EME 2000
Conference Report

It was with great satisfaction that we staged the 9th EME International Conference for Radioamateurs in the city Rio de Janeiro on August 19th and 20th 2000. It being the very first time that Brazil had been selected to host this event. Prior events having been in Paris (1998) and Washington, DC (1996).

This 9th Encounter was dedicated to radio communications using the moon as a passive reflector Earth Moon Earth (EME), employing frequencies in the microwave spectrum.

This event was sponsored exclusively by both the Araucaria DX Group and the Inepar Group of which Atilano PY5EG both founder and President respectively.

More than 20 technical presentations by international specialists in the area of moon reflection were selected and presented radio amateurs from the USA, Europe, Argentina, Australia and other locations were present.

In view of the very high degree of specialization and the technical level of the information presented we judge that this was an exceptional and unique opportunity for the Brazilian amateur radio community.

The 9th International EME Conference was officially opened by PY5ZBU Don who warmly welcomed the Conference delegation to Rio de Janeiro.

Following which the organizing committee was introduced and the technical session of the event was initiated by an excellent Video Presentation given by Dominique HB9BBD, which gave an insight as to mechanical construction delivery and electrical / electronic installation of his new 10m dish his home in Switzerland, followed by a view of a possible new big dish (105 Ft diameter) purchase in the Swiss mountains which will undoubtedly make him the loudest signal producer of all time from a home location.

Marc LU6DW followed presenting his technical article on "Power Amplifier Combining Techniques for 1296MHz" this was very well elaborated and provoked considerable interest and discussion.

Marko S57UUU then presented his paper "Let´s Go Circular on 10" which proved to be very interesting and provoked a wide discussion principally amongst the 10GHz fraternity this presentation ran overtime due to the quantity of comments and questions raised.

Following the interval for coffee Ray WA4NJP then presented a slide show showing his amateur radio station and fantastic collection of dishes and Yagi´s not to mention his big 50MHz "H" frame EME stacked Yagi antenna. Ray presented his "home brew" mechanical solutions for rotating antennas and general construction.

Jim WA7CJO gave an interesting talk on TWT´s relative to optimizing power output for narrow band CW/SSB operation which stimulated a big question and answer session that ran overtime due to the extreme interest in this subject.

Don PY5ZBU presented a video, which showed his shack and dish system together with a hinged system to quickly move his 432MHz dipole feed in front of the existing 1296MHz circular feed horn to produce a quick and effective band change.

Atilano PY5EG then made a presentation of his contest station showing photographs of his various antenna systems followed by a video of the Araucária Dx Group, to finalize, a video presentation was made relative to the sponsor company Inepar of which Atilano is President.

After lunch Al Katz K2UYH made his presentation called "Polarization Primer" which branched off into all aspects of antenna radiation polarization demonstrating as usual his high degree of professional competence in this area.

Paul WA6PY presented an excellent technical article relative to unwanted resonance's found in cavity amplifier circuits which reduce overall efficiency producing heating and losses. This article was external to both the handbook and CD-ROM and will be circulated at a later date. Paul´s published article Planar Microwave Power Splitter and Combiners was not presented on due it's similarity to the LU6DW paper.

Finally Derwin W5LUUU presented Moon data for the current year and year 2001 explaining how he obtained the calendar data and analyzing cosmic noise backgrounds to the Moon.

Following the last presentation the group assembled and transferred to a motor coach which took them to a sea coast town near Rio de Janeiro called Buzios. This overnight visit was listed as being a "Surprise Event".

The surprise was a pre-arranged visit to the residence of Mr. Cleofas Uchoa who is considered to be the owner of one of the better equipped amateur astronomy observatories in Latin America. Mr. Uchoa received the visiting party at his home providing an outdoor video show on both the philosophy of life and deep space astronomy. This was a fantastic show and one which will be remembered for years to come.

Following this event the group was invited to visit the observatory and look at distant galaxies in addition to looking at the Moon. Both food and drinks were kindly provided during the course of the event.

The complete group spent their night in a beach side hotel and enjoyed very much their stay.

A closing event lunch was provided at the Churrascaria Porcão and official photographs of the group taken with the Rio de Janeiro Sugar Loaf Mountain as a background.

The party then returned to the Conference Hotel and met to determine the location of the next 10th EME Conference, it being voted in favor of Prague as suggested by Zdnek OK1DFC with a backup alternative location in Slovenia as suggested by Marko S57UUU.

Before closing the event Al Katz K2UYH on behalf of the conference members presented a certificate of merit to the Organizing Committee represented by Don PY5ZBU.