Above block diagram represents my (DK3XT) setup as I started meteorscatter
in 1976. Modified Icom IC201 vhf transceiver with separate rx/tx connectors and two separate coax lines for receive
and transmit. The rx/tx switching relay connects right to the antenna's feedingpoint, together with preamp in a
weatherproof housing. PowerAmp homebuilt with a QQEØ6/4Ø, putting out an honest 85Watts.
Antenna two 13ele longyagis, each on a 6m (19.7ft) boom, vertically stacked, early DJ9BV design. No fancy
sequencer. During receive, coaxrelay and preamp are in the "on"-position. The morse keyer triggers the
transceiver's vox, which then triggers the PA's HF-vox and a 12V powersupply which again switches coaxrelay and
preamp into "off"-position. HighSpeed morsekeyer homemade with single TTL chips, with four
switchable memories, each holding abt 20 words. The tape recorder is a "UHER Report" with 4 speeds
from 17cm/s to 4.125cm/s. In 1976 we ran two-hour skeds, with 5-min-sequence at 600lpm (120wpm) morse code
speed. With this moderate rig I worked 40 European DXCC-countries and the very first contact between Iceland
& Germany on 144MHz (GM3YOR/TF, 02-04UT/Aug1st 1978).
In the late 70's, there weren't any
personal computers around as they are today. Yet we were dreaming of a computer and a program that would run a
meteorscatter qso "almost all by itself, display the decoded messages on the screen, select and transmit the
right answering messages, and all that in one burst..." Little did we know that a quarter century later a Nobel
prize laureat and dedicated hamradio operator K1JT would come up with a program that almost does just that !
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