Annual SLAMS/BARS Lunch 2024

We, the SLAMS group, have met at our favorite Chandler Hill Winery for the 8th annual lunch in a row. This is a traditional meeting that closes the year of our microwave activities, we use it to discuss the results and make plans for the next year. At least in theory. The weather wasn't really friendly today, so we only had a fewn participants. Evenn the winery was far less busy than usual

Kevin AD7OI with his wife Tammy KI7GVT, Ron KO0Z with his wife Debbie KC9ULA and myself (Herbert AF4JF) with my dog Darcey, soon to be licensed K9DOG. Darcey was too short to sit at the table, so she ate her lunch under it.

Chandler Hill Winery

KC9ULA, KO0Z, KI7GVT and AD7OI at the table

AF4JF taking selfie of himself

Darcey listening to the conversation

Some of our members expressed concerns about sitting outside in the cold .. this winery has indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating is either open or covered. We usually sit in the covered section, with big heaters. The place certainly is not cold.

Covered outdoor seating

One of nearby heaters

Heater installed above our table

The food was tasty as usual. We had lots of fun discussing the usual ham radio topics. In addition to that, Kevin just received his private pilot license, we discussed that in length. Two hours flew by and we took leave. Hope to meet there again in bigger numbers next year!

Annual SLAMS/BARS Lunch again

Another year flew by and our little group met at the Chandler Hill Winery on Saturday November 11, 2023 once again. Meeting for lunch at this nice location (that is also friendly to dogs) has become our tradition. This was our 7th lunch meeting there.

Chandler Hill Winery

Kevin AD7OI with his wife Tammy KI7GVT came from Hannibal to dine with us. Ron KO0Z with his wife Debbie KC9ULA, Mike N0OBI, Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF with his companion Darcey met to discuss this year's activities and make some plans for the next year. Kevin and Tammy finally moved to their new house and should have more time for our hobbies now. There were many things to discuss.

Sitting around the table under a gas heater

The weather was nice but November is November and Missouri is Missouri, so we selected a table that was neither outdoor nor indoor. There was a big gas heater just next to the table making our stay very convenient.

Our entire group at the table, except Darcey ...

Darcey was too short to sit at the table, 
so she enjoyed her lunch under it.

Mike discussing optical communications with Kevin

The food was tasty as usual at this location. It is even high enough to make contacts from here, maybe there is some truth on the joke people share about the SLAMS saying that all our rover routes either begin or end at some local winery! We actually have not made any microwave QSOs this time, but Herbert and Harry arrived an hour earlier and calibrated Harry's new SDR transceiver on 3.4GHz band, so that RX and TX frequencies matched each other and the display on the touch screen of the Raspberry Pi that controls Harry's SDR Pluto in so called "Project Langstone". Harry can work on any HAM radio band between 144MHz and 5.7GHz with that.

Hope to meet here again next year!

Annual SLAMS / BARS lunch at Chandler Hill

We have held our 4th annual lunch at Chandler Hill today. The Winery was open for business, both indoor and outdoor seating with live music. Several pictures attached. Unfortunately, we still fell the COVID restrictions. Only 4 of us met at the winery today: Ron KO0Z, Debbie KC9ULA, Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF. Plus my usual companion, K9 microwave enthusiast Darcey. Note that the winery is "dog friendly", dogs are welcome even indoors.

We ate our lunch while discussion the usual things, from weather to Rain Scatter propagation, Herbert's new 76cm dish antenna etc. Nice event that certainly will be repeated next year!

73 Herbert

AF4JF

Darcey waiting for her food

Indoor seating at the winery

Busy outdoor seating at the winery

Outdoor seating has gas heaters installed

Participants enjoying the nice day

The winery entrance

Side view - you can see additional seating on the grass

Success on 122 GHz

Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF met together for another round of testing our new 122GHz units from VK. Ron KO0Z has been in some activity with his grand children and supported us on the phone.

We have decided to repeat the test from October 25 (2020) when Harry went to SSM facility in EM48rq and Herbert found a nice parking lot on Katy Trail in EM48rr. We didn't make that QSO on October 20. There is a direct line of sight between both locations, so we tried again using rifle scopes to aim our antennas today. Following pictures show Herbert's side of the path on Greens Bottom Road in EM48rr:

Thanks to using powerful binoculars, Harry spotted Herbert's car arriving at the parking lot and knew exactly where to aim the antenna. We have made our CW QSO at 08:43 am with signal strength S5-9 on both sides. The distance, according to Google Earth, was 3.26 mile (5.25 km):

Weather info taken in EM48rr at 08:30 am CST:

• temperature 22.8 deg. C
• dew point 9.3 deg. C
• pressure 1010.2 mBar
• humidity 43.1 %
• no wind

This was first part of our plans for the day. The second part was moving to the town of Defiance, MO to our "backup location" along the Katy Trail. Harry stopped close to Defiance in EM48op and Herbert went a little further to Matson in EM48oo. The distance between these points is, according to Google Earth, 1.74 mile (2.80 km):

Weather info taken in EM48oo at 10:39 am CST:

• temperature 26.8 deg. C
• dew point 12.2 deg. C
• pressure 1008.7 mBar
• humidity 38.9 %
• wind 2.2 km/h ( 2 feet / sec)

This location, despite the shorter distance, turned out to be more difficult due to a problem with direct line of sight - rifle scope on Herbert's side revealed that he was pointing at wrong location and had to move a little to see the correct one. After moving the station, QSO was made at 10:49 am CST wit the same strength as the first QSO (S5-9 QSB). However, thanks to the blowing wind, the frequency was a little unstable. We definitely need to pay more attention to thermal insulation of the 122GHz board to prevent wind from changing frequency through making temperature changes. Both stations were using GPS reference 1 pps, which seems to be too slow. We need to modify our stations for 10MHz reference signal disciplined by GPS.

Picture shows the "Judgement Tree" memorial park in Matson, EM48oo where Herbert was located:

Herbert is only using a 19dBi conical horn for antenna. Harry's station has a 13 inch dish antenna:

This was our last attempt for QSO for the day. Next topic on our plan was the SLAMS/BARS planning meeting at the Chandler Hill winery. We usually do not eat inside any facility these days, but this winery is offering outdoor seating and online ordering of food and drinks. Here is how the seating looked like (and Yes, this facility allows dogs even inside):

Everything considered, a very successful day! We have pushed our 122GHz record up to 5.25 km. Our next attempt, hopefully this year, will be to get it over 10 km. Watch for new posting soon!

Outdoor Microwave Activity

The SLAMS/BARS groups will hold 3 outdoor activities, aside from any contest, to compare, tune and test our microwave stations and equipment next year. These are labeled "24GHz And Up" or "24+ GHz" on our schedules, but you can bring any band, even HF mobile, if you want to test it or share your experience with the group.

As always, these outdoor activities are announced on both blog sites, SLAMS and BARS. This posting is just pointing them out for you. Should you not be a member of any of our two groups yet or even if you are not a HAM but are interested in our hobby, you will be welcome!

Here is the schedule for these outdoor activities:

- May 15th, 2021 (Eagles Roost or Pere Marquette, IL)

- September 4th, 2021 (Ohlman Cemetery, IL)

- November 6th, 2021 (Defiance, MO)

We will publish more details, specify the location and time of these activities when the time comes. Keep your eye on our blog sites or simply contact us by email!

ARRL VHF Contest June 2020

Herbert published a posting about using SDR module ADALM PLUTO (click here) for microwave bands during this contest on the BARS blog site.

73 Herbert
AF4JF

SLAMS/BARS November Meeting

The SLAMS and BARS groups have once again scheduled their November meetings together. The reason is simple - November meeting is where we decide the meeting schedule for next year. We have met at the Chandler Hill winery for a brunch today, Saturday November 16th, 2019.

However, there was some activity before the meeting today. Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF went to the "Maker Space" close to Herbert's home in St. Peters to look at the machinery and tools available at the maker space (Herbert is a member of the IFMS group).

Bridgeport Mill and Tormach CNC Mill

The IFMS offers membership for a monthly fee. IFMS Members can use all the machinery available (after being properly trained). Milling machines are crucial for building microwave technology, so Herbert and Harry paid most of their attention to the two mills on pictures above (and some more to metal and wood working lathes, carving lasers and 3D printers).

From the IFMS, Harry and Herbert went to a hilltop in Klondike Park, about 10 miles West on Missouri Hwy 94 (just out of the city of Defiance):

There is a nice hilltop marked as "Overlook" on the maps above. It's open to nearly all directions. Following picture shows Harry WA0CNS looking at his GPS for location and bearings:

This hilltop is nice and flat, with public restroom nearby .. too bad that we can't drive all the way to the top. We will have to carry our microwave equipment on our backs. There is a beam gate at the bottom of the hill, because this location is a county park. At least it isn't too crowded - the road from the parking lot is a little steep.

We intend to use this location for our VHF and microwave operation somehow. Not sure what contest, but we will figure something out. Probably carry a solar panel with spare batteries up the hill from  our cars.

Our next stop was the Chandler Hill winery near Defiance. Following picture shows Harry WA0CNS in front of the winery building (and Herbert's car):

This is a nice place. Very busy in the afternoons and too crowded on Sundays (which is why we choose to have early lunch here on Saturday). Some more SLAMS/BARS members joined us at this location. The waitress let us select a table, so we picked one at a beautiful (and warm) fire place:

This was not the first time at this location, the BARS ate lunch here two years ago, in December 2017. It was as good today as it was last time, plenty of food, friendly waitress and cozy place to meet. We have discussed several ham radio and optical communications related topics and Herbert received several comments on the meeting schedules. We left after two hours when the music band started tuning their instruments for the winery afternoon event.

Ron KO0Z will write some more details about this meeting and publish them on our other blog site of the BARS group. Please click on this link to read more.

Last picture shows how beautiful the location of this place is:

73 Herbert

AF4JF

ARRL VHF Contest - September 2019

Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS decided to participate in the ARRL VHF Contest as Rovers. We have selected 144-220-432-1296-10368 MHz HAM radio bands for this contest.

Herbert posted an Article on the BARS blog site.

We have picked locations in Winfield area just North of St. Peters in Missouri this time, because the line between EM48 and EM49 grids goes right through that area.

Herbert's Rover (AF4JF)

Some pictures of the dam:

Everything considered, this area worked well for VHF contacts, despite its location in the river valley. We shall return here with more microwave equipment next time.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

SLAMS Breakfast Meeting

Breakfast at Denny's on Dorsett Rd. next week on Sunday January 27th starting at 8:00 am. 73 Herbert AF4JF

Planning Meetings

BARS and SLAMS will have a set of 3 planning meetings aimed at setting up the plans and schedule for events in 2019. Here are they:

2018-11-10: TA in Troy, IL

2018-12-15: Waffle House, Dorsett STL

2019-01-27: Denny's, STL

Everybody interested in our activities is welcome, does not matter if you are a member of one or both of our groups! Should you be interested, then please join us for one of the meetings above!

73 Herbert

AF4JF