My May Objectives - achieved

This month I had two objectives:

   (a) make my 10m halo into a dual band 10m/6m version.
   (b) complete my 481THz optical speech transceiver.

Although a few days late, both objectives have been achieved with decent contacts on 10/6m and a 10.5km 2-way QSO on 481THz AM.

Several things will interrupt any objectives in the next month or so, but my next objectives are:

   (a) Improve the sensitivity of my optical transceiver RX.
   (b) Build a new transverter for the 472-479kHz band due to be released Jan 1st 2013 in the UK (we expect).

The first will allow me to use the dual-optics 481THz transceiver over longer paths. I hope to make some contacts over 20km in the next few months.

The second one (472kHz transverter) only needs to be completed before Christmas, but I'd like to get this moving soon. If possible I'd like to run the PA at around 20W - my earlier 500kHz transverter was just 5W - and to improve the RX sensitivity and selectivity. This new band will be a most interesting allocation and I expect quite a few stations to give it a try.