MAD 23 on 23 (Microwave Activity Day) 23rd July 2017

I went portable for this months MAD 23 on 23, since it coincided with 23rd falling on a weekend, this month a Sunday, the VK4's organised to start at 12 noon, I went to the old Army Artillery Base up on North Head, Sydney, QF56pe, I chose this again, as it has some flat, clear area, reasonanly void of trees, and having a clear takeoff up the coast and to the north (direction of brisbane). The aim was to try and hear some of the activity from vk4  on microwave bands via AE. I took 23cm, 9cm and 3cm equipment. Tee'd up some attempts with some of the VK4's and VK2MAX on 1296.150, (via VKlogger.com)  we waited for some Brisbane bound jets from Sydney to be in position half way between us, we gave out calls to each other, but unfortunately nothing heard.  Found out later there were a handful of 23cm stations setup  out Penrith area.   Next MAD 23 on 23 that falls on a weekend is 23rd September 2017. Maybe next time to go Blue Mountains again.



the gridpack is for 23cm,  the square panel is one of the Geelong ARC 3.4 GHZ converted panels, the 60cm dish is ex-Austar dish and  modified feed for 10GHz

Mobile phone coverage comparison

when travelling to and from GippsTech noticed there a gap where there is no mobile phone coverage, I had known that was case for Optus on previous trips, but this time took note to see how Telstra handled the same segment of road, as can bee seen comparing my APRS versus VK2JDS APRS using Telstra. They both not covering that segment of road.

GippsTech 2017 summary

Had a great time again at Gippstech, put faces to some more callsigns, good lectures and displays, learnt lots. A bit cold on the monday drive back, -6 deg out in far east Gippsland, but at least no rain and snow.
There was a bit snow on the roadside near Nimmatabel on the Friday drive down.
Did some on-air microwaving again from carpark and also from Powerworx hilltop on Sunday afternoon at conclusion of Gippstech, Ralph VK3WRE gave us some 10GHz contacts.
Tested 23cm, 9cm and 3cm gear.