[NLRS] W0ZQ 10 GHz & Up Results

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

Here are my results from this years  running of the ARRL's 10 GHz & Up 
contest.  This contest is actually  two weekends, the first weekend is in August and 
the second weekend a month  later in September.   Scoring is based on 
distance with each km worked  equal to one point, and each unique call sign that you 
work equal to 100  points.   Two stations can work each other again if at 
least one end  of the path moves at least ten miles.   

Results &  data analysis are below, and the soapbox is under that.  I plan to 
get some  JPGs into the League's soapbox later today.

73,  Jon
W0ZQ


Distance Points = 78,989 (based on WinGrid  V4.1)
Unique's = 2,500
Total Score = 81,489 

Number of QSOs =  379

Calls worked & number of times = K0AWU (1), K0FQA (1), K0HAC (9),  K0KFC 
(13), K0MHC (20), K2YAZ (1), KB0OZN (3), KC0IJB (10), KC0IYT (36), KC0P  (1), 
KD0JI (46), KM0T (16), N0AKC (9), N0HJZ (5), N0KP (47), N0UK (9), W0GHZ  (34), 
W0JT (23), W0LCP (10), W9FZ (1), W9SZ (1), WA0SSN (14), WA2VOI (1), WB0LJC  (1), 
WB0VHF (40).  

Number of grids worked from = 9 and subgrids =  48 as follows:
EN14PU, QR, RV, SP, TI, UB, UF, UN, UP, VE, VJ, XG,  XK
EN15SA, VA, XB
EN24AF, DG, FF, HF, KF, NG
EN25CC, DA
EN32TU,  US
EN33SP, ST, TF, TM, UA, UH, WN, WS, XP
EN34NL
EN42AS, AW, CQ, CS,  DX, ER
EN43BM, EB, EG, EN, FI, GM

Five best DX shots:
EN43FI to  K2YAZ in EN74AV = 479 km
EN43EG to KM0T in EN13VC = 373 km
EN43EB to KM0T  in EN13VC = 373 km
EN42CQ to W9SZ in EN50RL = 366 km
EN42AS to KM0T in  EN13VC = 349 km 

Average distance for all 379 QSOs = 208  km

Soapbox:  For the first weekend of the contest those who wished  to rove 
headed down SE of Rochester to near Chatfield, MN to work the fixed  group at Buck 
Hill.   I love roving, so off I went with W9FZ, WB0LJC,  KC0P, and WA2VOI for 
a total of five rovers.   Mel, KC0P, led us for  most of the day to some 
AMAZING sites down through southeast MN into northeast  Iowa - thanks Mel !   The 
weatherman had predicted some heat, but the  weather stayed in the low to mid 
80's for the entire weekend, and we had  fantastic weather.   In addition to 
working the gang at Buck Hill,  N0AKC also worked us a bunch of times from Elk 
Mound with very FB signals.   Besides the excellent weather, fantastic sites, 
fine friends, I think the  highlight for me was working Rich, N0HJZ who was 
using my 2 watt 17 dB horn  system back on Buck Hill while we were in EN42AW at 
226 km.  A long time  ago Rich and I worked some grids using 10 GHz WBFM 
gunnplexers.  I also was  able to make my best DX contact of the contest with Bob, 
K2YAZ at 479 km.   That Saturday night we stayed overnight in beautiful 
Oelwein, Iowa.  Sunday  we then worked our way a bit west from there and then 
northward back into  southern MN.   We did manage to make it to Cannon Falls for the 
 activity hour off of downtown, but we did not find any new stations to work 
....  this result played into our reasoning to not make the activity hour on 
the  second weekend as those who had come out to play had already come out to  
play.

The second weekend found myself, W9FZ, WB0LJC, KC0P, WA2VOI, and  W0JT west 
bound.   The rover pack, minus me, stayed Friday night in  Montevideo where I 
met up with them at 8:00 am Saturday morning.   We  had decide to go just a 
little north from Montevideo to get into EN25, then west  to EN15, so that the 
Buck Hill gang could pick up those two grids ... those on  the hill worked nine 
grids during this contest just from us !   From  this area we traveled west 
into eastern SD.  We had one bad stop, just  before SD, where we suffered the 
mid-day lull with weak CW only signals.   After struggling for about 30 minutes, 
signals slowly came up and ultimately we  made most of the contacts with weak 
SSB, perhaps a 10 dB shift in propagation  during that one hour.  After that 
stop we made it up onto the Buffalo Ridge  area and had very good SSB signals 
with the Buck Hill gang at 220 to 270 km's  ... very nice !   At each stop we 
took a look at the shot to K0MHC and  KM0T and if it was adequate and if they 
were available, made the Q's with them  too - many thanks Jim & Mike !   We 
stayed Saturday night in  Pipestone, MN and started out Sunday morning in 
EN14UB, or 250 km to Buck  Hill.  Despite repeated efforts to find each other, that 
spot was a no-go  and we moved on.   Our next spot in EN14VE resulted in good 
signals  and we had good luck for the rest of the day after that.   Again, the 
 weather was outstanding with temperatures in the mid 70's, and the vista's 
along  the ridge were memorable.  Roving the ridge out in SW MN is my favorite. 
 

In summary, roving both weekends, I had a spectacular time.    For some 
strange reason, the weather was incredibly nice.   I took my  10gig system in and 
out of my car 48 times in four days, an average of 12 times  per day.   If you 
design a 10gig system and plan to rove, take this  into consideration !   
Also, I think Powerpole connectors are rated  for several hundred connections 
before they should be replaced.

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