[NLRS] 24 GHz snow scatter QSO

[Mike King - KM0T]

Hi guys, it was pretty cool.  I saw Jon right away, so that was very nice 
after months of nothing heard as Jon indicated.

I updated the website front page with a screen shot of the Rainscatter 
(snow) program and also a screen shot of the SDR-1000 of what the signal 
looked like.

Thanks for the new grid Jon, awesome job in the cold.  I was sitting toasty 
in the shack cheering the vikes to victory while I was running the QSO!

73

Mike - KM0T

PS - we are running about 2.5 to 3 watts on each end.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <W0ZQ at aol.com>
To: <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <w3zz at arrl.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 3:54 PM
Subject: [NLRS] 24 GHz snow scatter QSO


>
>
> Mike, KM0T (EN13vc) and I worked on 24 GHz snow scatter at around noon
> today.  My grid was EN34fs, Scott County Towers, a distance of 175.5 
> miles,  or
> 274.2 km.   Mike and I have been trying the EN34/EN13 path for  several 
> months
> and had yet to hear each other until today.   After  months of listening 
> to
> hiss, it sure was nice to hear Mikes CW signal !
>
> There was snow between us, but no snow on my end.   Temperature  was 20
> degrees F with no wind.   We found each other on 10gigs with  good S9 
> signals which
> helped to line up dishes on 24 GHz.  The bearing  on 10 GHz was somewhat
> broad, sometimes typical of rain scattter.   I started to beacon on 24 GHz 
> and
> Mike found me pretty quickly  ....  signals on 24 GHz were not strong, 
> above the
> noise, and with no tone;  definitely scatter, much like aurora signals 
> ....
> what I like to call a  very nice CW contact.   We did tried SSB and we 
> could
> tell that there  was a signal there, but it could not be read.  FM 
> resulted in no
> detection  at all.
>
> Following this I drove to EN25xb, the site by Howard  Lake, but by the 
> time I
> got there the snow had moved on.   Although  EN25xb is actually a few 
> miles
> closer, condx on 10 GHz to Mike's were not very  good with only S3 like 
> signals
> and with nothing at all heard on 24  GHz.    We also tried a skewed path 
> to a
> heavier area of snow  fall, but signals on 10 GHz were very weak.
>
> We have tried EN34 to EN13 on 24 GHz via rain scatter before with no  luck 
> to
> date, but perhaps snow scatter has some advantages at 24  GHz.   Both Mike
> and I are running about 4 watts and 19" dishes
>
>
> 73, Jon
> W0ZQ
>
>
> Come and join us here in Bloomington,  Minnesota, home of the Mall of
> America, July 27 & 28, 2006 for the 40th  annual Central States VHF 
> Society
> Conference hosted once again by the  NLRS.
>
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