[NLRS] NLRS - 10 GHz Club?

[N0HJZ at aol.com]

Hi All -

First, I'm not writing this to stir up trouble but to point out a direction 
our club has taken.  Over the past few years I've felt that we've taken a 
subtle shift in our club from a VHF/UHF club to a 10 GHz club.  

It was all kind of a "gut feel" and I couldn't quantify it.  To help see if 
my feelings were correct, I decided to track our reflector activity for the 
month of May.  I figured our email posts would be indicitive of our activity.  
Here is what I found:

There were 147 email posts in May that I saw.  Here are the topics that were 
posted:

10 GHz Propagation & Propagation Software - 37 emails
6M Openings - 21 emails
10 GHz Equipment - 20 emails
W0ZQ 10 GHz Trip - 13 emails
General Parts - 6 emails
10 GHz Net - 5 emails
Windbreakers - 4 emails
Sunday Night Net - 4 emails
Equipment Questions - 4 emails
Reflector Issues - 4 emails
For Sale - 3 emails
Expedition To EN55 - 3 emails
10 GHz General Comments - 3 emails
2M SSB - 2 emails
UHF Contest - 2 emails
Dayton - 2 emails
14 other emails touched on 10 GHz For Sale, Breakfast, 1296, 47 GHz, QRM on 
FM, MN QSO Party, VE3 Operation, States Above Totals, General Propagation, etc.

Of the 147 email posts, 79 were about 10 GHz.  That's 53.74% of the traffic 
on the reflector.  Even emails about other items, like the UHF Contest, had 
comments about "Bring your 10 GHz, etc."  If I were a newcomer to the reflector 
without any past knowledge of the club, I could come to the conclusion that our 
club meets on Friday nights to bounce signals off the IDS building and we 
wait for storms to bounce signals, plus we have a trip each year to Lake 
Superior.  

I'm not meaning to rip on anyone operating 10 GHz.  I think the research and 
experimentation the group has done in the past few years is commendable.  I'm 
wondering if there is anything else going on in our club?  Is anyone working 
meteor scatter anymore, building a kit for any band below 10 GHz, working on 
any beacons, looking for any aurora, working EME, etc?  What really got me was 
that we are less than two weeks from the June VHF QSO Party and no one has 
announced any plans.  If we were two weeks from the 10 GHz Contest, we'd have all 
sorts of plans floating on the reflector.

Is VHF/UHF dead here?  I know that, due to my move last year, I have been 
sporadic on the bands.  I'd like to hear what else we have going on in the area.

73  Rich N0HJZ