[NLRS] 10GHZ, several years of progress

[Doug Reed]

We've come a long way baby!  

Five years ago there were around 5 people in town with 10GHz WBFM rigs and
it was hard to work each other because IF frequencies were tuneable, Gunn
frequency was often not set correctly, and you needed to build a matched
pair to have someone to talk to....

Three years ago a few NB rigs appeared in the area and we had a "group
project" to build more WBFM rigs with Ramsey IF receivers. We had cracked
the "10 mile" barrier and were working 14 miles and trying for 25 miles or
more. 

Two years ago the number of NB rigs had doubled and we were making the
"long paths" shooting across the narrow end of Lake Superior and had made
the 60 mile path from Red Wing to Rogers. 

One year ago the number of NB rigs had again increased and we proved that
100 miles over land wasn't impossible, and the path from the North Shore to
the UP of Michigan was realistic. 

This year there are more 10GHz NB rigs than ever with more coming on line
each month. This year the Lake Superior paths were almost laughably easy
and we started wondering about extending our reach to the far side of the
lake and across Lake Michigan. We've learned that we can bounce signals off
rain as well as the buildings downtown and we almost got a new record.....
We've learned that long distance contacts can be a lot more common than was
originally thought as proven by the recent contacts with VE4MA, KM0T, and
K0AWU. 

We haven't conquered 10GHz by a long shot, but we've come to a better
understanding of what can be done on the band. There still is quite a bit
of room for experimenting. We don't even have any propagation beacons on
the air..... 

What new worlds are there??? We have maybe 5 people in the metro with 24GHz
rigs and they are still very experimental in nature. Did anyone make a
24GHz contact for the 10GHz & up contest? 

We have quite a number of people with laser equipment but I don't think any
of it is ready for 1 mile paths, let alone longer. The oldest laser systems
in the area are the 1KHz tone units that Gary WB0LJC and Bob W0AUS built
many years ago. I think the most predominant systems in number are the
Ramsey kits but I haven't heard much about improving them to get decent
communications distance. My personal preference is for the 20 or 30 KHz FM
sub carrier units that they've been building on the west coast. The choice
of a 2M HT for the IF receiver makes it fairly convenient although any
radio with NBFM capability could be used, even a 10M rig or a scanner.
(That's a perfect use for that old 16 channel mobile scanner of mine....)

I expect we'll see some progress on the laser front over the winter and
next summer. During the winter we'd would probably have better range
because there is less moisture in the air. We don't have to worry much
about frequency stability either. Just bundle up so you don't freeze. <g> 

I have been particularly intrigued by the reports of clear air and cloud
bounce from laser experimenters out east. We might have to get out of town
away from the lights to work DX or just maybe the cloud bounce can overcome
the ambient lighting as well..... How long until we get to that level???? 1
year?? 2 years??? What do you think?

That's my opinion piece for this evening. I may be a little off on dates......

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.