J.F.Drew © 2000-2017

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VK3UM downloads

Doug VK3UM was a friend from our days at Unley High School during the mid 1950s, a common interest was that of radio and electronics leading to our introduction to ham radio through the 288MHz band (now no longer part of Australian allocations).

When he died of a massive stroke on 22 February 2016 I promised myself that his wonderful work writing programs for our hobby would not be lost. For the moment and until the Wireless Institute of Australia puts the programs into safe storage, I have put them here on my website. This is with the approval of his wife Bev.

Note: These programs were all written in 32 bit Delphi. I recommend running them in Compatibility mode WinXP from Program Files(X86).

The photo to the right is Doug standing in front of his 10m dish with the EME operating shack to the left.

EME Calculator [EMECalc]

This software, with the addition of a simple level indicator and preferably an in-line switched attenuator, will provide a most accurate way of assessing your equipment’s performance.

This software will accurately predict *, to a very high degree;

        the level of your own Moon echoes

        the level of Echoes you will receive from another Station

        the level of Echoes the other Station will receive from you

        the level of Sun Noise you and the other Station will receive.

        the level of Moon Noise you and the other Station will receive and

        the level of received Galactic Noise you will expect to receive with combinations of Sources.

In addition a "How to .." section has been provided to enable you to select the best dish feed type combination as well as answering the vexing question of "if I increase the size of my existing Dish " will it be worth while?

Download EMECalc

The VK3UM EME Planner

The VK3UM Planner is just that, an EME Planner, and  supports the following functions (and many more).

• a large viewing screen with large easily visible numbers for manual tracking.

• Incorporation of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) DXCC listing as a VK3UM DXCC DataBase of locations and an additional user storage section that can be added to at will and edited by the user.

• Planner screen with multiple options that allows you to determine your mutual window with another   Station and print the display if required.

• Horizon selectable Azimuth / Elevation and Polar mount Right ascension /Declination are provided.

• A Global Spatial offset screen where selected areas of the World have been chosen so that you can determine what offset is required.

• A Sources and Planet display screen that provides you with the coordinates of the Sun, Moon,  Quiet  and Noise Sources, as well as the Planets and an optional user input.

• A Sources and Planet Planner that provides the ability where the user may select either a Planet or a  Noise or Quiet source and display its Azimuth and Elevation (or RA Dec if Polar) along with the Moon and  Sun positions, if visible, at the time. Printing the display is an additional option if required.

• A Sky Noise Map that provides the Sky Noise Temperature behind the Source chosen, Park position indication and Mouse Az/El tracking across the screen based on your location at that specific time. The  time may be shifted to observe future or past situations on Sky noise temperature.

• An accurate Distance Calculator is provided and integrated with the VK3UM Data Base.

• Home data Set up screen for ease of configuring your location and parameters.

• Accurate Moon Distance, additional path loss, diameter, Libration, illumination, phase, Moonquarter and phase angle.

• The displayed accuracy has been enhanced in a joint co-operation effort with John VK5DJ,  and his use of extensive calculation routines based on Duffet-Smith and Meeus algorithms.

Download EMEPlanner

VK3UM Libration Calculator. [LibCalc]

• a first in this format.
• Predict the time of minimal Libration for you and a Dx Station.
• Calculations of Libration rates in degrees / minute.
• Libration signal width (spread) of your Home Station, the Dx Station, and the Dx Station as observed by the Home Station.
• Calculations relative (selectable) to Amateur frequencies from 432 MHz to 122 GHz.
• Spatial off set calculations of the Home to the Home Dx Station and Dx Station to Home Station.
• Common Elevation windows between Stations
• Doppler calculations for each Station.
• Calculations for any 24 hour UTC day with a variable hour based adjustable window within that period. (for close data analysis).
• A Planning Calculator which provides selectable periods of days, months, years and displayed on screen and as printable output option.
• path loss relative to perigee.
• utilization of the VK3UM Dx Station Data Base to allow the user to choose Home and Dx Locations with the ability to add their own or other locations as desired.  
• Graphical displays of all the above options printable in both Colour and Mono.
• provides real time display of the Moon or Sun position (selectable).
• a fully adjustable time (minute, hour, day, month, year) for specific date related calculations. (window size may be stored)
• When updating to a later software version your Home Data and personalised DXCC  data base will not be over written.
• In addition the software provides all Ephemeris Data pertaining to the calculations and Integrated Help

This software was inspired by Charlie Suckling (G3WDG) article in DUBUS 3/2010 and with his help and suggestions has been the basis of this program. My thanks also go to Barry VE4MA, Al W5LUA, Dave G4RGK and John VK5DJ who have assisted with the beta testing and provided valuable suggestions for improvement.

Download Libration Calculator

VK3UM Electro Magnetic Radiation Calculator  (EMRCalc)

(also now known as Electro Magnetic Emission.. a more public friendly name !)

• Throughout the World, most Government Authorities have implemented mandatory standards of radiation limits pertaining to Electro Magnetic Radiation. These requirements include the Amateur Radio Service.
• Because of the nature of EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) and many other Amateur communications, radiated power levels can be quite high and may, under certain situations, pose a radiation hazard.
• This software calculates the level of Far Field bore site RF Radiation levels and indicates if the safety limit will be exceeded with respect to the parameters entered into the program.
• The default calculations are for Public or un-controlled environments, however controlled environment calculations are provided where situations permit such limits. Warnings are provided on entering this option.
• The software also addresses the near field radiation characteristics of a circular aperture radiating antennae. This characteristic could be of considerable significance to provide substantiating evidence that the installation is able to meet the Governing Authority's radiation limits.
• The most widely accepted Safe level of RF Radiation is that which has been recommended by the International   Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. (ICNIRP) It is a body of independent scientific experts consisting of a main Commission of 14 members, 4 Scientific Standing Committees covering Epidemiology, Biology, Dosimetry and Optical Radiation and a number of consulting experts.
• This expertise is brought to bear on addressing the important issues of possible adverse effects on human health from exposure to non-ionising radiation. Its recommendations have been accepted by most countries as well as the Council of European Union (CEU).

Download EMRCalc

Atmosphere Absorption Attenuation [Atmosphere]

[Attenuation by Atmospheric Gasses]

Electromagnetic waves are absorbed in the atmosphere according to wavelength. Two compounds are responsible for the majority of signal absorption, Oxygen (O2) and water vapour (H2O).

The first peak occurs at 22 GHz due to water vapour, and the second at 63 GHz due to oxygen. The actual amount of water vapour and Oxygen in the atmosphere normally declines with an increase in altitude because of the decrease in pressure.

Total attenuation through the atmosphere at any frequency, through unobstructed atmosphere, is the sum of free space path loss, attenuation caused by oxygen absorption, and attenuation caused by water vapour absorption. Rain attenuation, when present adds an additional element.

Total path attenuation = Attenuation Free Space Path Loss + Attenuation caused by Oxygen + Attenuation due to Water Vapour + Attenuation due to Rain + Fog and Cloud Attenuation.

This program [Atmosphere] calculates the absorption attenuation at Microwave frequencies for both terrestrial and slant paths for Amateur frequencies from 10-241 GHz.

The calculations applied in this program are based upon the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommended methods as listed in the Reference section of this Document.

The program has been written primly as a supplement to my EME Calculator Program  to refine overall loss calculations for frequencies above 10GHz where these factors become a significant.

Download Atmosphere

VK3UM NOISE SOURCE PLANNER

[NoiseSources.exe]

In my other software programs , EMECalc and EME Planner, provision has been made to provide a Real Time Display of the locations of both Quiet and Noise Sources.

For those wishing to make subjective measurements and check receive performance, it would be beneficial to know the positions of the Sources in advance so the most appropriate time can be chosen commensurate to the availability and position of the Sources.

Hence the VK3UM Noise Source Planner was borne!

This software will provide (similar to the EME Planner) the ability to select the start and end dates of  when you wish to make observations as well as the calculation increment desired.

The Noise Source Planner also provides a Real Time Display of all Sources which include :

• Aquarius and Leo (Quiet Sources)
• Cassiopeia-A, Cygnus-A, Taurus-A, Virgo-A, Sagittarius-A (Noise Sources)
• An additional range of other Super Nova remnants, Radio Galaxies and Nebulas.
• And  both the Moon and the Sun added for good measure!

For those that use a Polar Mount this may be selected as well as the conventional Azimuth / Elevation Display.

The facility for printing your calculation (in landscape) is also provided.

Enter your Home Data and then Save. The program also saves your Calculation and Display mode chosen as default.

Download NoiseSources

VK3UM 4 Stage Inter Digital Filter Design [IDF]

Simply change any of the parameters and the software will recalculate and present the new design commensurate to your requirements. It may also be extended beyond 4 stages by using the internal stage dimensions.

Suitable for frequency ranges from 300 MHz to 10 GHz.

** Note it can be expanded to ‘n’ poles by using inner pole dimensions

Download IDF

Transmission Impedance Calculator

Download Impedance Calculator Help File

Download Impedance Calculator

VK3UM AUTO TRACK [Autotrack.exe]

This Program has been developed as a Computer interface for the VK5DJ Auto Tracking hardware only.

The display and format has been re-created in a Windows format along the same colour lines and features provided in the original DOS VK3UM Auto Tracking program that was first developed in 1984 and used in conjunction with the VK3UM tracking board.

Download Autotrack

VK3UM Sun Noise and Measurements - Gippstech 2008

Download here on Yumpu.com - a paper as presented at Gippstech

Old photos: Doug   Doug’s early 432 EME antenna,   Roof leak in EME shack,  

Doug’s QSL 1985, Doug’s tower under construction at his mother’s house in Parkside about 1960