Measuring 13cm

Well,

Following my previous musings here and the RX tests I have done on the 13cm transverter, I had a bash at testing the TX function today.

I found a frequency counter and RF power meter on my travels recently; Its an XL Microwave counter that measures up to 20GHz.

I've cobbled together a directional coupler from Narda, a Marconi 20dB attenuator plus a further 15dB reduction from another on-line purchased coupler. All in all the frequency measurement point should be about 35dB down from the actual output from the transverter.

It all looks like this:

Using the new meter and counter I am measuring exactly 2301 MHz and a power of -2.8dB:

So assuming my 35dB of attenuation is there or there abouts, that means the output of the transverter is about 32-33dBm which is about 2W - exactly on the money.

My analogue power meter also reads about on the money too:

I've also taken the -30dB forward port from the Narda directional coupler, mixed it with my 900MHz frequency generator as described back here. This has allowed me to see the output from the transverter at 2301 MHz - 900 MHz = 1401 MHz:

All good, egh?

Here's our beautiful Pepper Cat:

Counting all the way to 13cm

Well,

You may have realised that I had something in mind when I made the Signal Generator up to 4.4GHz recently? Well, the idea is to use that to test a new transverter I have for 13cm:

This is another most excellent piece of kit from SG Labs. You may remember that the transverter used in this 23cm project came from the same place.

So, this transverter has a number of options for the LO, but with that set to be 1870 MHz, and my new Signal Generator set at 2301 MHz:

Lo, and indeed behold, on 431MHz we see a strong carrier:

Now, this transverter even came with a PCB antenna for 13cm:

So, the next thing is to try and test the TX side; not too sure how I am going to manage that yet, but I am sure I will find a way!

I have an ultra low noise amplifier from G4DDK ready to construct also for this band, plus a surplus telecoms PA block that should give some power. I also seem to have a 13cm Wimo antenna sat on my desk:

So, lots more to follow on this topic!

Local conditions.