432MHz UKAC August 2017

Time for the annual 432MHz UKAC outing, mainly to try out some new equipment locally before taking it further afield. The new all digital KR400 rotator needed testing, as did the recently rediscovered DEMI ex TV transponder amplifier. Both worked fine. Heavy rain delayed going to site, so only operated 2 hours. However 77 QSOS were made as G4NXO/P, best one being 390km into Paris. Equipment ran a K3S into DEMI Xverter, TV Transponder PA module running 100W into a 21 ele F9FT. The HA8ET mast head preamp was mounted at the base of the mast due to the length of feeder on the Yagi

Feature upgrades for the 432MHz Solidstate Amplifier

Having upgraded the 2m solidstate amplifier I decided I should do the same upgrade to the 432MHz Amplifier.  The original writeup is here The Two same features were needed:-

1. There is no bypass position, so one cannot test the antenna SWR before letting the amplifier use it. This cost of the lack of this feature was learnt the hard way on my 70MHz amplifier
2. Currently the Elecraft K3 keys the DEMI transverter which keys the amplifier which sequences the antenna relays and preamplifier. There is no output for the Amplifier to properly sequence the DEMI Transverter along with the antenna relays and preamplifier, this needs to be added.

A bypass switch was added to the front panel along with a bypass LED. A phono socket was added to the back panel for the Transverter output. An hour was spent adjusting the PIC code and all feature additions were accommodated.