Martlesham 1997 microwave round table

The 1997 Martlesham microwave round table (Suffolk, UK) on the 9th November saw a large collection of amateur 47GHz equipment gathered together.

There were eight different sets of gear from the UK, three narrowband, and five wideband, plus ON6UG's narrowband gear. The UK equipment is shown in the picture below, together with most of the operators.

First the equipment, from left to right: G4DDK's narrowband (on tripod), G3LQR's narrowband, G8AGN's wideband (dual horns), G3FYX's wideband (with calibrator/horn at side), G0CZD's wideband (small box at front), G8KMH's wideband (dual horns), G4KNZ's wideband (in front of folder), and G3PYB's narrowband (behind dish on mini-tripod).

Next the operators: standing from left to right, are Sam G4DDK, Simon G3LQR, Roy G3FYX, Martyn G0CZD, Steve G4KNZ, and Lehane G8KMH.

At this time (late 1997), there were a total of 12 stations in the UK, either with completed equipment, or under construction.  Four of these are running narrowband cw or ssb, ranging from 0.1mW to 15mW output, and the remainder are running wideband FM equipment, all with 100mW Gunn sources. Cross-mode operation is usually possible since those with narrowband usually also have a receiver with a wide tuning range with a wideband FM detector (eg broadcast FM).

Freddie ON6UG was also at the round table, with his 47GHz "Just In Time" narrowband transverter. This is the DB6NT subharmonic mixer driven by a 23.5GHz local oscillator, and despite giving out only 0.1mW, has been heard over a 90km path.

G4KNZ.