[NLRS] 2017 ARRL 10 GHz & Up Contest

[John Toscano]

Hello, NLRS!

I've been doing some planning for this year's 10 GHz and Up Contest. My
wife and I will be taking a vacation in Minnesota to visit with friends and
family in August, and I arranged to have the vacation extend over the
weekend of the August installment of the contest. I planned that I would
borrow some equipment from one of y'all and join you on Buck Hill for
Saturday and Sunday.

As I got further into planning, I realized that on the Monday following the
contest, there will be a total solar eclipse whose path crosses the
continental US. That doesn't happen very often. In fact, there is likely to
be only one more such total solar eclipse in the continental US in my
lifetime after this one (and that future one happens to come right through
Texas!). Well, if I am on Buck Hill Saturday and Sunday, I doubt that I
would be able to get to Kansas City by the time the eclipse reaches there
on Monday. (Driving south on Interstate 35, you cross the path of totality
right around Kansas City.) So I thought perhaps a different plan might be
in order.

Now I'm thinking that I might be able to squeeze my own 10 GHz system plus
the luggage we would need for the trip into my SUV, and I could operate as
a rover driving down Interstate 35 so as to end up close to Kansas City by
Sunday night to check into a hotel, and then be able to take in the eclipse
on Monday.

I don't know how far south on I35 I would be able to work the Buck Hill
Gang so I'd probably want to stop as often as possible (within the
constraints of the rules regarding minimum movement distances) along the
way. And of course, I'd be willing to work anyone else anywhere else if
possible.

Any comments would be welcome.

73 de W0JT/5

P.S., here is a link to NASA's eclipse information:
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

:jpt: