[MAMS] 10 GHz Contest, Round Deux

Tue Sep 20 10:48:31 EDT 2016

Sounds like a great outing Zack!  Congratulations on the contacts.  I am
hoping to rove next September around the lake.  Later this month I am
heading to Herbert's to program my Elcom synthesizer and get on 24 GHz.

73,

Ron, KO0Z

On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 6:21 PM, Zack Widup <w9sz.zack at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, darn it, that's sad that you didn't make any QSO's.
>
> I met with Pete K9PW on Saturday morning near Highland Park, IL and the
> park we planned on using was closed, so we went to our next stop, Illinois
> Beach State Park. I worked three out of four stations available to us then
> and Pete worked all four (one was really weak). We started working up the
> lakefront of Lake Michigan and several other ops joined the gang on the
> Michigan side. We worked whoever was around at each of our stops from then
> on. Conditions were rather poor and we were not able to work anyone on 24
> GHz. As we went along, we were joined by Bruce W9FZ and Janice, KA9VVQ;
> Jim, W9SNR; and Mike AA9IL. So there were maybe 8 or 9 stations in Michigan
> and 6 in Wisconsin. Pete was pretty much running things in our group and
> Bob K2YAZ was running things on the other side of the lake. Conditions
> improved later in the day on 10 GHz but we were never able to hear anyone
> on 24 GHz.
>
> We got as far north as Red Arrow Park in Manitowoc on Saturday, then called
> it a night (many of the ops on the other side had left for the K2YAZ annual
> Brat Cookout). We went to a restaurant in Manitowoc to eat, then went to
> our separate motels.
>
> Sunday morning we started out in Algoma, WI, which might be the closest
> place to the area in Michigan where most of the ops there were. Conditions
> were better than Saturday but still not as good as last year. We tried a
> few times on 24 GHz without success. Finally, in a little park called Two
> Creeks just south of Kewaunee, a few of us managed to work K3SIW on 24 GHz
> across the lake. Pete found out he had a receive problem on 24 GHz, so he
> didn't get to work Garry. The rest of the day, some locations had really
> good signals and some didn't. I'm not sure why the ones with poor signals
> were that way. It might have been band conditions or it might have been
> something else. Anyway, eventually Bruce and Janice went inland to try to
> work some of the Minnesota gang, Mike AA9IL and Jim W9SNR left for home.
> Pete K9PW and I finished up the contest roving together, working a
> dwindling number of stations on the other side of the lake as people left.
> Our last stop was in Kenosha, WI, where we worked WB8TGY right at sunset on
> Sunday and called it quits ourselves.  I got home at about midnight last
> night - ugh!
>
> Quickly looking over my log, it appears I made 102 QSO's in the September
> weekend. This is the most I have ever made in this contest. Participation
> has increased on both sides over past years; that helped. Alex NN9X brought
> his 12 year old son Andrew KD9GGZ with him. We all worked him when he was
> on. I'll bet he had a blast!
>
> Next year I hope to have 47 GHz with me also.
>
> 73, Zack W9SZ
>
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 5:24 PM, Ron Ochu <ronochu.sky at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Saturday, September 17, 2016:  Round Two of the ARRL 10 GHz and Up
> > Contest.  I wasn't able to participate
> > in Round One, a month earlier, as a result of a death in the family.
> So, I
> > was really looking forward to
> > getting on the air for round two.  Most of the Illinois microwave ops
> were
> > heading for Lake Michigan.  I chose to stay
> > close to home and to activate grid square EM59ji from Ohlman Cemetery.
> >
> > Unfortunately, Herbert, AF4JF wasn't able to participate and Harry,
> WA0CNS
> > went to High Ridge, MO to
> > activate grid square EM48rl a distance of 94 miles.  Saturday morning,
> > Harry was looking into a dark
> > cloud from the ridge and the vegetation had taken over since he was there
> > last.  I was looking into some
> > fog banks.  We tried to work each other, but conditions were not good at
> > all.  I wasn't able to hear the
> > St. Louis beacon, WB9PNU/b until about 45 minutes later and then it was
> > only just above the noise level and then only for about 10 minutes.
> > Temperature was in the low 70s.  Unfortunately, Harry had limited time so
> > we called it a day.  I called
> > Ron, W9ZIH in Malta, IL EN51nv, but we weren't able to work each other.
> > We've done it before from that
> > spot, but Ron is looking into a hill towards the southeast.  We need
> > enhanced conditions and Saturday was
> > not providing us any.  Ron said he wasn't working anybody on Saturday. I
> > also tried working Greg, KA9VDU
> >  in EN53ms (WI), but no luck either.
> >
> > Disappointing to say the least.  However, wishing to turn lemons into
> > lemonade, to borrow a cliched phrase,
> > I decided to scout out some potential microwave sites.  A chap told me
> that
> > there was a hill between Nokomis,
> > IL and Taylorville, IL on the blacktop road that might fit the bill.  I
> > found the site about five miles south
> > of Taylorville on Nokomis-Taylorville blacktop road and the intersection
> of
> > E. 700 North Rd, EM59ik.
> >
> > The site looks promising.  There is a FM tower and a former Western Union
> > twin tower on the property, but
> > tall, microwave absorbing corn stalks surround the entire site.  This
> site
> > will only be useable when the
> > crops are lower.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I went on into
> > Taylorville, ate lunch at Sangchris Lake
> > State Park and went on home for the day.  We'll see what Sunday will
> bring.
> >
> > Sunday morning, I went to my favorite site east of Virden and only 10
> miles
> > away EM59dm.  I could actually copy
> > the WB9PNU beacon, but nobody to work.   The beacon's telemetry indicated
> > the beacon is putting out 1.18 watts,
> > 12.9 VDC, and temps of 98 and 92 degrees.  Afterwards, I called Ron,
> W9ZIH
> > on the phone and we tried on 3 cm,
> >  but again no joy.  I drove up to Elkhart, IL, about 40 miles away, to
> > check out the hill in the afternoon.  I tried working W9ZIH
> > from RT 66, just north of Elkhart EN50ga, but band conditions just
> weren't
> > there.  I couldn't get up on the hill,
> > and it is forested.  I drove to Mt. Pulaski, ten miles to the east, but
> no
> > suitable sites were found there.  I
> > drove to Lincoln, IL, but cornfields were everywhere.  High spots were
> > privately owned and forested.
> >
> > At this point, I gave up, but at least I scouted out the area.  Just west
> > of Elkart on I-55 is a smaller hill with
> > views to the south, west and northeast.  East is looking into Elkhart
> > hill.  There are two farmhouses on top of the
> > smaller hill and I am thinking about asking them for permission to
> operate
> > sometime in the future.
> >
> > So my 10 GHz and Up contested resulted in 0 contacts and 0 points and
> over
> > 300 miles driving scouting out potential
> > sites.  Disappointing, but fun nonetheless.  I've been able to eliminate
> a
> > lot of sites off my list.  All-in-all,
> > not a bad way to spend the contest weekend with no 3 cm propagation.
> >
> > de Ron, KO0Z
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