TX7EME – Rangiroa, Tahiti – 1296MHz EME DXpedition

Here we go again,

unfortunately I had to pospone this DX-pedition in june 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, but finally I managed to get back on track for 2021.

Operations will be conducted from the atoll of Rangiroa, some 340 km north east from Tahiti, from august 28th to september 4th.

The timeframe seems fairly good, and has been selected in order to ensure the maximum declination, given the short common moon windows with EU.

I will have a good take off for moonrise, right in front of the ocean, as you can see from the aerial:

A new dish has been developed, since the one I used in 3B8 is now sitting in my backyard. Due to the tremendous constraints on weight from the airliners, I’ve decided to downscale the project to 2 mt. Aldo IK3COJ has proven once again he is very effective in building this light dishes.

The goal was to have a system that would be light enough to be assembled by a single person, but sturdy to withstand the ocean winds in case of bad weather.

Everything must fit, as usual, in the golf club luggage you see aside, and it fits!

Here is my first attempts at the moon.

Sun noise is around 6,8 dB against cold sky. Load temp vs. cold sky is around 6,5 dB. First echoes have been seen on waterfall at -20 dB, with 400 W at the feed. Not bad.

Here is the almost finished PA.

PA Backside
In service for the first time. Everything smooth. I am so relieved! Eaton Rectifier 1800W, Directional coupler by Ericsson

This is the spare radio setup, tested this morning, flawless. Good to go!

Transmitting at 300W: over the sequencer, IDS, Power Out (small instrument)
and Pallet temp °C.
OK1KIR booming, 579 on CW some time later.

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I will update the blog page during the trip, and the log page will be updated daily.

Best 73. Giulio IW3HVB – TX7EME