Ron KO0Z nicely described his contest activities in his postings below. Congrats! Well done!
Group of SLAMS members attended this contest from our usual location at YMCA in EM48sq. We were able to make some long-range microwave contacts on 10GHz and we have almost made 260 miles contact with Bob WA5YWC in EN52sa early in the monring on Sunday. However, he was running 30+ Watts and our stations output barely 3 Watts which, multiplied by the dish gain, makes huge difference. Although we have copied Bob S8 in St. Louis, he didn't even see us on the "waterfall" of his Flex-1500 SDR radio.
We have worked Zack W9SZ on 10GHz in EN50rl on Saturday. That's a 160 miles QSO - one that you need a little support of propagation for. Speaking about propagation, we have worked Ron KO0Z in EM59ji across a distance of 81 miles on Saturday. His signal was quite strong, some of us worked him on SSB too. Quite different situation on Sunday - not a beep from him in St. Louis, not even after we moved Jim's (N5MU) station across the YMCA parking lot to a place with more open view towards Ron's location. We have also tried with Ron W9ZIH, heard his weak signal on Saturday but it was not enough for a QSO. Repeated the test on Sunday, but didn't hear a beep from Ron.
We have also used this opportunity for testing 24GHz between Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS on Saturday. Technical workshop continued on Sunday with Rich N0PQU adjusting LO injection for his 10GHz transverter and Mike N0OBI tuning his "plumbing system". Mike designed nice circular waveguide feed for his offset dish, all made from copper water piping elements.
Some pictures from the event follow:
Harry WA0CNS at his station
Harry calling on 24GHz
Rich N0PQU and Armand KD0PXF setting up
Mike N0OBI used a surplus box for his 10GHz
(very stable oscillator, works better than looks)
Mike N0OBI checking
focal point of his dish
(note the plumbing)
Jim N5MU checking his dish
N5MU (left) and AF4JF set up 10GHz stations
in a position with open view towards WA5YWC in EN52
Mike N0OBI (left), Jim N5MU and Herbert AF4JF
Waiting for 10GHz signals ...
Following two pictures are actually from different location - Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF moved to Chesterfield area to test their 24GHz equipment. Distance between stations was ~ 2 miles and AF4JF copied WA0CNS about S7 on 24192.1 MHz CW, but Harry didn't copy AF4JF. Herbert tested a bare mixer (DB6NT design) without any amplification. It received fine, but radiated power was too low even for 2 miles between us. There will be more power next time.
AF4JF pointing 1ft. dish for 24GHz in EM48rq
towards WA0CNS located at Chesterfield Mall
AF4JF station for 24GHz located in EM48rq
Overall, very successful contest - some QSOs were made, some equipment tested and everybody has had a lot of fun! A local police officer stopped by and chatted with us for a while - he was a former radar operator and recognized dish antennas as something "less-than-usual" for ham radio operators.
73 Herbert
AF4JF
Great photos of the contest! It was fun working you at EM48sq. Tnx Jim for relocating in an attempt to make the Q. I love the narrative about the police officer who had worked with radar while in the military! Very cool. Now onto to round 2 of the contest in September!
ReplyDeleteRon, KO0Z