KA1GT VHF/UHF/Microwave Pages

23cm dish. 10Ghz dish in the background.

These pages are a project by Bob Atkins, KA1GT, and contain information for radio amateurs interested in weak signal work on the bands from 144MHz through 10GHz and above. My station has been on and off the air in the USA since around 1978 and I was on the air in the UK as G8EKB in the early 1970s. I operated from a QTH at Yale University between about 1978 and 1981, working on 144, 432, 1296 and 10368MHz cw and ssb. I also operated 432MHz EME using 16 Quagi antennas and worked several dozen stations. I moved QTH to NJ in 1981 to take a position at AT&T Bell Labs and operated on 144, 432, 1296 with some brief portable work on 2304 and 10368 ssb.

Between 1980 and 1989 I wrote the microwave column ("The New Frontier") for QST each month. In 1990 I wrote the microwave column for "Ham Radio" until the magazine went out of business (unrelated to my writing for them I hope!).

I was pretty much QRT for the decade of the 2000's with only occasional operation. In 2014 I moved from NJ to Maine and I currently have very small antennas up for 144 and 432MHz tropo work. I also have transverter modules and antennas for 10 GHz, but they are also not assembled and on the air atthis time. In addition have basic 50MHz capability (100W and indoor crossed dipoles). VHF/UHF terrestrial operation is difficult from my QTH. I cannot put up a tower, so the terrestrial antennas are up at about 20ft and they are blocked to the south and southwest by trees, buildings and hills. I have a decent shot to the north and northeast, but from Maine there's not much on those directions!

My current major activity is 1296 EME with a 3m dish and 250W. This has been quite successful. I am not currently active on 432 EME. I also have 10Ghz EME Rx capability (GPS locked) using an small, 85x93cm, offset fed dish (with auto-tracking polarization rotation). So far I have copied and decoded about 30 different stations including the A21EME dxpedition to Botswana (1.5m dish, 50W). I currenlt have no Tx capability on 10Ghz.

If you have any good microwave links you'd like to see listed here, please send them to me at ka1gt@hotmail.com