[NLRS] Saturday 10 GHz activity (long)

[wb0ljc at juno.com]

Hi all,

Saturday afternoon there was some local 10G activity.
A group consisting of Donn, WA2VOI, Tony, KD0JI,
Glenn, KC0IYT, John, W0JT, Russ, W0LMS, and Ed,
WB0VHF, met at Indian Mounds Park in St Paul. 
Don, WA0SSN, and Gary, WB0LJC, met at a new site
SE of Northfield.

For most of the Mound Park ops is was a chance to 
shake out their systems. I think it was Ed's initial QSO
because I was told he was still hooking up the TX
end of things. To start the test signals from
Northfield we bounced off of the Minneapolis buildings.
This gave the Mounds Park ops a chance to do a little 
peaking and tuning with a strong signal. Radio Mobile
says that there could be a visual path. It wasn't clear 
enough to see the buildings though. Next we tried the
direct path without telling the Mounds ops where to 
point or what frequency I would be on. I just told them 
we were SE of Northfield. The direct path is almost
straight south. You have to aim into the river bank on
the other side. Our take off is much better, about 25 kM.
After a few beacon sequences everyone got aimed and
on freq. Then I moved freq and aimed the dish off a few
degrees for a weaker signal. Again everyone found
me. Last I beaconed toward a water tower some miles away.
Nothing was heard at the Mounds Park end. I'm
not surprised, it was a long shot at best. The 
tower was probably five miles away from me.

Don, WA0SSN, made his first 10G contacts using 
a loaner rig from Bob, W0AUS. Don was excited and
had a good time. He said it was like being a novice again.
He did experience one of the basic lessons that those of us
who been on for a while have learned. Don's recently
charged battery only put out 10.5V. Been there, done that!
I had a spare battery that solved his problem.

One highlight was working Russ, LMS. He has a
bare bones DEM transverter with 10mW output. He
didn't think he could work that distance running QRP.
His signal was weaker than the others who are running
1 to 2 W but was easily workable. The direct path is 
about 41 miles.

The Northfield locations is one of the sites I scouted last
fall. It is in EN34li at 44d 21' 30.9"N  93d 2' 25.0"W.
It has good views from NE to W. The actual road location
is on Goodhue Ave (which runs N-S, and is the border
between Rice and Goodhue counties)  between
150th and 160th St E. It is south of Dennison and NE
of Nerstand. For north views this seems to be the best 
of the sites I've found in the area. There are other sites
that offer better views in the other directions. The local
neighbor said it was the highest point in the county.
It seems like I've heard that a Vasa and Cannon Falls too.

On the way home I looked at some of the sites
that I had previously scouted. Most of them don't look
as good as they did last fall. 6 foot high corn gets in the way.

I did find a number of sites that are just west of Hampton.
These sites offer good views from Sisseton, to Mel's sites
in SE MN. One  has  a direct view of the Minneapolis
buildings. I saw the buildings so I know I can trust Radio
Mobile this time. The sites are located west of County 47,
Northfield Blvd. Some of them are on 250th St E. Here the
good looks are to Mel's sites as well as to the N and NW.
Hello Sisseton! Further west between 250 th and 260th on
Blaine Ave there are great looks from E to S and SW. 
West of Blaine on 260th St E are the best views to the SE.
The first is at 44d 34' 21.2"N  93d 3' 35.3"W EN34ln. This
has views from ESE through S to W and from N looking
west to 280d. Directly N is blocked by a corn field. The
second site, with views of the Mpls buildings, is in the 
same subgrid a little further west on 260 th at 
44d 34' 21.3"N 93d 3' 52.7"W.

There may be some 10G activity today. Listen on 146.46
at about 9AM.

Thanks to everyone who went out Saturday. I hope you had
some fun and learned a few things.

73,  Gary  WB0LJC


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