[NLRS] A good day of 10gig rain scatter

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

With the recent warm weather, those in the NLRS who are active on  10gig's 
were very active last night.   Here is a brief summary of who  worked who .... 
let me know of any corrections and updates as I want to pass  this on to W3ZZ.
 
W0PHD EN18oe    W0GHZ EN34lx   284.5 miles,  459 km
W0PHD EN18oe    N0KP/0  EN34fs    281.9 miles, 455 km
W0PHD EN18oe    VE4MA EN19lu   115.6 miles,  187 km   backscatter
 
VE4MA EN19lu    W0GHZ  EN34lx    385.4 miles, 622 km
VE4MA EN19lu    W0ZQ/0  EN34mo    409.8 miles, 661 km    New NA 4th  longest 
10gig RS
VE4MA EN19lu    KC0IYT/0 EN34mo   Same as  above
VE4MA EN19lu    W0ZQ/0  EN34nl   419.9 miles,  677 km      New NA 3d longest 
10gig RS
VE4MA EN19lu    KC0IYT/0  EN34nl    Same  as above
VE4MA EN19lu    N0KP        EN34gt   386.8 miles, 624 km   Dave from home !
 
W0ZQ/0 EN34mo   W0GHZ EN34lx    25.6 miles on a  long backscatter path !
KC0IYT/0  EN34mo  W0GHZ EN34lx    Same as  above
 
 
I got home about 7:00pm last night, turned on the radar after being away  
from any data for several hours and said "Wow !".   After a flurry of  activity 
here, I was out the door, albeit without my cell phone.    Glen, KC0IYT, saw my 
posting that said I was headed out the door and joined me  as we headed south 
on Hwy 52 to New Trier (EN34mo).  Our goal was  to stretch out the distance 
from our Sunday night QSO with Barry which was  made from Burnsville (EN34is).  
 Glen and I arrived at the  New Trier site very close to 8:00pm to find out 
via W0GHZ and 146.46 that Barry  was in a short delay.   That time allowed us 
to warm up the dishes (  .... hmmm, it was already 88 degrees !)  and to work 
W0GHZ on a very  long rain back scatter path.   New Trier is only 26 miles from 
Gary  and we have worked from there on a direct path before, so it was pretty 
funny to  work on such a skewed, long path.   Sometime around 8:25pm I heard 
a  strong RS modulated CW signal calling CQ that turned out to be Barry,  
VE4MA.   After peaking dishes, Barry was running a strong S9 with  excursions to 
10 dB over.   Both Glen and I made a quick QSO with  Barry, CW and SSB, then 
threw the dishes in the cars to head further  south.   The next stop was 
Highview (EN34nl) just south of Cannon  Falls.    We arrived at Highview just before 
9:00 pm and had no  problems finding Barry who was calling CQ.   It was a 
matter of  stopping the car, setting up the dish, leveling it, swish the dish and 
VFO a  little, and there he was .... all in about a minute or so.   Again  
Barry was strong, S9+ and both Glen and I made SSB Q's.   After  looking around 
for a few minutes for others, calling CQ, Barry and I tried  FM.   Barry's 
signal was full quieting with a little of that popping  noise that we are familiar 
with.   
 
According to my distance calculations (using WinGrid V3.2), our contact  with 
Barry from EN34mo is a new 4th place NA RS record while the one from EN34nl  
is a new 3d place NA RS record.   The current second place records are  440 
mile (710 km) and 458 miles (738 km).   With the darkness closing  in, and with 
my uncertainty with good sites south of HighView, we did not press  southward 
any more.  I'll probably be thinking about the  decisions for a while ...... I 
do know that based upon my previous research  that we would need to be just 
south of Rochester for a new all time record  ...... next time !
 
Please send me any updates, modifications you may have to my list  above.    
 
BTW, frequency stability and accuracy was not a problem, nor was dish  
aiming.   Experience and knowledge with our equipment is a big big  plus.   Also, 
thanks to GHZ and KP for the help with coordination via  146.46.
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ