Microwave Projects

195 Pages·2010·11.18 MB·English

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Microwave Projects
Edited by Andy Barter, G8ATD
Published by The Radio Society of Great Britain, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar,
Herts, EN6 3JE.
First published 2003 reprinted2005
© Radio Society of Great Britain, 2003. All rights reserved. No parts of this
publication maybereproduced, stored inaretrievalsystem, ortransmitted, inany
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Radio Society of Great
Britain.
ISBN 1-872309-90-9
Publisher's note
The opinions expressed inthis book are those ofthe authors and not necessarily
those ofthe RSGB.While the information presented is believed to be correct,the
authors, the publisher and their agents cannot accept responsibility for the
consequences arising for any inaccuracies or omissions.
Cover design: Anne McVicar
Production: MarkAllgar, M1MPA
Typography: Andy Barter, K M Publications, Luton
Cover photographs were kindly supplied by Giles Read ofwww.G1MFG.com
Printed inGreat Britain by LatimerTrend& CompanyLtdofPlymouth
Acknowledgements
The articles in this book have been supplied by radio amateurs from around the world. The
editor would like to thank the following people and organisations for their contributions:
Andre Jamet, F9HX
Paolo Pitacco, IW3QBN
Daniel Uppstrorn, SM6VFZ
Kerry Banke, N61ZW
Tom Mayo, N1MU
Grant Hodgson, G8UBN
Harold Fleckner,DC8UG
Ian Bennett G6TVJ
Sigurd Werner, DL 9MFV
Carsten Vieland, DJ4GC
Carl G. Lodstrom,SM6MOM
E.Chicken MBE, BSc. MSc, CEng, FlEE, G3BIK
Alexander Meier, DG6RBP
Harald Braubach, DL1GBH
Gunthard, Kraus, DG8GB
VHF Communications Magazine
UKW Berichte Magazine
San Diego Microwave Group
Finally the book would not be what it iswithout the help of my proof reader, Pat Brambley, who
has hopefully found all of the major mistakes.

Contents
Chapter Title Page
1 Signal Sources
• 144MHz transceiver 1
• Microtransmitter for L band 29
2 Transverters
• Building blocks for a 23cm transverter 37
• 1OGHzTransverterfrom Surplus Qualcomm OmniTracks Units 46
• A "building block" 5750MHz transverter design 61
3 Power Amplifiers
• GH Quad linear amplifierfor 23cm 69
• A 10watt power amplifierforthe 13cm band using 78
GaAs technology
• A 13cm power amplifier using a GaAs MMIC 88
• Amplifier for 47GHz using chip technology 90
4 Test Equipment
• A sensitive thermalpower meter 97
A grid dip meter 105
• A SINAD meter 112
• A+10 5GHz pre divider 120
• Made to measure directional couplers 125
• A + 10 10GHz prescaler using state-of-the-art ICs 134
5 Design
• Modern designof band pass filters made from coupled lines 143
• Using TRL85 for synthesis and analysisof microwave problems 170
Index 179

Preface
After editing The International Microwave Handbook in early 2002 the RSGB contacted me to
ask if Icould produce abook ofweekend projects for the microwave enthusiast. Iexplained that
most microwave projects were much more that just weekend projects, so the title microwave
cookbook was discussed but it was thought that there may well have been many disappoihted
purchasers of such atitle! Finally the title of Microwave Projects was chosen.
The microwave amateur radio bands still attract keen constructors who experiment with
different designs and technologies to achieve that moment ofjoy when a rare contact or contact
on a new band is made.The content of this book has been chosen towet the appetite of these
amateurswith designs from all around the world using everything fromtried and tested designs,
through modification of second hand equipment, to new designs using state of the art
components.
\
I have tried to organise the various articles in a logical sequence. This starts with generating
your signal with atransceiverorasynthesisedtransmitter, followed with anumberoftransverter
designs. Having produced rf on the required band there are some useful amplifier designs. Of
course you will need some test equipmentto help persuade your new equipment to work,if like
meyou do not have rf"greenfingers".Intrue amateurstyle ifallelse fails you will need to resort
to the theory of how your equipment should be working,so there is a chapterwith some design
aids.
Andy Barter,G8ATO

Chapter
Signal Sources
In this chapter :
• A 144MHz transceiver
/
Microtransmitter for L band
he most popular method to operate on the microwave bands isto use a commercial
transceiver followed by a transverter to change the operating frequency to the desired
band. As described inthe first article ofthis chapterthe commercial equipment available
nowadays often has lots ofbells and whistles but lacks some of the basic characteristics that
have been superseded in the name of progress. So the way forward is to make your own
transceiver.Thisisavery bigproject butfortunatelyAndreJamet hasdone allofthehardwork.
The other technology that is used as a matter of course incommercial equipment isthe Phase
Locked Loop.There are also many examples of designs for the amateur constructor. With the
explosioninthe mobiletelephone market and otherconsumer market communications devices,
the technology required by amateurs to make the job easier is becoming more and more
available.The second articleof this chapter is a neat design usingsome of the latest devices.
"
A 144MHz transceiver for SHF, Andre Jamet F9HX
Whymake things simple when you can make them complicated? (Gribouille, misunder
stoodphilosopher)
Typical equipment for SHF operation
For operating on the 5.7,10, 24 and 47GHz bands and beyond a transverter is usually used to
reduce the signal to be received or transmitted to lower frequencies. The 144MHz band is in
frequent use as an intermediatefrequency upto 10GHz,butthe 432MHzand 1,296MHz bands
are also used for higher frequencies.
We therefore need a VHF or UHF transceiver with the characteristics required to work in
combination with the transverter i.e. one that can generate SSB and telegraphy, but also has
certain accessories which arevery usefulfor SHF traffic.
Onetransceiververy widelyusedfor thisapplicationonthe 144MHzband isthefamous IC-202.
Inspite of its faults:
• An imprecise frequency-display
• An S-meter which isjust as imprecise
1