LA9NEA - 432 MHz EME from JO59DX

LA0BY, last updated 16.08.2003

The activity:

In the late autumn 2000 a group of HAMs in the Oslo area made an effort to put LA again off the moon on 432 MHz. The team members were LA0BY Stefan, LA8KV Ken and LA9NEA Viggo. We worked 48 stations during three weekends of operation. The 70 cm EME station was dismantled afterwards, but LA9NEA continues to operate on 2 m from the location.

Our equipment:

The antenna system consisted of 6 x 38-ele yagis (432-13WL by Mē) with 9,3 m boomlength. The phasing lines were made from 4 m of Aircom Plus cable. The 6-way combiner was the original Mē device. The TX feeder was about 17 m of 1/2" hardline. Our amplifier had a (somewhat tired) YL1050 in the socket and provided about 1 kW of output power.

Gain estimation:
Gain of single antenna:	   17,9 dBD
Phasing cable loss:	  - 0,4 dB
Stacking gain (6 bay):	  + 7,5 dB
Combiner loss:		  - 0,2 dB
RX/TX feeder loss:	  - 0,1 dB
TX feeder loss:		  - 1,5 dB

We expected the system to have a Rx gain of around 24,7 dBD, resulting in an EIRP of 55,4 dBW or almost 350 kW.