[NLRS] January Contest, W0ZQ

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

Entry Type:            SINGLE-OP ALL  HIGH
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Valid
QSOs    Pts/QSO   QSO Pts   Mult
50  MHz        37            1               37           8
144  MHz      46           1               46          10
222  MHz      18            2               36            7
432  MHz      30            2               60          10
902  MHz         9            4               36            4
1296  MHz    12            4              48             4
2304 MHz       4           8              32             1   
3456  MHz      2            8               16             1 
10368 MHz     2            8              16             1

Total
All  Bands   160                         327      46

W0ZQ CLAIMED SCORE:    15,042
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After my Saturday afternoon mini-rove-light, I had to reassemble the home  
station and didn't get back on the air until Sunday morning.   I  used my new 
FT-897 on 2 and 432 just to take it through its paces and to work  with it more. 
  As such, I was only running about 50 watts on  2m.   
 
It sure was fun working everyone, and once again local activity was pretty  
good.   As stated by others, conditions were typical for January ....  kind of 
stinko, but still fun to get on and work the bands.    
 
Highlight of the contest was making two Q's on 10 GHz from my  deck.   As 
many of you know, my house is mostly surrounded by TALL  trees with even the top 
of my 50' tower blocked in most directions.    When the leaves are off the 
trees, I do have a shot from about east through  south-south-east across the 
Minnesota River valley to the far  side.    Somewhat to my surprise, I am able to 
hear N0KP's 10 GHz  beacon best by not aiming on the direct path to downtown, 
which would be  straight north for me and through trees, but at about 120 
degrees on a  reflection off the far side of the river valley .... reflection 
source unknown  .... but a nice S2 to S3 signal.   Cool.    I had  already worked 
Bruce, W9FZ, on 10 GHz, as Bruce lives to my east and is able to  use this 
same scatter area, a feat we had done before.    The second  10 GHz Q was even 
more fun.    Russ, W0LMS, was on 10 GHz off of  downtown, so I asked Russ (via a 
few 2M FM relays !) to keep beaconing to  see if I could hear him on a double 
bank shot .... a reflection off the IDS  tower, then off the far side of the 
river valley.   After a little  tuning around, sure enough, there he was !    
A short CW  exchange and 10 GHz Q number two was in the log .... on a double 
bounce  path.    The distance across the river valley is about  two or three 
miles, and from there is about 10 or 11 miles to the IDS  tower.   Russ was just 
south of the IDS tower perhaps 5 or 6  miles.    That was cool.   A big 
thanks to Dave, N0KP,  for the beacon that allowed me to find the sweat spot off 
the far side of the  river valley and calibrate my frequency .... not sure we 
could have done it  without that.
 
Thanks to everyone for a fun weekend.    Make sure  you send a log in, paper 
or electronic.   Make sure you indicate  you club or choice, preferably NLRS 
of course !
 
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.