[MAMS] 10 GHz contest first weekend

[Zack Widup]

Well, it was an interesting weekend. I wish the few people who couldn't
make it had been present also.

I started out on a hill in EN50rl on Saturday morning. It was raining when
I got there and continued raining for an hour or so. I sat and waited for
it to end. Finally it did, and I worked W9SNR and W9ZIH from there. I tried
to work W9FZ/KA9VVQ with no luck. Also tried working K3SIW, who was at
home, with no luck. He said he had lossy feedline problems. I then drove to
Greene Valley Landfill EN51xr where I met Jim W9SNR. I worked W9ZIH, W9FZ
and KA9VVQ from there. Garry K3SIW was in EN52sa but got rained/stormed
out, so I didn't get to try with him. Jim and I also tried to work K2YAZ
with no luck. Jim left mid-afternoon. Late in the afternoon a rainstorm
came up. There were also high winds. I was concerned about the winds so I
took the station down while the storm went through. It passed through at
about 5:30. I tried calling W9SNR on the phone but didn't get through to
him. I later got a message that he was set up in EN62ad. We didn't get a
chance to work. Also, W9FZ and KA9VVQ had moved to a new area but the
timing didn't work out. The park people started making motions to have us
leave the hilltop at about 5:45. It closes at 6 pm. So I packed up and
drove to my mom's house in Plainfield.

Sunday morning I drove to EN52sa. I worked Jim W9SNR on both 10 and 24 GHz
a little after 8 am. Jim was in EN62ad. Then moved to a different spot in
EN52sa and worked W9ZIH, W9FZ and KA9VVQ from there. I tried to work
Herbert AF4JF in St. Louis but neither of us heard the other. I had to be
back in Champaign by mid-afternoon, so I packed everything up and left
EN52sa around 10 am.

I think the couple hours I was active on Sunday was just as good as the
whole day on Saturday for me. There was a lot of rainscatter on Saturday
but no particular signal enhancement beyond that. No rainscatter and no
particular enhancement on Sunday.

Looking forward to the September weekend when I'll be driving along the
Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan.

73, Zack W9SZ