[NLRS] This weekends 24 Ghz report

[Mike King - KM0T]

Here is another 24 GHz report for those who care to read.



Gene - N0DQS and I decided to go for another grid today, this time EN11. 
Gene found a spot that was a bit over 1700 feet, but it would take a longer 
trip to the west to get more in the clear from my QTH.  We decided earlier 
in the week that Saturday was going to be a good day to give it a try as 
predictions were that it was to be 47 to 50 degree here today.



However, the accuracy of the weathermen in the area are something to 
desired, as when I woke up, it was still 24 degrees, no wind, but a ton of 
fog and frost.



Gene got on the road about 8:30AM and headed west as I prepped the equipment 
for the tripod on the roof.  About 10:00AM he was in position.  I checked 
the temp was only 28 degrees, humidity was 80% and lots of fog was still 
present.



The path was in the 95 mile range, and had a good profile on Topo USA, but I 
had to point to the SW from the house here, which puts the path through a 
good portion of town.  This includes trees, buildings and whatever, as I can 
only see beyond the first trees and houses.  It looked that I had a good 
chance though as the foliage in the distance was minor in comparison to the 
path either side.



Gene and I went back and forth for an hour or so with only a few blips and 
bleeps heard.  The fog was beginning to lift a bit, but it was still 28 to 
30 degrees and the wind was brisk.  This made tuning up and down the band a 
bit tough as my right had was getting solid just a minute or two into the 
receive sequence.



With that, we decided that I should go to the SW part of town, just on the 
outside edge but keep on the path.  I looked at Topo USA and found a spot 
just to the south of the center of town, on the west edge, still in the 
residential area, but had a nice horizon to the SW.



I got set up there in within a few minutes I had already found Gene.  The 
fog had lifted and the sun was out and shining nice, but it was still 32 
degrees and high humidity.  This spot was shielded from the wind, which was 
a nice change of pace :)



There was a good haze in the distance and Gene's signals were incredibly 
strong, 5x8 to 5x9 on CW with a bit of QSB.   We chatted on SSB for a bit 
and one could really see the QSB there, but at this distance, these were the 
strongest signals we had ever heard.  The only problem was that as you 
listened, you had to have your hand on the VFO as the signals were in 
constant flux due to the temperature drift.



Strangely, with the lower temps, I found Gene about 30 KC higher than where 
I expected.  I hoped that this was the reason that I had not found him from 
the roof.



With that, I headed home and got all the equipment set back up.  If there 
was an "opening" going on, I wanted to move fast so I could get the contact 
from home.  However, 45 minutes of going back and forth resulted in nothing 
heard.  This was very discouraging as the signals being so strong just a 
mile closer, one would think some would make it through the clutter of town. 
We were also careful to not let Gene move his dish, as for the best we could 
tell, the path would be the same.  So during my receive sequences from the 
roof, I moved the dish a few degrees and tuned the band.  I did this for a 
range of nearly 20 degrees back and forth many times, still nada.



The only thing I could think of then was that it was a band "opening" of 
sorts or it was clutter in town.  So, I hoofed everything back down from the 
roof, loaded up the truck and went back to the same spot outside of town.  I 
wanted to be sure if signals were still there, or if we had missed our 
window.



Well, after getting setup, I found Gene in less than a minute.  Signals were 
about 1 to 2 s-units less, but I would get the occasional S8 peak while I 
was tracking his cw beacon.  The temp was now up to 36 degrees, and that 
really helped as the drifting was much less.  Also, the haze was pretty much 
gone and visibility was about 10 miles according to NOAA.  Humidity was 
pretty constant, about 80%.  We also made a point then to check the width of 
the signals in terms of the path.  We were easily able to hear each other 
+/- 5 degrees, so we concluded that pointing had not been the problem.



I did not have the energy at that point to go back on the roof and try 
again.  I am now convinced that I need more elevation to get over the 
clutter in town at that heading.



Conclusions:



My right hand was frozen pretty much each time I had to listen.  Time to get 
some light gloves with some feel in them.  Its hard to tune the FT-817 with 
snowmobile mits!



Winter conditions I think are very good, as long as one can keep warm and 
the horizon is good.   I don't think haze for attenuation was a problem at 
these temps, perhaps it was the medium that was giving us the best signals 
we had had at these distances.  I don't think it was an "opening" of sorts, 
as the two contacts we made were hours apart.



Anyway, back to find a path to EN11 that is more west.  It looks like when I 
shoot about 230 degrees, Im out of the path junk, but that makes that path 
of contact about 125 miles, more than we had ever done.  And it will take 
Gene a lot more windshield time to get there and back.



73 and hope all is going well this holiday season.



Mike - KM0T