[NLRS] 10 GHz September weekend

[Doug Reed]

It is interesting to note that many people seem to have already duplicated
their score from last year with half the contest yet to go. So the question
becomes can we double our points again in September by staying in the metro
and swapping rovers north for south, or should we be looking at the North
Shore again. 

I enjoyed the North Shore rove and I wouldn't mind doing it again,
particularly if we can get to the northern (longer) end of the paths. I'd
be even more inclined that way if I knew someone was going to be on the
point in Michigan or farther east along the WI shoreline. Then we'd have a
bunch of real long paths to try. 

To my mind, the biggest problem we have is still aiming the dish and
finding the frequency. Things were much better this time but it still
seemed as if we were scattered across 30 KHz at different times of the day.
And many QSO's leap frogged across the band with every turn around. 

Personally, I'm hoping that adding an electronic compass on my dish will
make pointing much easier and it may even allow changing directions and
coming back to a point. So as long as I know which way to point I should be
able to set the dish and be very close. 

For our local roves, the next item of interest would be to get a beacon in
place in Mpls  or at least bouncing off Mpls. This will give everyone in
range a constant signal to use for aiming, and a known frequency to offset
from. You get to a site, adjust aim for Mpls, and offset 20 KHz to the QSO
frequency. Work everyone on frequency and get ready to move again. Sounds
sweet and much too easy......

If we decide to do the North Shore rove, I'd still consider a beacon to be
our greatest need. Knowing the bearing to point is important but being able
to confirm the direction and the frequency is even more important. I'd like
to be able to arrive at a site, estimate the bearing to the beacon, find
the beacon, then offset bearing and frequency to work the other stations.
We were very slow last year because we were running as a pack. But it would
have been much worse if we were running alone. At least as a pack we could
have the WI stations transmit a beacon signal and if one person found it,
we all had it. And the first person to transmit was used to net the
frequency. 

It would probably be feasible to run separate if we had better tools for
finding the other stations. That is why I'm interested in having a beacon
on the WI shore. Having a station running beacon was indispensable for
finding the correct bearing. Having a continuous beacon is the only way to
make separate rovers work. 

And having easy to use bearing circles on every dish will also be
important. It doesn't help me to find the beacon and know that I must
offset 3 degrees to make the QSO if I can't accurately read a 3 degree
change. The question of whether the beacon can operate from the same
location as the WI stations has yet to be answered but I expect it would be
too loud.

Time for work.....

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.