[NLRS] 902 and up

[Ken Boston]

Hi all;

I have had some folks ask me about the microwave sprint coming up this
weekend.  I will not be on this weekend, due to a family obligation up
in Stevens Point over the weekend.  

I also missed the 50 meg sprint last weekend, as I was up in Minneapolis
attending the Microwave update.  I have been energized to get my 1 watt
10 gig 'rebuild' back into high gear, and get ready to play snow
scatter.  I was not aware of the distances, and the level of activity
going on with QSO's happening right over my location.  I had used this
system the last few fall activity events, but just from the lakefront,
and have made only 2 QSO's on 10g from my driveway.  (W9FZ at hillcrest
park, and WA9O down at wind point in Racine.  Not DX by any stretch.

I did operate the 2, 222, and 432 sprints last few weeks, with the high
point being a 432 CW QSO with K8GP.  I got quite excited when I heard
him CQing, thinking that someone had made the trip up to Spruce Knob in
WVA.  Imagine my surprise when they sent FM19 as their grid!  At MU 08,
I ran into Gene, W3ZZ, and he said that Terry Price (W8ISK) could not
stop talking about that QSO.  Evidently, the K8GP gang has been seeing
the cost in dollars and time continue to rise every time they made the
trip to Spruce.  So the location they now have is a semi-permanent
location developed by Terry located in Virginia, not to far west of the
Wash DC area. (I believe)  Gene told me that the location is at about
1700 feet ASL. (as opposed to about 5000 feet when at Spruce Knob)
I do not think we had an especially wonderful tropo going during the 432
sprint, and cannot fully explain this contact.  I continued to hear them
CQ for another 5-10 minutes.  They peaked an honest S3 as well.  I
received a secondary report that Don, WA9KRT in NW Indiana worked them,
but had a skew path of 40 degrees to the north of the true path. (I will
need to talk to Don)
Since K8GP was regularly worked from my little hill in EN53 during
contests, I hope this new QTH works out as well as Spruce.

The distance is in excess of 500 miles, on what I felt was a 'dead'
band.  30+ years on VHF, but I still have a lot to learn.

73  Ken  W9GA