Another evening, more optical tests...
This time a bit more 'dx' :-)
The Tx was the same setup as last time, phlatlight at ~2A into lens giving 11deg horizontal beam, steerable on the pan/tilt head.
The Tx cannot 'see' the horizon for this test due to a shed in the way but only just obstructed.
Rx the same 4x bpw34 rx still not in a screened box and the 25cm square fresnel lens.
Home: IO94il58
Test #1
IO94dd71
Distance 48.4km.
Once again the path is LOS if my Tx was up another 5m or so to clear local obstructions.
I got to site at 16:20 just getting dark but no sign of signals, i was a little off on beam heading and once it got dark i found my signal with relative ease!
JT65 best decode was -11dB, most decodes were -12 to -15dB.
This was rather surprising, my initial thoughts were that it was LOS signal getting through.
I could not see the red light through the finder scope but it does not mean it was not there..... So more tests followed.
Path1
Test #2
IO94dd90 site was down the road from where i was but without view of the horizon to Teesside, no lights visible, just the orange glow!
Distance 48.2km
JT65 best decode was -13dB, mainly between -14 to -16.
The signal levels are very similar to the LOS site so it is most likely scatter from there too, cool!!
Path2
Test #3
IO94ee18, now heading back home.
Distance 40.4km
On a more busy road so lots of 'qrm' from passing cars/lights. Very obstructed so cannot be anything but NLOS!
JT65 decoding at a steady -15dB.
Path3
Test #4
IO94eg31
Distance 35.1km
Lots of light pollution from a large building a couple of miles away causing some de-sense.
JT65 decoding ~-13dB
Path4
It was a very exciting night portable and it shows there is much more margin for dx than i thought with this basic setup!
How far will this go?
I'm sure more tests to follow soon, watch this space.
Tx
Another video recording of the received signal at the initial site
