[NLRS] 10 GHz Weekend One - W0JT ( L O N G )

[John P. Toscano]

Packed the radio gear into the car on Thursday night, and finished 
packing for the trip Friday morning. Drove up to Duluth Friday 
afternoon, actually to Hermantown since our first choices near the 
Thompson Rest Stop were all booked up over a month ago when we tried to 
make reservations.

Saturday morning we arrived at Thompson just about at 7 AM and quickly 
set up. Signals to the UP were poor, at least to my ears. I only managed 
to work KB8U from EN36vr to EN57vk, about 313 km.

Our next stop was much more productive for me. At Kitchi Gammi Park 
(EN46au), I worked 9 of the operators on the UP between 0938 and 0943 
local time; for some reason the other 1 or 2 operators were just not 
available. We also worked easy shots to EN46gs (39 Km) with W0GHZ and 
WA0SSN. My extreme surprise was working N0KP at Buck Hill (EN34ir) at 
257 Km over land with great ease on SSB!  Not as exciting as the 400+ Km 
contact he would make with W0ZQ and N0UK the next day, but it sure 
impressed the heck out of me!

Next stop was Stony Point (EN46CW), and conditions had deteriorated. 
 From there, I only worked 4 of the North Shore stations, plus the two 
folks in EN46gs (about 31 Km away).

Then, on to Flood Bay (EN47ea). Conditions were a bit better; I worked 7 
of the 10 or 11 NS stations over the 262 Km water path, and again had no 
trouble working the two stations in EN46gs who were now about 30 Km away.

Next stop was east of Split Rock. The pull-off is rather small, and one 
needs to park perpendicular to the road in order to fit more than a 
couple of vehicles. Four years ago I was able to back my SUV partway up 
the hill so I could power my station without lugging the 60 lb battery, 
but this year I was unable to back up the hill, so everything I needed 
had to be carried up the hill to the working position. Although I could 
hear the UP folks as the other NS rovers worked them, it began to rain 
gently, so I covered up the dish and the electronics with large plastic 
bags, and put on my jacket. Before it was my turn to operate, however, 
the gentle rain turned into a downpour, and I had had enough. I packed 
up the car and headed further up the coast, hoping to come out of the 
rain and finding a spot to work. Though I did drive out of the 
rainstorm, I was soaking wet, my logging papers were soaked, and I felt 
the need to sit in a hot bathtub exceeded my need to make a few more 
QSO's. So we drove to the lodge in Grand Portage, checked in, had 
dinner, spread out the wet logging sheets on the air conditioner/heater 
unit, and called it a night.  Call me a wimp if you must. But I do this 
for FUN, not for profit, and operating while soaking wet is not my idea 
of fun!

We had absolutely no cell phone coverage with either of my phones nor 
with my wife's iPhone, and I had no 2M radio in my vehicle, so non-10G 
coordination was out of the question at Grand Portage. Fortunately, we 
ran into a couple of the other NS rovers at the convenience mart next to 
the hotel where we sought our morning coffee fix (hotel restaurant 
didn't open until 7 and we wanted to be in place by 7), and we found our 
way down to the marina (EN57dw) without much difficulty. Even though the 
UP group had split up into three locations (EN57vk, EN57tj, and EN67al), 
I had little difficulty in contacting all 10 active operators from that 
location (116-140 Km paths over water).

Next stop was the beach at Mile Marker 133 (EN57bu). The weather was 
spectacular. The QSO's were easy (10 Q's in 3 minutes at 123-149 Km 
distances). The scenery was also spectacular.

Next stop after that was the beach at Mile Marker 123 (EN47xt). Weather 
and scenery remained outstanding, and conditions were still very very 
good. For some reason it took me a whole 4 minutes to make 11 QSO's at 
this stop over 133-160 Km distances. (Ed's wife Linda had joined him at 
the radio to make an additional operator under the family rule.)

After that, the North Shore group got a bit split up. Some moved ahead 
to Grand Marais, some moved to Pincushion Mountain. The Pincushion 
Mountain location had higher elevation and a better view towards 
Burnsville, but I chose the lower elevation location of Grand Marais 
since I had not had good luck with the higher elevation of Thompson Hill 
on Saturday. At Grand Marais, I had no trouble working the available UP 
operators (some were in the process of changing sites and were therefore 
not on the air). We also took a few minutes to work the uniques among 
the NS operators. By this time I had no idea where Glen was located, so 
I never did get him in the log for his unique.

The next couple of stops were equally pleasant: Taconite Harbor 
(EN47mm), 10 QSO's; and Silver Bay (EN47jh), 11 QSO's; with absolutely 
lovely weather.

By the time we made our next two stops (east of Split Rock, EN47hf; and 
Flood Bay, EN47ea), it was after 4 PM local time and the UP crowd was 
starting to thin out, since folks had long drives back home. We worked 
the available UP operators without much difficulty, and vowed to 
continue to the bitter end.

Our next stop was Stony Point (EN47cw), and at this location the 
propagation had diminished substantially. When we arrived, I was barely 
able to hear the UP operators on weak CW, but by the time my turn to 
operate had come, their signals were but faint memories. So I did not 
even attempt to call from there.

Next, we returned to Kitchi Gammi Park (EN46au). Unlike Saturday, when 
signals from the UP were booming in, SSB was out of the question and CW 
was chancy at best. Again, the CW was a bit louder on our arrival and 
steadily weakened as time went on. I made one aborted attempt to call on 
CW from this location, but in the end, the reply coming back to me was 
dancing around the noise floor of my system, and I could not piece 
together a callsign or a location, so I gave up.

They say it takes 3 strikes 'till you're out, but I figured that my 
failure to hear much at 2 consecutive stops and the lateness of the hour 
were sufficient to make me pull the plug at that point.

After a relaxing evening back at the hotel, we got an early morning 
start on Monday to our drive back to the Twin Cities, so I could get to 
the hospital in time for scheduled carpal tunnel surgery on my right arm 
on Monday afternoon.  Surgery is scheduled on my left arm for the day 
before the second contest weekend, so I will definitely not be doing any 
roving that weekend, and would not even be able to work as a fixed 
station from Buck Hill (for example) without some assistance. We'll see 
how things go between now and then.

Thanks to all the folks who made this a wonderful weekend. All of the 
planning and preparation, all of the comradarie, all of the cooperation, 
all of the lovely weather, everything (except the drenching rain) made 
for a terrific radio weekend experience. Thanks to all of you who 
participated, and all of you who tried but could not make it.

73 de W0JT
John Toscano