists of YL Gudrun OE1OMA, OMs Horia OE1BQH, Manfred OE4MQW, Tom OE3PTC, Dieter OE8KDK, Arpad OE1SZW, and Chris OE1VMC.
We take part as a high power station running 200W in the category Multi-Operator, Single Transmitter, Assisted. We will be on all HF bands.
The contest logger N1MM+ is installed and updated to the latest version, the newest master data have been downloaded and tested. We have pre-recorded our voiced CQ calls. The audio splitter (provided by OM Dieter OE8KDK) allows to connect for up to four headphones.
Previously, Manfred OE4MQW has worked on VHF and UHF only. On the short wave bands, he has some experience as an SWL only. During this contest, OM Manfred made his first QSO on short wave ever. Believe it or not, the QSO partner turned out to be OM Thomas N1MM who is the main developer of the contest logger.
Chris and Manfred were on duty during the late night shift from Saturday to Sunday working the low bands. During the last 5 hours of the contest, Arpad hunted a bunch of multipliers in the Caribbean.
Emir OE1EMS, Stefan OE1ABU, and Chris OE1VMC repaired the mechanical parts which enable antenna rotation. After lowering the antenna to rooftop level, we changed the rotary mast. The new steel tube has a diameter of 60mm and 5mm wall thickness. That is a considerable upgrade to what we had before. Now, we are fit for this year’s CQ WW and the upcoming winter storms. Some pictures below.
We took part in the September issue of the so-called Austrian Microwave Activity Contest which had some hot activity in and around Vienna organised by Fred OE8FNK. Several OMs activated Bisamberg (a hill at the north-eastern side of Vienna, Locator: JN88eh): Mike OE3MZC, Reinhard OE1RHC, Kurt OE1KBC, Stephan OE1SKV, Bernhard OE1BES, Alex OE1PEQ, and Alex OE1LZS. Other locations in Lower Austria with microwave activity were Rosalia (Locator JN87dr): Wolfgang OE4WOG, and Energieforschungspark Lichtenegg (Locator: JN87co): Erwin OE8EGK. The team of the Radio-Amateur-Klub of the TU Wien was active on the UHF-Band (70cm) and the X-Band (3cm) at rooftop level of our home QTH (downtown Vienna, Locator: JN88ee, 32m above ground level). The team members of the Radio-Amateur-Klub of the TU Wien were Horia, OE1BQH, Gerald, OE1GAQ, and Chris, OE1VMC. Fotos below show some of the wild fun we had. The score table for the September 15 microwave activity day is publicly visible here.
The general assembly of the „Radio-Amateur-Klub der Technsichen Universität Wien“ took place on Wednesday July 17, 2019. Seventeen club members met in the Seminar Room 389-2 at the Institute of Telecommunications. Club members were invited to bring along a (small!) piece of hardware or an introductory presentation slide. Please contact OM Chris, OE1VMC, in case you didn’t receive the invitation by email.
AGENDA
73!
The X-Band Rig was recently boosted from 250mW to 4W transmit power. Edgar, Jakob OE1JMW, and Martin OE3UMB rewired the OE1XTU Rig and included the 4W power amplifier supplied by DB6NT into the setup. Together with the 57cm diameter offset dish, this yields 40 dBW (EIRP). After initial measurements, the Rig went on air. Several QSOs with OE3A, OM3KII, OM3LQ and OE4WOG/p were logged on June 2 and two weeks later, on June 16, using SSB modulation. 73 de Chris
Since today, 16 May 2019, the Radio-Amateur-Klub of the TU Wien is connected to HAMNET. Daniel, OE3MZD, installed a suitable Wireless LAN router with directional antenna on the institute’s roof and established the bidirectional link between OE1XTU and OE1XTW at a data rate of approx. 100 MB/s. More to follow and congrats!
May 1 is the traditional date of the All Austrian Emergency Exercise (AOEE). The announcement (rules) for the All Austrian Exercise AOEE 80 / 40m can be found here
The radio amateurs of Austria, together with the Austrian Red Cross, the Johannitern, the ORF and A1 Telekom Austria on May 1 participate in the Austria-wide emergency communication exercise using shortwave radio to capture the situation and support the ad-hoc erection of emergency telecommunications infrastructure.
This year, our OE1XTU Team consists of the following operators: YL Laila OE1LZA, OM Dieter OE8KDK, OM Horia OE1BQH, OM Markus OE1AKA, OM Gerald OE1GAQ, OM Chris OE1VMC, and Ivan. Ivan is eagerly aspiring his amateur radio license and plans for the exam in June 2019. We take part in the AOEE contest as a high power station (using 200 W transmit power) in SSB.
An atomic explosion in the higher air layers in eastern Europe triggered a NEMP (Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse) and destroyed all commercial electronics in the area directly affected. The NEMP damaged the control system in an unknown number of nuclear power plants in such a way that in some reactor blocks the cooling failed and the meltdown occurred there. The aftermath was a blackout in much of Europe. Austria is also affected by the Black Out and the nuclear Fall Out.
We logged a total of 319 QSOs during the contest of which only 15 were on 40 meters. The table below follows the recent solar trend. The Austrian map below illustrates the geographical distribution of our QSO partners: blue areas show districts contacted on 80 meters, red areas show districts which we contacted on both 80 and 40 meters. White areas were not contacted at all.
The jump in the number of QSOs between 2018 and 2019 is partly due to our increased transmit power. During the years 2015-2018, we used the FT-2000 transceiver, barefoot, with only 100 W whereas this year, we upgraded to FTDX-5000MP giving 200 W.
The scores of CQ World-Wide SSB Contest 2018 are now announced. The Radio-Amateur-Club of the TU Wien participated in the category „Multi-Operator Single-Transmitter – Low Power“. It was lotsa fun. Further details on scores, categories, and stories are found here.
Today, we unboxed the FTDX-5000 and installed in our shack. This replaces our HF rig and main workhorse, the FT-2000. Previously, this FTDX-5000 radio served the team Team Y82F during WRTC 2018. The Y82F team consisted of Emir, E77DX (OE1EMS) and Chris, 9A5K . In the fotos below, you see Gerald, OE1GAQ, and Stefan, OE1ABU, eagerly testing the almost new FTDX-5000 transceiver.
