[NLRS] Friday 10GHz

[Donn Baker]

Had a good day today.
Gary, WB0LJC; Bruce, W9FZ; Lenny, K0SHF; Gary, W0GHZ; and Jon, K0FQA; and I
(WA2VOI) played radios this afternoon and did reasonable well.

The object was to check Birkmose Park in Hudson,WI as a possible contest
site.  Its easy to get to, and does reasonably well getting to the sites SE
of the Cities.

Birkmose is not ideal; its 150-200 ft lower that the bluffs on the west
side of the St. Croix, and there's trees in some unfortunate places, but I
guess you can't have everything.

Gary (LJC) went to Birkmose Park.  Bruce and I went to the Cannon Falls
site to start.  Good signals, and we found Gary easily.  Easy Q.  35 miles.
 (Cannon Falls is also used for Mounds Park and Fletcher (K0FQAs QTH -
about 56 mi.)

Bruce and I then moved over to the Vasa site (1.5N, 0.5E of the (small !)
village of Vasa.  VERY nice horizon almost 360.  Should be able to work off
the buildings in MPLS, Mounds Park, maybe Fletcher.  We both worked Gary
with no trouble.  With a little looking w/binoculars, we were able to see
the Cannon Falls site (11 miles) and maybe downtown MPLS... not sure, as
the air was pretty thick.  Both Bruce and I are sure, though, that we did
see the Koch Refinery at Pine Bend.

By then, Lenny had gotten on the air from near his QTH in downtown MPLS.
We worked him no problem.  I headed to Red Wing, while Bruce stayed at
Vasa.  Again, worked Lenny.  Worked Bruce back at Vasa (only 10 mi.) Later,
while he was working Lenny downtown, I found him at three different compass
headings: direct to Vasa, off the buildings downtown (46 mi.), and on a
heading that MAY indicate I was hearing reflections from the Koch Refinery.
 It's visible from Red Wing, and on the heading from Vasa to MPLS.

Worked Gary at Birkmose Park.  Signals OK, but not great.  The other Gary
(W0GHZ) was in his driveway by then, and looking toward MPLS also.  I
didn't manage to work him, but I think others did.  Someone else will have
to report on that.  Jon, K0FQA got on about then, and I worked him solid
from Red Wing.  65 miles.  This is now a well known path, and we've worked
it morning and afternoon.  Its our best, long path in the area.  (It should
be: the buildings in downtown MPLS are visible to both sites, and lie on
the direct path heading.  Couldn't have planned it better!!)

Had a number of people stop and ask what was going on while I was at Red
Wing (the park/overlook is very popular - sometime too much so as people
get in the way).  All curious... nobody sic'ed the Sheriff on me.  Was able
to demonstrate with both Lenny (off MPLS buildings) and Jon, up in
Fletcher.  That one suitably impressed 2-3 people who knew where Rodgers
is.  A couple people even knew what ham radio was, although no hams stopped
by (or at least didn't say).

I left for Idell Ave and then home.  Again, the others were still playing,
but I don't know what success they had.

>From Idell Ave to Birkmose Park was surprisingly tough.  Very poor copy,
and sensitive aiming.  Its only 17 miles, but the path is very poor.  The
bluff at the St. Croix is only 3-4 miles away, and all of the land between
is somewhat higher than either end.  It did work, but....

The only path we didn't try was from Birkmose to New Trier.  That path is
decent, though, a little shorter than to Cannon Falls, and should be OK.

So, we have one more spot for contesting, with at least three good sites
shared with the Mounds Park site.  With some planning, we can do OK in the
10GHz Cumulative in and around the Cities.

73 Donn
WA2VOI/0