[NLRS] Lake Michigan 10 Ghz

[Mikek]

Howdy all

Quick report on the first weekend.  In short, fantastic!
Drove up north of Kewaunee, Wisconsin to work K2YAZ, WB9SPT, NN9X,
and WB8TGY who were all located up in EN74 (Northern MI).  I started
in EN64 and started moving down the coast with primary stops around
Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Racine WI, and Winthrop Harbor, IL
covering three grids (EN64, EN63, and EN62).  For every stop,
signals across the lake were from S5 to 20 over S9.  The conditions
actually improved towards the afternoon and several times, we
used FM to make the QSO.  I started with my 2ft dish but found it
easier to use the 17db horn mounted on the transverter.  Power out
was around 200mw.  I was joined by Marc, N8KWX just north of Milwaukee
and we worked the MI crew a couple more times finally concluding
at Wind Point, WI.  I drove out to Winthrop Harbor, IL on Sunday
to work K2YAZ on SSB with just a horn antenna.  Didnt work out
the distances yet but these were all 100km plus contacts with the
Winthrop Harbor QSO coming out to a little over 200mi over water.
Crowd encounters on the lakefront were all friendly with plenty
of questions as to what I was doing.

Strangest comment I heard was:
"If we go to war, they are going to hate you!"
My response was:  "But, Im one of the good guys!"

Also heard from one couple going to the beach:
"Are you doing anything we should not be here for?"

Most enlightened comment:
"Cool!"
and...
"Are you doing some kind of weather experiment?"

Thanks to Bob, Mark, Neil, and Alex for all the Q's and for
risking a slow roasting hanging out on the beach while I 
navigated along the back roads looking for lake access in WI.

On to September!

73 de AA9IL
Mike Kana
-- 
Caution, Distance Ahead
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