[NLRS] FYI: Optical QSO

Mary Brown maryalanab at gmail.com
Tue Apr 15 14:05:17 EDT 2025 

This is on county 91 going south from Russel, MN(on hwy 23 SW of 
Marshall)... would need to explore the gravel roads for best high spots 
but I know there are areas where you can see many many miles...


https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2941576,-95.9579654,3a,75y,352.17h,89.95t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sN9ni2Nv1cdWhDRY-1GtTAg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0.048316662613927974%26panoid%3DN9ni2Nv1cdWhDRY-1GtTAg%26yaw%3D352.1720116027542!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D


This hwy 23 NE of Marshall, MN... that hazy line way out in the distance 
is Buffalo Ridge... there are better spots but no google earth views 
from a lot of the roads out here... would need to get out and drive it 
and explore to find the best spots... west of Marshall there are some 
good views... find the line of wind turbines like this view... that is a 
LONG drive out to the far view... find a hill out there to work back from...


https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9789571,-96.0093187,3a,90y,85.17h,98.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smtFCiobxKVi_HmnvuDsR4w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-8.777722089388448%26panoid%3DmtFCiobxKVi_HmnvuDsR4w%26yaw%3D85.16528850348593!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D


That is some wide open country out there... farm groves would be the 
main obstacles!


Mary

W0AAT


On 4/15/2025 12:12 PM, Rob Jahnke wrote:
> Thanks Mary.
> Is it possible to show some  of those possibilities on a Google Earth Map?
> The problem I have found is the elevations look good, but in real life 
> there are "always" trees :-)
> Rob - K0XL
>
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 11:55 AM Mary Brown <maryalanab at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     From Buffalo Ridge near Marshall looking NW to NE there are quite
>     a few 35+ mile paths... Would need to explore for good spots to
>     work from but at around 1900 feet elevation dropping to 1100 where
>     I am you have a decent height advantage
>
>
>     Mary
>
>     W0AAT
>
>     On 4/15/2025 11:20 AM, Jon Platt via NLRS wrote:
>>     Regarding finding longer line-of-sight paths here in the plains
>>     of Minnesota, a few ideas.
>>
>>       * Kiester, EN33EN03. Southwest of Albert Lea, so not too far
>>         away. Being in southern MN trees are less of a problem then
>>         corn.  The Kiester location is essentially tree free in
>>         almost all directions and has 12 to 20+ mile horizons.
>>       * Monticello EN35CG, the Montiview Mountain Bike Course.  Not
>>         to far away from Mpls.  Views from west through north thru
>>         northeast in the 12 to 15 miles range.  More trees up this
>>         way may make finding the other end more difficult.
>>       * Darwin, EN25tc.  Darwin Winter Park Area.  Bad news is that
>>         its about a 1/4 mile hike from the parking lot, but nice
>>         views in most directions. Would need to lug all your stuff up
>>         the hill, but not bad.   There are some 18 mile LOS.  Trees
>>         are fewer.  Be a fun spot to do a QRP Hilltop operation from.
>>       * EN25VJ72IG south of St. Augusta.  Some views to the east
>>         around 16 miles
>>       * Summit, SD.  EN15lj.  Wilmont Welcome Center. Some 25 to
>>         maybe 30+ LOS paths.  Trees are less of a problem unless
>>         there a farmstead wind break.
>>
>>
>>
>>     73, Jon
>>     W0ZQ
>>
>>
>>
>>     On Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 10:10:11 AM CDT, Rob Jahnke
>>     <rcjahnke at gmail.com> <mailto:rcjahnke at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     It's great to see some interest in optical communications again.
>>     Warren (WF0T) and I (Rob - K0XL) made a presentation about our
>>     Optical experiments at Aurora 2019. Warren made the same
>>     presentation at CSVHFS in July and at MUD in MUD in October of 2019..
>>     The presentations are available at
>>     https://sites.google.com/view/k0xl . Just scroll down past the
>>     more recent presentations.
>>
>>     One thing that might be of interest is the modulator which runs
>>     on an Arduino ATTiny85. It features an iambic keyer function for
>>     CW as well as an audio modulator for voice/music. It also has a
>>     beacon mode where the power is stepped down in -3dB steps for
>>     signal strength measurements. The schematic and code is available
>>     in the appendix section.
>>
>>     I think Warren has exceeded 10 miles (16km) for a QSO. The
>>     biggest problem we have in MN/WI is finding long line of
>>     site paths. At the end of the presentation, we outlined the
>>     possibility of testing a 50 km  (32mi) path from Duluth to a
>>     Wisconsin Park along the south shore. We also had some ideas
>>     about testing "Over the Horizon" paths considering the refraction
>>     of light in the atmosphere.
>>
>>     Maybe there will be enough interest to resume some of this
>>     activity :-)
>>
>>     See you all at Aurora 2025 June 7th.
>>     Rob - K0XL
>>      .
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 12:10 AM Glen Overby <gpoverby at gmail.com>
>>     wrote:
>>
>>         They're using a receiver design by VE2UG, which is based on
>>         the one by KA7OEI and K0XL.  Transmit is a PWM generator they
>>         bought on Amazon.
>>
>>         I'm collecting parts for a system.
>>
>>         73,
>>         Glen
>>
>>         On Mon, Apr 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM Jon Platt via NLRS
>>         <nlrs at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>
>>             Some of us through the years have played with optical
>>             contacts. Here is a link to W1VLFs YouTube video
>>             discussing and showing his 940 Nm 14 mile QSO.  The QSB
>>             and seeing the half power reduction testing is interesting.
>>             https://youtu.be/OXYJw9PyHd8
>>
>>             73, Jon
>>             W0ZQ
>>
>>
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