[NLRS] Fun with rain scatter

[jcplatt1 at mmm.com]

Yesterday afternoon several of us locals were playing 10GHz off the
approaching storm.   I was setup in the usual spot in Burnsville (EN34is)
around 4:30 PMish.   We were able to have a nice hour long rag chew on
10368.100 FM with W0GHZ, W9FZ, W0AUS, and K0SHF, all from their home QTHs
in and around the greater Twin Cities area.

A couple of interesting things to note that we were all discussing.   One
was that there was a loud roar heard on everyone's FM signal.   It sounded
much like standing next to a water falls while having a conversation.    We
have work a bit of rain scatter before with some interesting affects on FM,
but nothing as dominating and consistent as this was.   The second thing of
interest was that we were able to swing our dishes east and west a fair
amount (15 to 20 degrees) and everyone could then re-peak up on the new
heading ..... I think we had a broad rain front to scatter off of and it
was a matter of everyone illuminating the same spot .... the rain cloud was
bigger than our dish illumination.    Everyone's signals were very very
strong as most of the time they were pegging my S-meter.   We all had to
elevate our dishes some 10 degrees or a bit more but I suspect that we
could have aimed just about anywhere as long as we were all aimed at the
same spot !

Looks like tomorrow afternoon and evening we may have another change for
thunderstorms and an opportunity to work both north and south depending how
any storms take shape.   As of today, the slight risk area for tomorrow
extends from far northern MN down through NE and points south.

73, Jon
W0ZQ