[NLRS] NLRS Superior Expedition Trip Report -- W9FZ (long)

[Bruce Richardson]

Hi Gang:
I've been trying to find the time to lash together some memories so
that others would know about the fun experience we had.

10 GHz operators, within the Northern Lights Radio Society,
accomplished a very successful mission to make many contacts across
Lake Superior during the ARRL 10 GHz and Above Contest.  We learned
much about operating locations, weather and rf propagation conditions,
and good operating techniques for rapid and abundant QSO's.

The planning for this mission began pretty soon after last year's
10GHz contest.  The 8 or 9 guys that took part had such a good time
that each began to think "how could we do this on a bigger scale?".
Through the winter months and into spring the possibility was
discussed at breakfasts and in a few emails within the 10G community.
In June, we started advertising for firm committments.  All interested
operators met for a planning meeting in early August.  By making a
special meeting of it, there were no distractions like at a normal
Saturday breakfast.

At our planning meeting, we worked through the concept of what we
wanted to accomplish.  We tried to anticipate how good things could be
and how difficult they might be.  We brainstormed our equipment needs
and assigned operators to bring certain items.  We even hashed out
operating techniques that could make contacts go quickly and surely so
that no possible combinations were missed.  After the meeting, our
consensus was drawn up into an Operations Plan which was distributed
to all participants.

We had 8 (and sometimes 10) operators on Minnesota's North Shore and 7
operators in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  I will tell of the Upper
Peninsula since that is the end where I operated.  The North Shore
team consisted of K0SHF, K0GCJ, W0AUS, N0UK, W0ZQ, N0KP, N0NAS and
KT8O.  THe UP team consisted of WB0LJC, WA2VOI, KD0JI, KC0P, N0HZO,
K0KFC, and W9FZ.

The thing about the UP end is that it is a LONG way to Copper
Harbor--well over an 8 hour drive.  Sure, it's awfully pretty along
the way and when you get there but when you get out of the car you
can't help but say "that's a LONG drive".  Each of us drove
individually (except for the husband and wife team of KC0P and N0HZO).
Three of us departed on Thursday with the intent of driving leisurely
the long distance and perhaps doing some sightseeing on Friday.  I
drove eastward on I-94 and 29 to Wausau and then Northward on 51, 17,
and 45. From Eagle River through Bruce Crossing I was in familiar
territory from my youth.  I got to Calument, MI about 6pm and decided
to use the daylight to do some site surveys.  Maps showed several
sites with promise but investigation revealed them to be all houses
with no good spots for operating.  I did find a good one at Tamarack
Water Works.  Good angles and easy access by car.  I also discovered a
nice high location at EN57sh called Bumbletown Hill (FAA site) that
had great views in many (but not all) directions.  I'm sure I'll do
some VHF roves from up there some day.  I didn't notice any RF
problems at the site.  After several hours of poking around, I headed
on up to Copper Harbor to check-in to the motel.  Donn, WA2VOI, pulled
in just moments behind me.  Donn and I enjoyed a nice dinner at the
Mariner North.

We met Jim, K0KFC, and his wife over at their motel and they had a
nice day of driving and looking around.  We agreed to meet the next
morning for Breakfast at The Pines.  Friday morning after a nice
breakfast, Donn and I decided to research EVERY useable spot between
Great Sand Bay and Fort McLain State Park.  We found several good
spots like Calumet County Park Beach and Fort McLain SP, but each of
those would require carrying equipment 50 to 150 yards.  Ideally, we
wanted a location not much more than 10 miles from Great Sand Bay that
would be suitable.  We hoped that Sand Hills Lighthouse would pan out
but it was not 10 miles away and it would have required a 100 yard
equipment carry.  There was one place left on the map that would fit
the bill IF it had access.  We ended up at a place called Sunset Beach
Campground.  Near the campsites it didn't have the best view towards
Duluth, but it would be perfect for the rest of the contacts.  Plus,
we could pull a vehicle or two in and have the liaison radio near by.
We made arrangements with the Campground caretaker to have "spot 12"
available for us on Sunday--we even put down $35 to hold it.

Donn and I started following a gravel road that would take us to a
place called Gratiot River Mouth Beach.  Well, as it got narrower and
bumpier, we both made the decision that no matter how good the
location, we weren't going to get 6 vehicles with antennas down this
road.  Then we finally got to a point where 4-wheel drive was required
and Donn parked his mini-van and climbed in with me.  We worked our
way down to the beach just to see what was there.  It was a nice beach
with a nice view and no crowds--but just too inaccessible.  So it was
a fun adventure that didn't yield an operating location.  Now it was
near 3pm on Friday.  Donn and I went to the car-wash in Calumet and
washed our cars of the dust we had picked up in the middle of nowhere.

Friday evening, Tony, KD0JI, and Gary, WB0LJC, arrived.  All of us
went to the Harbor Haus for a nice dinner.

Saturday morning, we all were up bright and early in order to have
breakfast at the Tamarack Inn at 6:30.  After a quick breakfast, we
were on our way driving the 17 miles to Great Sand Bay (EN57vk).  The
drive on Hwy 26, which is mostly right along the shore, is curvy,
bumpy, and pretty.  We got to Great Sand Bay and all set up pretty
quickly.  I got the liaison rig ready and we were ready for RF at
about  0745 local.  The guys on the Duluth end were an hour earlier
and set up ready to go as well.  A quick call on the liaison radio
revealed they were ready.  We started beaconing and they found us
right away and both sides were LOUD.  This was sure different from 11
months previous.  We all worked in a piece-meal round-robin fashion
that revealed we were going to appreciate the order we had planned for
subsequent locations.

The North Shore guys took down and sprinted across Duluth to Kitchi
Gammi Park.  Again they were LOUD.  This was easy!  About this time we
had a rain shower move through the UP.  We covered up our gear with
plastic and fortunately the wind did not kick up.  We climbed in our
vehicles for about 15 minutes to wait it out.  The rest of the weekend
was beautiful sunshine.  Warm, but not too hot.  The North Shore team
got faster and faster at set-up, take down, and relocation to the next
operating locations.  They were so good, that throughout the day, they
were able to activate 13 different locations.  At the end of the day,
they agreed to revisit Grand Marais Marina on their way to their
motel.  They would wait there while we relocated to Mt Brockway for
additional QSO's.  Those went off without a problem--but we had large
crowds of tourists on our end to contend with.  A planned shot to
K2YAZ was not successful.   Saturday night dinner was again at Mariner
North.

One pleasant surprise of Saturday was working W0GHZ and K0FQA on
copyable SSB QSO's on reflections/back scatter.  We were pointed
straight west and they were pointed straight north, but we were both
illuminating a common volume.  Either it was reflections off the
landmass or perhaps off of airmasses.  Either way, there they were for
two more Q's!  Another pleasant surprise was working KF9US 75 miles
(EN56fu) along the same shore on an obstructed path and then again
when he was 65 miles away (EN56iv).  On the second QSO, the only way
to complete was by bouncing off of the North Shore--the direct path
would not work.

We had a short night of sleep and were up again early on Sunday for
breakfast.  This time we had a longer drive to Sunset Beach Campground
(EN57tj). Again, it was a pretty drive along Hwys 41 and 26.  I zipped
into the campground to find "spot 12" full.  I woke up the caretaker
and asked what they wanted us to do.  While the fact that the
occupants were going to leave when they got up was fine for the
caretaker--we needed a place now!  Down near the boathouse was another
location but it would require a 50 yard haul of our equipment.  We
started shuttling our equipment out on to a point of land that
actually turned out to be a beautiful spot.  The trees blocked the sun
and wind for most of the day.  We were about 5 minutes late for our
first scheduled QSO's.  The North Shore was LOUD again and we zipped
through our exchanges.  The North Shore operators worked their way
south revisiting the spots they had activated the previous day.

Sunday Noonish, Jim K0KFC needed to hit the road southbound because he
needed to be at work on Monday.  Sunday afternoon, after our last QSO
at the Campground, we said good-bye to Mel, Carol, and Tony as they
needed to start making progress towards the Twin Cities.  Donn, Gary,
and I retreated back to Mt Brockway to try one last time with Thompson
Rest Area.  Amazingly, all 8 North Shore operators hung around for
that last QSO.  It yielded them about 1000 points each and it yielded
us about 2400 points each.  Then Donn, Gary, and I tried yet another
shot with K2YAZ.  There he was--weak, but copyable.  He heard Gary and
me and we were able to complete.  Thanks Bob!

The North Shore team started the weekend needing 22 minutes to
accomplish 70 QSO's and within a few stops worked that down to 17
minutes to make 56 QSO's.  It was impressive at how efficient the
North Shore ops were.  As far as relocating, they started out needing
about 25 minutes between the last transmissions at one location and
the first transmissions at the next.  As the weekend went along, it
got down to a consistent 15 minutes.  On the last couple of stops on
Sunday, the operators were already arriving at the new location and
putting out RF while we were still finishing Q's with the previous
site.  Impressive!  Signals for the most part were always LOUD--by
that I mean S9 plus.  But there were some notable exceptions.  Each
day, but particularly Saturday, there were mid-day lulls that effected
2 or three operating locations.  Signals drifted down to S1-S6--still
easy sideband QSO's, but not the rock crushing signals at the other
times.  This lull seemed to go from about 1100 till about 1400 local.
The other exception was late on Sunday--from Brockway Mtn (800' above
the water) and Thompson Rest Area (about 800' above the water--had
weak signals.  They were from the noise floor up to about an S5 during
the times of contacts.  It required careful peaking.  The previous
day, from Brockway to Grand Marais had been loud.

Well, each of us on the UP end made about 210 contacts.  On the North
Shore end, I believe they made about 185 QSO's each.  That's fine for
any VHF contest.  But what's significant is that by operating as an
organized group, every UP operator heard just about every QSO that
occurred during the weekend.  That means the UP operators listened to
about 1400 QSO's and that's a lot for anybody.  So that is why we are
all overdosed on RF for the weekend and will need a month--ok three
weeks--to recover for the Sept VHF contest.  The North Shore operators
listended to many of the QSO's but had to set up their equipment 26
times!!!!  That led to fatigue for them.

Donn and I stayed over in Copper Harbor for Sunday night.  I did some
touristy stuff on Monday in Copper Harbor like tour the lighthouse.  I
slowly worked my way south because this was the day it was like 95 in
the Twin Cities.  By nightfall, I had only gotten to Bruce Crossing
(EN56).  I tried running on 10G with W0GHZ but we were unsuccessful.
A nice Aurora popped up and I worked about 20 Q's off of that.  I was
out in a hay field getting to watch the Aurora while working it.
Tuesday I went to the farm in SW Wisconsin.  Thursday I was back at
work.  What a nice vacation.

The mission was a success because we had good friendly people that
kept great humor even when tired and stressed.  We had a good plan and
reasonable expectations.  We were rewarded with lots of RF and lots of
fun.

Thanks for reading.....

Bruce Richardson - W9FZ