SERG Convention 2011..

[VK3ZL]

G'day all...Well another year gone by and my SERG Convention is on tomorrow Sunday 12th...South East Radio Group....This is an annual event in Mount Gambier about 60 miles West from my place over the border in VK5...

I have been participating in the Home Brew Competition for many years and won most first prizes with my work for many years...My expertise has been building HF RF amplifiers and I sorta have gained a bit of experience...

This year I decided to move away from HF and tackle a bit of VHF for something different and new...Well, I have found it to be a completely new experience...I was asked to build a 6 meter amplifier 8 months ago and went ahead with great success...Word got around and I now have regular requests for more 6 meter units building five since....Along the way I was asked if I could put a 400 watt 2 meter amplifier together specifically for WSJT EME work...I put the thinking cap on and designed what I considered a practical amplifier around a Russian GS-31B triode which has 1Kw anode dissipation....This amplifier has been in continual use for some months now and performs excellently regularly handling 90 minute sessions of EME Data transmissions.

Pleased with all this I designed a Mk2 version of the 2 meter amplifier then decided to look at 70cm...I completed the 70cm amplifier recently having the same criteria as the 2 meter units, 400 watts WSJT...I am very pleased and impressed with the outcome..

Tomorrow I have three new amplifiers to present at SERG, 6 meters, 2 meters and 70cm..As this is new territory for me I am interested how these will be received..I will post pictures of these latest projects along with the convention H/B results sometime next week...Wish me luck..:yes:

Bob..VK3ZL..

[ad4mg]

Good luck, Bob! It's wonderful that you share your gift with so many people. I'm sure that your newest endeavors will be very well received!

[N8YX]

I need 6, 2, 220 and 432 MHz versions of same...500W-1kW out with 10-15w drive power.

We may have to chat in the future...

[rot]

I'd like to build a clean 6m amp..fer sure..I have to leave the design stuff to the masters, but do pretty well on the how to's and stuff.
To ya Bob! You da man!
rot

[VK3ZL]

Well it is now monday and the SERG convention is over for another year....I arrived home last night around 8pm after driving the 60 mile trip through Kangaroo country...Only saw a few Roos but after stopping at a roadside rest stop and resuming my trip home I nearly ran into a large Fallow Deer..We now have a large population of Fallow and Red Deer in the bushland since people started farming them..

I had a really good day at the convention meeting up with many friends...I took the three amplifiers over for the home brew competition and they were received with much interest by all attending..After the convention was over we all packed up and retired to the Mount Gambier club rooms for a BBQ and a summery of the days events including the homebrew prize giving...I am happy to report that I was awarded first prize again for this year in the advanced home brew section...There were some very nice projects offered up for the competition including a 2304gig transverter and 23cm transverter, much test equipment and sundry entries...

I managed to pick up some useful goodies as usual including a 500mhz frequency counter and a 300mhz oscilliscope..I found a few trinkets such as N type fittings, a roll of 18gauge silver plated Teflon wire, and a mint but old Realistic DX160 receiver for $10...I enjoy bringing home a few treasures especially when I get a bargain...I sold a few of my home brew inductors and that balanced up the day's outlay...

Here is a picture of the first prize certificate for my amplifiers and a couple of pics of my winning entries...

A couple of pics of the 70cm GS-31B EME amplifier and my Mk4 version of my 6 meter amplifiers.

Bob..VK3ZL..

[VK3ZL]

Further pics of my SERG amplifier entries..These are just a few construction views of my Mk2 2 meter GS-31B EME amplifier....I took these while putting it together...

Bob..VK3ZL..

[PA5COR]

Thanks for the nice pictures Bob, it iis always very good to see your fine art of amplifier building ;)