[NLRS] 10G & Up Contest - W0ZQ Results (long)

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

The first weekend of the 10 gig contest was August 19 and 20.    On Saturday, 
August 19, a group of 12 to 14 10gigers gathered at the Church just  east of 
Londsdale, EN34hl, and concentrated on working a pack of six rovers as  they 
moved through south-central and south western MN.   Conditions  were a little 
difficult in the early morning hours but improved through the  day.   On 
Sunday, August 20, the same fixed group assembled on Buck  Hill, EN34ir, while we 
worked the same roverpack.  Conditions on Sunday  were fairly good, especially 
early in the morning where we worked the rover pack  at 198 km with S9+ FM 
signals. 
 
For the second weekend, I had originally planned to rove in the Red River  
Valley but Mother Nature said otherwise, so I had to chance my plan at the last  
minute and ended up operating with the local fixed group once again.    Our 
plan was to operate from Buck Hill, but the rain early Saturday morning  turned 
it into a muddy mess so we had to go with "Plan B" and we returned to the  
Church at Lonsdale.   The rain Saturday morning prevented an early  start, but 
we eventually got going and had good success working the rover pack  that was 
traveling in the Worthington to Mason City area.   On the way  home Saturday 
night Glen and I were able to work VE4MA on rain scatter from the  Burnsville 
Hill (EN34is) for my longest QSO at 632 km.     Saturday night brought more rain 
making Buck Hill impassable so Dave found us a  new site for Sunday at the 
new business park in Eden Prairie just west of Flying  Cloud airport.   That 
site has a good take-off from 90 to 250  degrees.   I kept waiting for law 
enforcement or the building security  to show up, but it took to about 3:30 pm for 
that.   A brief  explanation of what we were doing and an exchange of business 
cards, and we were  "good".    
 
Over both weekends I ended up working the rover pack at an average distance  
of 201 km with the longest contacts being 238 km and the shortest 133  km.   
Per plan, almost all fixed-to-rover contacts were on SSB except  for a very 
few.    I worked 27 unique stations over both weekends  and, despite the last 
minute change in plans, and at times poor weather, had a  great time playing 
microwaves.    The rain scatter contact to  Barry was of course a highlight.
 
On average, distances up to around 230 - 240 km can be worked on 10  gig SSB, 
and perhaps 240 - 330 km range with CW.   Conditions can  decrease or enhance 
this range.    

1st  Weekend    2nd Weekend    Total
#  QSO                      216              131                347
Longest (km)             238               632    
Distance  Pts         39,443         27,130           66,573
Unique  Pts             2,300               400             2,700
Total                     41,743           27,530          69,273
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ