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Many Ham's but also many microwave professionals, are convinced that microwave frequencies cannot be used for other than line of sight contacts. What is then all the fun of Ham radio on microwave Don't believe this
silly idea that using microwave frequencies we cannot work more than line off
sight distance I can assure you there are many ways of having fun as a Ham on
microwave frequencies. Contacts are possible using different types of propagation and
on most microwave bands, QSO's over much more than line of sight, are always
possible. World records on microwave Ham radio contacts prove that these bands are very interesting and challenging Building and improving equipment can also be quite
challenging My personal fun in microwaves for many years now, is building
and improving my equipment, discovering propagation possibilities. If you get bored of
local QSO's over your local or wide area repeater network
What are the most used Ham radio microwave bands The HAM frequencies above 1000 MHz,the microwave bands A very interesting band with lot's of activity and very good
dx-possibilities is 23 cm as the first microwave band. On this band it's not very difficult to build equipment and even commercial equipment is available for Ham's not willing to build their own equipment. Antenna's are also available commercial but for high antenna
gain ones, best choice will be to build or buy a dish reflector I have been using a 2.5 mtr dish for almost 20 years now,
mounted on 10 mtr above ground in an area with not so many high trees. Its important to have the antenna at a height that it can
radiate clear from nearby obstacles as buildings or trees.
The activity on SSB and CW on the different microwave bands in Europe
For latest info on world records also on EME and digital modes take a
look at this page Building own equipment for microwave is sometimes a challenging task. Being a microwave Ham for more than 40 years I experienced a change in building microwave equipment. First off all it has to do that microwave parts and components were very hard to get 40 years ago. One had to build from scratch, making own designs, design a circuit board and getting all components together and build it and tune it to the used frequency. Nowadays building own equipment is much more block building were different modules are build together to realise a modern system. There are many modules available on the market as new modules or as surplus available via Ebay. Another reason for more module building than component building for me personally is that by getting older it's more difficult to see and handle the small components. In my early days I was able to glue the very small beam lead components onto millimetre design boards. Also it was no problem soldering small SMD components without magnifying glasses and much light. Now I need a big magnifying glass and much light to be able to handle the SMD parts. I am still able to work with these but it's much more difficult as before and with the available microwave modules it's the best way to continue building microwave equipment.
Pages on this website for microwave and mm-wave: The first ever 47 GHz QSO in PA (in Dutch language) 47 GHz QSO's in the Netherlands 47 GHz DX-pedition between F and G 24 GHz First ever QSO from PA to G Making power on 24 GHz with a 18 GHz TWT 24 GHz prime focus feed for an F/D of 0,4 24 GHz Dual band feed for 10 and 24 GHz My 76 GHz equipment |