G6GVI on 6cm (the 5.8 GHz band)


In 2012 a couple of us within the Bolton Wireless Club were working on a simple WBFM link on 6cm using AirWave video-sender units.

AirWave receiver module with audio amp/filter Testing on Winter Hill in June 2012: the 6cm system is under the waterproof radome - the dishes are for 3cm

We're using the main video carrier (rather than the lower-power stereo audio sub-carriers) to send our voice signal, and our initial tests gave extremely strong signals over a few hundred yards.

QSL from my first QSO on this new band

And in the July 2012 SHF UKAC we managed a couple of successful QSOs over a distance of 6km. The signals were quite strong, but I was suffering from severe co-channel interference from some ISM transmitters in the direction of Manchester. I found that this could be nulled-out by beaming some way off the wanted signal, but then in the August session we discovered that Mark and I had actually been working cross-polarised!
I've now borrowed a couple of panel antennas (23dBi gain, 9 degree beamwidth) and mounted my TX & RX boxes on the back of them:

Separate TX & RX antennas A compact system for mast-mounting

In the October UHF event we managed a 2-way QSO from the top of Winter Hill to Werneth Low - a distance of 37km. It seems that our range is limited by co-channel interference (in the ISM band) rather than receiver sensitivity.

Then in February 2013 I made a 2-way QSO from the side of Winter Hill to John MW1FGQ - a distance of 62km, and in that direction there wasn't so much co-channel interference either.

I used my system to make a number of QSOs with John & Mark over the 2013 UKAC season, and made a duplicate set for the BWC (currently used by Dave G4JLG). I subsequently sold my original kit to John G8PEF.

Of course the same equipment could readily be used for FM Amateur TeleVision too.