WELCOME to Gerald Ihninger - OE2IGL (KN6UXF)

member of ...

History of activities:

Spring 1996:

My first LEO APT image with a home-made turnstile antenna and a home-made APT receiver. Software was "JVFAX7.0" and a 486 laptop. I got noise-free images from about 25 degrees. Next step was a ready-built turnstile and a preamplifier with 1.5 db NF and a gain of 35 db (both from "nuova elettronica" in italy). It was possible to get noise-free images from 15 degrees.

Fall 1998:

My first WEFAX Meteosat image with a 1.2m prime focus dish (F/D= 0.37) and JVFAX7.0. I bought a cheap downconverter (nuova elettronica, 0.9 dB NF/50 dB gain) from 1691 MHz to 137.5 MHz and I built a "coffee can" feed (Noaa95 design) for the dish. The signal-to- noise ratio was about 14 db (2 db margin).

March 1999:

Member of the remote imaging group (RIG) in United Kingdom until 2004.

June 1999:

New APT satellite receiver (kit from "nuova elettronica" in italy) and a home-made QFH (RIG journal 48/53) antenna. I changed to "WxSat" using the soundcard for APT and Meteosat with my new PC. Since late 1999 I have been using "SatSignal" and "WxTrack" by David Taylor to decode the wave files obtained with "WxSat". I had noise free APT images from about 5 degrees.

Summer 2001:

My first HRPT image with NOAA95 (RIG journal 54). I used my 1.2m dish with a home-made 2.5 turn helical feed, RIG LNA-kit (Sam Elsdon design) with 0.5 db NF and new RIG downconverter. I had noise-free images down to 5 degrees.
For WEFAX Meteosat I also used the 2.5 turnhelical feed for noise-free images. Signal-to-noise ratio was about 16 db with my APT receiver (50 kHz receiver bandwidth). For smaller dishes (60-80 cm) it was better to use a dipole feed because of 3 db loss between the linear polarized Meteosat signal and the circular polarized helical feed.

Summer 2002:

I built the Rob Alblas decoder (RIG 63). The big advantage of Rob's decoder was its full 10 bit functionality and you didn't need a free PC slot. I have also bought the HRPT receiver from "nuova elettronica" to combine it with the Noaa95 decoder or with Rob's decoder.

Fall 2002:

I made the 'Satlink' program to calculate sat link budget for Meteosat, (C)HRPT. I bought a G-5500 rotor and I used the FodTrack interface with WxTrack by David Taylor. I made the 'Satlink APT' program to calculate sat link budget for APT.

Winter 2002/03:

I built the Alblas decoder into the N.E. receiver box and I used only one PC for (C)HRPT. CHRPT tests with N.E. receiver were successful but with some sync troubles. I used WxTrack to control the G-5500 rotor with LPT2 and WSat (Rob Alblas windows version) to control the decoder with LPT1.
For HRPT I used a modified EPROM from Rob Alblas with a "bit integrate and dump" function to get less speckles and I had noise-free images down to 3 degrees (with my 1.2 m dish and limited by my horizon). Until now it is only working in combination with the N.E. receiver -> read more.
I bought a 80 cm offset dish (81 cm x 72 cm) and made a 7 turn helical feed. After searching the best signal with Meteosat 7 (changing the focal point) I had noise-free Meteosat 7 WEFAX images (over 12 dB signal-to-noise ratio, only with 50 kHz receiver bandwidth and a circular polarized feed !!!!!!!) and noise-free HRPT images down to 5 degrees (see RIG 73).

Summer 2003:

I got a new decoder EPROM testversion from Rob Alblas with "integration & dump" for CHRPT.
After positive tests with an 80 cm offset dish I changed to a Gibertini 1 m offset dish. I had enough signal power during bad weather from Noaa 15, Noaa17.

Spring 2004:

Member of GEO.
First tests with my 80 cm offset dish and MSG1 (Meteosat 8). Thanks to ZAMG (national weather service in Austria) because there aren't any licence fees in Austria. As digital receiver I use the skystar2 USB version to receive Eumetcast via Hotbird-6. File management (LRIT/HRIT data into images) was done with Rob Alblas "XSat" software and MSG Manager by David Taylor.

Summer 2004:

Member of Skywarn Austria.

Spring 2005:

Owner of a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus (cable) weather station with the datalogger and weatherlink software. Additional I use the PC-wetterstation software by Werner Krenn.

October 2005:

Member of AWEKAS (Automatic Weather Map System).

March 2006:

Last summer I made my first tests with the BasRelief software to generate 3D weather satellite anaglyph pictures. I can generate 3D anaglyph movies from Meteosat 8 pictures (color and back/white) using XRIT2PIC software by Rob Alblas.Since mid march the NOAA AVHRR trial service via Eumetcast is active. Same system as MSG reception is used but additional software for processing is needed (AVHRR manager and HRPT reader by David Taylor).

June 2006:

Meteosat 7 (first generation) swichted off by Eumetsat. Now Eumetsat is only using Meteosat second generation digital mode) transmitted via Eumetcast.

November 2006:

First METOP AVHRR data received via Eumetcast (trial service) and decoded with Metop Manager by David Taylor.
Started to receive DWDSat-data via Eumetsat that are free now.

April 2007:

I installed an old 1.6 GHz/512 MB RAM laptop to manage my Vantage Pro2 Plus weatherstation and Eumetcast. This laptop is running 24 h/365 days and it needs only 25 Watt plus 10 Watt for an external USB hard drive against 145 Watt of my main-computer. Now my main-computer is only running few hours per day (image processing) and this helps to save computer energy consumption (reduction more than 50%).

May 2007:

Start of my first Lightning Radar System designed by Frank Kooiman.

January 2008:

As data stream is increasing due METOP data, Technisat Skystar USB 1.0 receiver is out of date. Therefore I changed to the Dexatek iTEK DK-5702 DVB-S USB 2.0 box described here (see under Eumetcast and Vista).

February 2008:

First computer with Linux called "Doppler". Windows 2000 and Linux-Ubuntu system (dual boot) to test also some Linux weather software.
Advanced lightning detection (designed by Egon/Blitzortung.org) using TOA (time of arrival) with GPS receiver.

April 2008:

Project "field-mill" started.

May 2008:

Start with the WRF (weather research & forecasting) model under Linux.
Start with local forcasting using WXSIM/WXSIMATE.

December 2008:

New computer with quad core CPU for WRF model. Speed up is about 7x compared to my Pentium4 computer.

May 2009:

Start to build SAM for magnetic field measurements.
Member of the earthquake-catcher network with my own quake sensor.

October 2009:

WRF NMM v3 runs now under Fedora 10 64-bit. Grid resolution is 4 km with 45 levels.

March 2010:

Start of new project "Mobile Amateur Rain Radar"

June 2010:

I made my radio license (CEPT class 1) and my call is OE2IGL.

December 2010:

Data logger MPL-3440 finsihed

January 2011:

My first SDR was a Pappradio.
Digital Wattmeter finished.
Member of OEVSV

June 2012:

Software, mechanical construction with azimuth rotor and µ-controller of my mobile amateur rain radar is ready.
Set up a RF test lab up to 20 GHz.

July 2012:

Finished my Geiger counter.

October 2012:

LC-meter finished.
Tried to decode radiosonde weather balloons with a 405MHz QFH antenna.

December 2012:

First experiments with Funcube dongle pro+ and RTL2832U based DVB-T stick and SDR#.

December 2013:

New useful equipment for my test lab.

September 2014:

First tests of my RainRadar successfully finished.

December 2014:

First tests with Arduino (Uno, Due) and some sensors.

January 2015:

I made the CANFI (cheap automatic noise figure indicator) with a RTL2832U DVB-T stick.

Summer 2015:

Last tests of my mobile amateur rain pulse radar.

Winter 2015/16:

Some experiments with Raspberry Pi2 and Arduino.

March 2016:

Raspberry Pi2 weather cam with wide angle lens (still images and live streaming).

Spring 2016:

HikVision DS-2CD2035-I 3MP weather cam with weather data overlay installed (live streaming and still images).
Upgrade of my TOA-lightning "System Green" to "System Blue"

Summer/Fall 2016:

A lot of IoT (internet of things) experiments with arduino, raspberry and sensor modules.

Spring 2018:

I built up the new generation 76 GHz transverter made by Kuhne Electronic. First QSO was in July.
Owner of a turning lathe.

Fall 2018:

I built an easy 24 GHz transverter.

Winter 2018/19:

I built a 122 GHz transverter.
I hold a presentation at Dorsten GHz conference in Germany.

Spring 2019:

Owner of a drilling/milling machine.

Summer/Fall 2019:

I built up a triband Triband 122/134/241 GHz transverter.
"Link budget" calculation sheet for microwaves is online.
"Bayrischer Bergtag BBT" winner 2019 of home made competition.
This year I did a lot of sun noise and noise figure measurements at 24 - 241 GHz with my ham radio collegues.
First 241 GHz QSO in Austria.

Winter 2019/20:

Tests above 300 GHz with OE5VRL.
I hold a presentation at Dorsten GHz conference in Germany.

Spring 2020:

I use the Adalm-Pluto SDR as measurement device.
Trying the "poor guy 47 GHz transverter" made by 9A4QV.
Owner of an old used "Simple 10 GHz Transverter" designed by DB6NT.
I wrote an web-article about rectangular/circular waveguide and waveguide cavity filter calculations.

Summer 2020:

Spectrum analyzer extension module for the Adalm Pluto.
I made waveguide and feed simulations with OpenEMS/Octave and CST software.
Bought the NanoVNA v2 (up to 3 GHz) with 4" display and N-connectors.
Some preparations for more tests beyond 300 GHz.

Fall 2020:

Start with a portable EME station for 10 GHz.

Winter 2020/21:

I built MySondyGo to hunt weather ballons.

Summer/Fall 2021:

I built some ~12 GHz oscillators up to 18-19 dBm output power.
I finished my 15 W power amplifier for 10 GHz EME.
I extended my simple 24 GHz transverter with a LNA and 1.5 W power amplifier.

Winter 2021/22:

I built the WeatherBox.

Summer/Fall 2022:

First DL0SHF 10 GHz moon beacon decode with my portable EME station.
"Bayrischer Bergtag BBT" second place 2022 of home made competition.
I made a summary of reflector antenna basics
Article "EME with narrow beam antennas" and "Loss due to Tx and Rx pointing offset on moon" together with Joachim Koeppen DF3GJ
Built up improved motorized azimuth and elevation system for EME

Winter 2022/23:

I built the F6BVA 10 GHz tranverter.
I built up a 24 GHz MKU24-G3 transverter system.
I built up a 10 GHz MKU10-G3 transverter system.
Connected a Pluto+, SATSAGEN software, dual directional coupler and female SMA SOL calibration kit to get a VNA up to 12 GHz.

Spring/summer 2023:

Release of new EME Link Budget & Analysis Tool from 1 - 100 GHz.
I built the 24 GHz transverter system using a Wavelab module.
I built up a very accurate dish tracking system for EME developed by an EA group.

Winter 2023/24:

Started again to make feed and reflector antenna simulations using free software. OpenEMS, CST and GRASP-SE (TICRA).
My talk "EME link budget & analysis tool" at Dorsten "GHz Tagung" on 17th of February 2024.

Spring 2024:

I built a 2nd 24 GHz transverter system using a Wavelab module for my EME station .
Creation of a "Dual Mode Horn" design guide.
Creation of a "rectangular-rectangular waveguide and rectangular-round waveguide lambda/4 transition" design guide.