Here are some photos of some of the wierd things we get up to.

The 10 Gig Gear at Mt Wellington – Contacted Steve ZL1TPH at 330KM – Leith ZL1BCJ hiding behind the dish. This was in support to Bob ZL1RS and Steve ZL1TPH in a recent sojourn to Cape Reinga. They were doing a first for Meteor Scatter from one end of ZL to the other. IE - between Bob & Steve station ZL1RS to David ZL4DK in Bluff. Mission accomplished. Click Here for a small video clip of the signal...

Pointing to Cape Rienga, getting 539 from Bob at their end on 10GHz. Pointing about 324 deg true forthe cape from Mt Wellington in Auckland city. CBD on left of pic.

Satellite party yay! - Bring your own dish!! (this was at Ian ZL1AOX's QTH on the day the AO40 did it's dash, extreme low voltage warning so we couldn't use it.....) Great BBQ though!!

This was a comet seen from a park near my place. Pity that the city lights dropped the contrast, it seemed pitch black but long shutter still let in lots of light. Can see the city glow off the cloud.

This is 24GHz operating from Ponga repeater site to Steve ZL1TPH at Moirs Hill approx 93km away, it was extremely rainy, interesting things heppen when you off point the dish. Worked 2m, 1296,2424, 10Gigs and 24Gigs.

Don't try this at home folks! Coming down the Ponga track after lots of rain, car slid down the hill with hardly any control. Had to get Leith ZL1BCJ to come back and pull me out, he was the one that chewed it up in the first place.. Oh well, at least we got some good microwave contacts in...

This is the inside of my 3400MHz patch antenna array, it's pretty sharp and good gain for a small package. Its an old Accelera (Remec) ODU that I stripped out the RF bits that were blown, makes for a good cheap antenna.
"I'm sure I can fit another one up here!!!", says Andrew. This is some of the antics that a workmate and I get up to in Whakatane in the Bay Of Plenty. We all get quite good at driving cherry pickers. These links carry a mix of surveillance real time video, SCADA, VOIP and normal data.

This is some of the action at our ZL1AA VHF contest station. The site is about 400m ASL and has great views to south and north. As can be seen, fences make great supports! Can crack 350km on 10Gig with the needle hard over in the right condx. This is the 2 & 70cm station. Big brick is my modded / home brew 300 Watt 2m amp, the other litle brick is the 70cm amp. The other thing is a 50A 26V battery charger for the big amp. Computer logging rules!!

These are some of the microwave operators that we rounded up at one of the Hamilton equipment sales. Some come far and wide for these events such as Chris and Nick who are effectively at each end of the North Island.


The 10 Gig Gear at Mt Wellington – Contacted Steve ZL1TPH at 330KM – Leith ZL1BCJ hiding behind the dish. This was in support to Bob ZL1RS and Steve ZL1TPH in a recent sojourn to Cape Reinga. They were doing a first for Meteor Scatter from one end of ZL to the other. IE - between Bob & Steve station ZL1RS to David ZL4DK in Bluff. Mission accomplished. Click Here for a small video clip of the signal...	Pointing to Cape Rienga, getting 539 from Bob at their end on 10GHz. Pointing about 324 deg true forthe cape from Mt Wellington in Auckland city. CBD on left of pic.

Satellite party yay! - Bring your own dish!! (this was at Ian ZL1AOX's QTH on the day the AO40 did it's dash, extreme low voltage warning so we couldn't use it.....) Great BBQ though!!	This was a comet seen from a park near my place. Pity that the city lights dropped the contrast, it seemed pitch black but long shutter still let in lots of light. Can see the city glow off the cloud.

This is 24GHz operating from Ponga repeater site to Steve ZL1TPH at Moirs Hill approx 93km away, it was extremely rainy, interesting things heppen when you off point the dish. Worked 2m, 1296,2424, 10Gigs and 24Gigs.	Don't try this at home folks! Coming down the Ponga track after lots of rain, car slid down the hill with hardly any control. Had to get Leith ZL1BCJ to come back and pull me out, he was the one that chewed it up in the first place.. Oh well, at least we got some good microwave contacts in...

This is the inside of my 3400MHz patch antenna array, it's pretty sharp and good gain for a small package. Its an old Accelera (Remec) ODU that I stripped out the RF bits that were blown, makes for a good cheap antenna.	"I'm sure I can fit another one up here!!!", says Andrew. This is some of the antics that a workmate and I get up to in Whakatane in the Bay Of Plenty. We all get quite good at driving cherry pickers. These links carry a mix of surveillance real time video, SCADA, VOIP and normal data.

This is some of the action at our ZL1AA VHF contest station. The site is about 400m ASL and has great views to south and north. As can be seen, fences make great supports! Can crack 350km on 10Gig with the needle hard over in the right condx.	This is the 2 & 70cm station. Big brick is my modded / home brew 300 Watt 2m amp, the other litle brick is the 70cm amp. The other thing is a 50A 26V battery charger for the big amp. Computer logging rules!!

These are some of the microwave operators that we rounded up at one of the Hamilton equipment sales. Some come far and wide for these events such as Chris and Nick who are effectively at each end of the North Island.