[NLRS] 10Ghz Contest thoughts

[Mark Oeltjenbruns]

I'd like to take the time to share my introduction to 10Ghz operation and my
experience at the 10Ghz Contest this last weekend.

I found out about the CSVHS conference just a few days before it was to
start and am very glad I took that Friday off to go check it out.  It was a
well run conference and I really learned a lot.  I ran into a lot of
friendly people that were very willing to share details about their rover
stations, antenna measurements, noise figure measurements and various other
topics.  In particular I'd like to thank Glen, KC0IYT for taking a long time
to explain all the details of the various 10Ghz+ systems on display in the
parking lot and how the upper microwave modes work.  He also piqued my
interest in rain scatter and told me  how some people are using the weather
radar system to predict when weather systems may be able to support long
haul contacts.  I tried to drink from the fire hose and was quite intrigued
but overwhelmed.  At the conference I bought the prior conference
proceedings available.  Among all the great articles was one  by K0SM,
Andrew Flowers, author of the 'Rainscatter' program that Glen told me
about.  It was a great article; it even covered the physics behind the
mode.  Cool!

A little while later I was scanning the 2M band and came across some people
on 146.46 with N0KP coming in very strong.  After they finished I called him
and we proceeded to have a long conversation about 10Ghz operation.  He told
me about the upcoming 10Ghz contest and suggested I stop by and check it
out.  About the same time I had a few email conversations with W0ZQ about
rain scatter, prompted by a rather brief, for someone new to it, report of a
QSO he had with KM0T.  He patiently explained things to this newbie and also
mentioned the upcoming contest and other resources to look into.

Lonsdale was too far to make, and conflicted with the Smartsfest that
Saturday, but I decided to try Buck Hill Sunday to see first hand how real
live systems work in a contest mode.   What a treat!

Once again, I was greeted with many friendly people that were happy to share
various details about their setups; during the time rovers were in motion of
course!  I wandered around a bit looking at systems and met up with N0KP and
W0ZQ.  There was a mini-cluster of 4 stations near those two giving me
ample opportunities to  see how the contest works, from initial beaconing
and rover locating to contact rotation.

Then the magic happened, N0KP offered to setup one of his systems for me to
use, provided I was going to be around for a while; something about taking
it out of commission and contest rules.  What started out as a just quick
look around ended up in operating in my first 10Ghz contest for several
hours.  What a fun way to spend the rest of the day!  Although I followed RF
safety precautions and didn't stand in front of the dishes, I did not
practice UV safety precautions: Ouch.

I like to think I got the hang of it pretty quickly, though not working much
with SSB did make it a challenge following everyone drifting around in
frequency.  It must really be a challenge to be a rover.  KM0T's article in
the conference proceedings on highly accurate oscillator sources for
microwave beacons now made much more sense!

I was around for 6 stops of the rovers, and even had the opportunity to work
WA0SSN on rain scatter, or as I like to refer to it: Corn Scatter.  It is
one thing to hear the various recordings of Rain/Hail/Snow/Aurora/Meteor
Scatter on the net, but it is really exciting to actually work a contact
with it!

I'd like to thank WA2VOI, N0NAS, W9FZ, WB0LJC, KC0IYT AND N0UK, the hard
working rovers that made my first outing a lot of fun.  I'd also like thank
the other 13 hams I met out at Buck hill for being so friendly to a new
comer.  A big thank you goes to N0KP who lent me the use of one of his
setups.

Thank you all involved for the fun time!

-Mark
AJ0Y