[NLRS] 10 ghz does go west!

[Mike King - KM0T]

Well, it worked out pretty well, great job AL for finding me!  Was watching
some cells in mid south dakota all day and called Al - W0PUF over in DN84.
He took his dish out and we started setting up.

Used Andy's program "Rain Scatter" to get a basic heading and sure enough,
Al heard me.  Signals were weak at first and we did the QSO on CW.  I did
not want to move the dish since I was hearing him, just to get the qso done.

Once the contact was complete, which went very well - 5x1xA with QSB - we
peaked up and we were 55 to each other the rest of the time.  SSB was
auroral sounding, distroted but readable.  FM was tried, 5x1 with noise,
then some qsb into the noise.

I heard AL the next 40 minutes or so beaconing as he tried with Gary W0GHZ
and Gene - N0DQS...I dont belive they made it, but will let them comment on
what happened.

Direct path here to Al is 283 with his return at 98, distance of 356 miles-
573 km.  He was peaked at 298 here with his peak at 83 degrees.  The
rainscatter program got plotted to those exact headings and sure enough, the
responsible storm was present.  Intrestingly enough, the scatter point was
about EN04gj - scatter angle was 145 - total path was 374 miles and
distances to the scatter point on both sides was very equal at 186 to 189
miles giver or take.

Both dishes on each side were on the deck - no elevation and I had about a 5
to 8 degree width of where I could hear signals.  Peak signals were in the 3
degree range.  Headings were verified by compass on Als side.  And my
datascope electronic compass on my side.  Al runs a 6 watt TWT, 12+ watts
over here from me.

Thanks Al for the awesome contact and new grid!

73

Mike - KM0T

PS - tried working dave - N0KP from EN46 - he was hearing me, but I just
could not pull him out of the noise.  We are going to try again tommorow
morning.  2 new grids on 10 ghz in one day aint bad...I will settle for that
I guess.