ARRL VHF September Contest SLAMS Radioactivity

 Sunday, September 15 wasn't too hot or too humid.  Herbert AF4JF was busy on Saturday, so was Ron KO0Z and Harry WA0CNS. Consequently, the first half of the ARRL VHF contest was missed, but on Sunday we got together to at least participate a little bit in the contest.

We didn't intend to be competitive, instead, we just wanted to test our gear and to make a little RF noise on the bands which we accomplished.

I wasn't all that well prepared.  I tried out my new 2.3 GHz transverter and I didn't get it on the air.  My 3.4 and 10 GHz rigs worked fine.  Herbert and Harry also had other bands with them.  

All in all, we didn't even come close to breaking any personal records, but we did manage to carve out some time to get outdoors and to make a few Qs!

                                     Harry WA0CNS with Herbert AF4JF at 370 Lake EM48rt

                    Harry WA0CNS portable operation shooting across 370 lake park

                 

                                                       Extra "oomph" if we needed it, Hi, Hi.

Fall Sprint October 2020

 Saturday, October 10th afforded me an opportunity to see Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS operate in the Fall Sprint.  They were able to make a two-way 1.2 GHz QSO with Zack W9SZ in Illinois from the YMCA.  They also tried on 2.3 GHz and 10 GHz with no propagation.  They spent the rest of the morning experimenting with 122 GHz.  Stability issues were resolved and successful Qs were made in the YMCA parking lot.  Feeling empowered and emboldened, we decided to relocate at 370 Lake Park (EM48rt) near St. Peters, MO.  

S-9 signals were achieved shooting across the lake about six-tenths of a mile.  We are making plans to attempt a 7K path in a few weeks!

                            Herbert AF4JF at the YMCA parking lot with some of his uW antennas.

                                                       

                    Harry WA0CNS with his portable uW gear at the YMCA parking lot

                      

                 AF4JF is setting up his 122 GHz rig to work Harry WA0CNS at the YMCA parking lot.

    The view at 370 Lake Park, EM48rt from WA0CNS across to the other side to AF4JF about .6 miles.

                  Harry WA0CNS with his 122 GHz rig at 370 Park EM48rt 

Herbert wrote about his  sprint experience: 

I have participated on the contest too. However, my participation was aimed at testing new technologies. 

I have made a CW QSO with Zack W9SZ on 1296MHz across 259km, but not on 2.3GHz although the stations were comparable in RF power and antenna gain on my side. Maybe next time. We have also tried 10GHz, since we have worked each other from this location, but no luck this time.

The next thing I was testing was my new 122GHz unit from VK. We have made a contact wit Harry WA0CNS using these units before, but it was on windy day and my station was open with no shielding of the PCB. As a result, the frequency stability, although GPS disciplined, was not good enough. This has definitely changed, two pieces of styrofoam fastened to the PCB on both sides to cover the oscillator did the trick! Even with 1pps frequency reference (I haven't modified this board for 10MHz yet), the frequency was stable enough for convenient CW QSO! We have worked each other across a lake with Harry WA0CNS with S9+ strength and nice clean signals ... wow!

One of attached pictures shows my "small" 122GHz unit with conical horn in front of the 10GHz tripod. I am also including a picture of Harry's station that uses a dish and rifle scope for aiming.

We are planning one more test over longer distance this year.

73 Herbert

AF4JF