I am 51 years old, and since I was a boy I had a great passion for radio.

My first ham call was IW1PPV and then in 1985 IK1FJI, at the first time I was very active on HF band, After WAC WAS DXCC all in CW mode I want to try the OSCAR satellite, and in 1990 I was heard at AO-13.

On the computer screen I saw the moon in the same direction of the satellite, a thought went through my mind, why no try to listen for some EME signals!

So I go down in frequency and WHAT A MIRACLE at 144.008 …W…U….N…..YES W5UN heard on my two circular polarization satellite antennas !!!!

Now I wanted to have a QSO, so I started building a 4CX250B amplifier. 400 Watts, 3000 volt on the anode!!!

2 Cushcraft 3219 (the worse antenna design I could choose!!) and a YU1AW 1302 Gasfet. One evening in 1991 I made my first QSO with W5UN, and I remember I waived my fist in the air when the QSO was complete.

Then upgraded to 4 x CC 4218xl, (two home made from the 3219’s) and then 6 x 4218xl with other two home made. This array was destroyed in a violent storm.

No problems, I built a strange array of 6 x 4218 again and on the same booms 6 x 16el (similar to the M2 2m17 design) in vertical polarizations…

The array worked well in vertical but the horizontal plane lost it's good patter and gain that I had before I added the vertical elements. Anyhow, I tried to upgrade my EME capabilities by buildning a swichtable polarization array. Unfortunately this array broken after a ice storm.

Then I put up 6 x 12m2..and finally my current 4 x 19XXX. 2 yagis came from Mike K6MYC and the other two were home made with all the peices of my old broken array.

I have a lot of satisfation with this system. My station is very simple but I think works great, and I have always had good result with it…

Present station:

• 4 antennas 19xxx
• Gasfet preamp 21db, 0.35NF
• Tx cable 45meters 7/8 inch
• Rx cable 45 meters ˝ inch CellFlex
• Icom 275H or FT736r both with 500hz cw filter
• DSP and from some months i used spectran for detect the answer stations on computer screen.
• RF amplifier….4cx250b(HM) 3cx800a7 8877 (HM) try a gs35b cavity and now A GU78B LZ2US design GREAT JOB MARKO!!!!!!

I never use JT65, i don't like digital communications.

I repeat, my station is very simple and I believe the trick is in the box on the tower near the antennas. My idea is to never use jumper between TX/RX relais and the preamp. I use that before and I feel that by doing so I loose all the weak stations that call me for months and months!!!!!

Like Francesco IK2DDR i must say a big THANKS to Graziano IK3MAC, he is a big friend a great engineer and always ready to help.

Thanks for reading, see you all on 2mtr EME!!

73, Valter IK1FJI