[NLRS] 10 GHz Contest - W0ZQ

[w0zq at aol.com]

Total Q's = 247
Unique's = 24
Longest = 470 km
Score = 55,769

Soapbox:  This was my first pass through the log, so there may be a few errors still.   The first weekend in August had it all - fog, heat, wind, tropo, Indian food (was that what that was?), interested farmers, etc, etc.  Many thanks to my fellow rovers, N0UK, K0HAC, KC0IYT, WB0LJC, and WA2VOI, for a fun time.  Also a big thanks to W0PHD and K0AWU for rover pack #2 and for K0AWU joining us for a while on Sunday.  Of course the highlight was the tropo on Sunday.  From north of Fargo I was able to work W0GHZ on 2m SSB with 40 watts and my omni halo, not to mention the big 10 GHz signals as well.   My longest Q was made on this Sunday with KM0T (EN13vc) to EN17jg which is NNW of Fargo.  The group made a number of 10GHz SSB q's in the 300 to 470 km range that day.  

For the second weekend in September we had thought of roving down into Iowa, but Mother Nature had set up a front just south of us with lots of rain, so we rov'ed western MN instead.   The rover group of W0ZQ, KC0IYT, WA2VOI, and WB0LJC, started out straight west of the Twin Cites in EN24js and worked our way towards Pipestone.  Worked from Buck Hill, EN34ir, was N0KP, KC0P, N0EDV, NB0M, KB0OZN, N0UK, K0HAC, and KA0CRO.   Worked from K0KFC QTH in EN35rj were K0KFC, W0LCP, N0AKC, and K0AWU.   We also worked home stations W0GHZ (EN34lx) and K0MHC (EN26ha) - Jim, K0MHC found my W0ZQ-15 APRS data very useful and he was always ready for us and with a bearing from each stop .... APRS is a helpful tool for fixed stations to track the rovers.  During this second weekend, conditions were just so-so at best, perhaps a little subpar, with temperatures starting out in the low 40's and working there way to about the lower 50's for highs, so it was a cool rove.  The good news was that the bugs were suppressed.   On Saturday we were able to take avantage of some light passing showers to generate some rainscatter contacts, but no long distances as the showers were at low heights.   Late in the day on Sunday I overdrove my 10 gig transverter with 25 watts rather than the desired 3 watts and toasted the IF switching PIN diodes .... all due to human error (mine!).   I was able to fire up my back up rig, 2 watts and a 17 dB horn, and work the guys on Buck Hill with it at 228 km.  Following these contacts, with help from my fellow rovers, I was able to strip down my back up system and move the 2 watt DEMI transverter over onto my dish and used that for the remainder of the day.   Since then I have opened up the DB6NT transverter and confirmed that the PIN diode has returned to its natural state - carbon.   I do have a replacement part, and following the fix, I plan to hardwire the power limit on my 2m IF rig so that this does not happen again.

Many thanks to everyone for a fine outing and a fun time playing microwaves, 10 gigs is a magical band.  

73, Jon
W0ZQ