----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Alan Devlin To: microwave valinet Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 5:51 PM Subject: [Mw] First VK 24 GHz Digital EME QSO. Gentlemen, on Thursday 14/2/2013, at 0114 Hrs UTC, the First VK, 24 GHz EME Digital QSO was completed by Alan - VK3XPD to Al Ward - W5LUA in Texas, USA. This QSO also created a New World Distance Record which is now out to roughly 14496 Kms. Both stations use GPS Locking with Al running a "development" Doppler Software Correction package written by Gerald - K5GW. Doppler Frequency movements on 24 GHz EME can be up to +/- 64 KHz. Gerald's Software "corrects" for these Doppler movements at Al's QTH which simplifies the Tx/Rx at my end so that I run a fixed frequency on both Tx and Rx of 24048.225 MHz. With the Moon rising to a relatively low 13 Degrees of Elevation at my suburban QTH in Melbourne, we initially confirmed that we could see each other's 1270 Hz Sync Tone in WSJT, JT4F. Heavy "smearing" of almost 200 Hz was very obvious on these Tones. We quickly swapped over to the "Callsigns and Reports" format and we successfully completed the QSO at 0114 Hrs UTC. We are continuing to run daily Skeds to further develop our knowledge base. Al is running a 2.4 Metre Offset Dish and a TWTA that delivers 100 Watts. My system uses a 10 Foot Prime Focus Dish and a TWTA that delivers about 15 Watts. My thanks must go to Joe Taylor - K1JT for his WSJT package but a special thank you must go to Rex - VK7MO for his persistent efforts in driving the enhancements to Joe's WSJT software which allow these VERY Weak Signal operations. Cheers, Alan - VK3XPD