[ADXA] New Distance Record

Thu Nov 13 23:49:39 EST 2025

I commented that I had heard the story, But I was mistaken. The story I think I remember was in a populated area with a parking garage near a college, and you having to transmit between a couple of buildings to get a clear path. Did I dream this?  
Congratulations on the record. I never realized there was a rainscatter prediction site.

As a friend told me one time, "you need to do less broadcasting and more tuning in". I'm beginning to think he knew me too well.

Randy/W5ZJ 

On Thu, 13 Nov, 2025 at 4:19 PM, patw5vy at gmail.com <patw5vy at gmail.com> wrote:

To: rcurt at centurytel.net; 'charles mckenzie'; w5znjoel at gmail.com
Cc: adxa at mailman.qth.net

Thanks for mentioning my 10GHz DX Joel.  I was portable in EM11nt Northeast of Waco, TX.  Greg was at home in EM19wf.  There aren’t many high places in that part of Texas.  I was on a dirt road in the boonies with tall Sudan grass on one  side of the road and pasture, grazing cows and a Windfarm on the other. My spot was probably only 50ft above average terrain but with a clear view to the horizon to the north.  It was about an hour after dark and all the red obstruction lighting were flashing on top of the windmills. Of course the mosquitos were out.  I have a tripod rig that’s an IC705 IF radio and Downeast Microwave 144-10368MHz transverter.  The XVTR runs about 3 watts out.  With the two foot dish my half power beamwidth is about 2-3 degrees and ERP is about 2Kw.   Greg was on the Rainscatter.com<http://Rainscatter.com> website that plots active T-Storms and predicts possible rainscatter opportunities. There was a line of T-Storms along the OK-TX border with tops to 45-50k feet.   He had been working several folks in the DFW area on CW and Q65. I had worked the DFW stations on troposcatter…about 95 miles and I could hear some of the DFW stations working Greg  weakly on backscatter. But I wasn’t hearing Greg.  The North Texas Microwave Society (NTMS.org<http://NTMS.org>) provide a Slack channel for coordination during the 10GHz Contests.  Greg spotted a new storm developing and alerted me that it might work for us.  He gave me a heading to the cell and picked a QRG.  I sent dashes for about 30 seconds until Greg found me. Then he sent dashes to let me peak on him.  Signal levels were strong and we completed with calls and grids in short order.  CW via rainscatter doesn’t have a nice pure tone.  There is lots of spectral spreading/multipath through the T-Storm so the signal sounds scratchy.  Maybe what spark sounded like years ago??  After we finished a couple of the NTMS ops posted “That might be a record”.  The cell we had used topped out at about 55K.

The main reason I mentioned the QSO to Joel was to let him know that I would be in the “ VHF+ Distance Record by Band”  listing with him and K5UR 😊.  I think that is referred to as “bragging”.    Here’s a link to the list:  https://www.arrl.org/distance-records 

I’ve forwarded details of the 827.5km QSO to Ned, AA7A, the keeper of the listing.  I think he does semi-annual updates.  

Ned is #1 Honor Roll and at 3110 for the Desoto Challenge.  In addition to HF DXing Ned is also into VHF+ weak signal and EME in a big way.  He was also one of the ops in the “Voodoo Contest Group”  who traveled to western Africa each year for a Multi-Multi team effort in CQ WW CW contests.  I think Roger Western, G3SXW (SK), was the catalyst for the group.  Check out the Voodoo’s website: https://www.voodoocontestgroup.com/

I enjoyed seeing everyone at the annual meeting.  Joel did a great job lining up super presentations. Also thanks to the BVARC folks for working out access to the ALETA.

73,
Pat, W5VY

From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net>> On Behalf Of rcurt--- via ADXA
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 12:02 PM
To: Charles McKenzie <kf5tl at outlook.com<mailto:kf5tl at outlook.com>>; w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com>
Cc: ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa at mailman.qth.net>>
Subject: Re: [ADXA] New Distance Record

I'm sure I heard Pat tell the story, and if you haven't heard it, you need to "pry" it out of him. It was brilliant to find a location, and a path through a small opening that the signal would pass through. 

Congratulations. The more I'm around these ADXA people, the more amazing they get!

Randy/W5ZJ

From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net>> on behalf of Charles McKenzie <kf5tl at outlook.com<mailto:kf5tl at outlook.com>>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 10:38 AM
To: w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com> <w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com>>
Cc: ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa at mailman.qth.net>>
Subject: Re: [ADXA] New Distance Record 

Nice going Pat! 

73

KF5TL 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 12, 2025, at 10:19 AM, w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com> wrote:

ADXA Folks,

We tend to think of DX as something distantly unique that is far, far away. DX is somewhat subjective depending on one’s personal preference. You may, or may not, be aware the Pat, W5VY, is also very active on the amateur microwave frequencies. One of the very interesting propagation mediums in that frequency range is rainscatter, the ability to reflect, or refract, a signal off of heavy rain. Obviously you can’t do this on HF due to the large wavelength of a signal compared to rain drops, but at 10 GHz the wavelength is very small, around 3cm.

Recently, Pat set a new 10 GHz rainscatter distance record with WQ0P in St. Marys, Kansas. Greg has a very nice VHF-UHF-uWave station and Pat was operating portable down in Texas. I don’t recall the actual distance, but it’s a hoof on 10 GHz.

CONGRATS to Pat!!!!!!

73 Joel W5ZN/ZF2ZN

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