[NLRS] What a way to end 2005 - 24 GHz News

[Mike King - KM0T]

Its been a good year here at KM0T - First off I need to say thanks to all 
the guys that have helped me out!  Without the help, all this would not have 
happened.

I worked 2 more grids on 24 GHz today, to give a total of 15...now its time 
to send off for the endorsement!

Jon, W0ZQ was good enough to go out and brave the 30 degree temps (I know, 
not too cold) but still after the recent storm up in Minnesota with snow all 
over the place, that was a big favor.

I noticed some precip showing on radar around noon today, and watched it for 
a bit as it was moving in a slightly SE path, moving into a potential center 
scattering point for EN25 and EN35.  I got ahold of Jon and we watched it 
for a bit before he headed out.

Jon got to EN25 and fired up the 10 GHz liasion, good signals...I found Jon 
with very little effort, albeit weaker..but what I would call a 56 to 57 
here.  We did not mess around and he headed out for EN35, hoping the precip 
would hold.  No problem there either, but weaker signals.  The storm was in 
the process of breaking up.

Details on path distances and pictures of storms via the rainscatter 
program, as well as an SDR screen shot is on the main page of my website. 
www.km0t.com

The distance was about the same as what we did earlier in December.  Thanks 
again the Andy - K0SM for such a great software tool!  "Rainscatter!" rocks!

It appears that when dewpoints are in the 30s, this distance would be very 
repeatable...if there is some precip near the scatter point.  Im pretty sure 
its snow scatter, as the signal was slightly distorted, but not as bad as 
last time on 12-11-05 when we worked EN34.  (I believe that the storm was a 
slow mover.  No doppler was experienced.)  However, on that day of 12-11-05, 
Jon went to the same spot he went today, and no signals were heard on 24 GHz 
as the storm had broken up by the time he got there back then.  And the dew 
points and temps were about the same back then.  (10 GHz was way down as 
well at that spot when the storm broke up)

We are pretty pumped up for going for more distance now....as the 20 grid 
mark will be a long time in coming Im afraid, pretty hard to coordiante 
trips to the outlying grids with storms, sleet, snow in the right spot, but 
we shall see.  But it sure dont mean I wont try :)

The SDR-1000 bandscope was instrumental once again in quickly finding the 
signals, as Jon had done some mods to the 24 GHz dish he was using and the 
freq I expected to find him on was not working out.  Some quick tuning and I 
saw him 25 Khz or so up from where I expected, but the SDR made it easy! 
"Oh- I see you!" is getting to be a pretty standard statement when using the 
SDR-1000!

Thanks again Jon-W0ZQ for going out again.

73 to all and Happy New Year!

Mike - KM0T EN13vc

www.km0t.com

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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See W0ZQs previous email text from today on his side of the scatter 
point....posted here for convienience...

Hello NLRS land.

Mike, KM0T,  gave me a call this afternoon when he noted some radar
precipitation between us  in a favorable location.   Throwing the 10 and 24 
GHz dishes
in the  car I drove out to the Winstead grid corner arriving at around 3:00 
pm
or  so.   I first set up in EN25wb at the radio tower just south of Howard
Lake, MN.   Mike and I aligned on 10 gigs pretty quickly with S7 to S8
signals.  After looking down the bore sight on the 10 GHz dish, I lined up 
the 24
GHz dish on the same heading and started to beacon.   Mike  found me pretty
quickly, we peaked up on both ends, and exchanged calls and  grids on CW.
Signals were actually pretty good, S2 or S3, rough in  tone so scatter like, 
and on
the direct heading to Mike.   I had a  little upward elevation, perhaps a 
few
degrees, but this may be within the  tolerance of the bubble & dish/fed, 
etc.
 I was either on the  horizon, or just up a degree or two.  EN13vc to EN25wb
is 170.4 miles,  or 274.2 km, and grid # 14 for Mr. King.   We didn't play 
too
long as  I wanted to take advantage of whatever the propagation path was so 
I
threw the  dishes in the car to head over to EN35.    I found a spot to set
up in EN35ab and proceeded to find Mike on 10 Gigs with no problem.    10 
Gigs
is such a great band !   We got lined up on 24 gig and found  each other,
albeit with weaker signals, no better than S1 signals on my  end.   After
exchanging calls and grids on CW, Mike had grid #15 in  the bank at a 
distance of
175.5 miles, or 282.5 km.

The weather on my end was 28 degrees, gray with a heavy overcast, and  light
to no wind .... nice conditions for the end of December.   Mike  collected 
and
saved the radar plots that showed precipitation between us, but  according 
to
Mike none of the ground stations were reporting any .... perhaps  Verga ?
It was not snowing on my end nor on Mikes end.   I'm not sure that we made 
this
path because of snow scatter or because of  reduced water vapor pressure (28
degrees vs summer time conditions) ..... I'm  leaning towards snow scatter,
but I think we still have a lot to learn about  this.   I do know that our
previous attempts at 24 gig rain scatter  during the summer over similar 
paths have
not been successful; big signals on 10  gig, no signals on 24 gig.   More
experimenting is needed, but  it SEEMS that snow is a better scattering 
material
on 24 gig's than is rain  .... maybe coupled with lower water vapor pressure
when its cold ....  maybe.

In any case, two new grids for Mike, 15 grids worked on 24  GHz, and an
afternoon of fun for me.

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.