Microwave Activity (MAD) Day on November 2, 2024

Once again did the SLAMS guys try to spread some radio-activity in the Saint Louis area. It was a nice, warm day with temperature in upper 60's, blue skies .. perfect for family activities. Which turned out to be a problem, at least in the Pere Marquette park where Herbert, AF4JF went with his furry companion Darcey.

The plan was to try all our microwave bands between Eagles Roost (in the Pere Marquette park) in EM48rx where Herbert AF4JF was going to set up, Ron KO0Z who picked our favorite parking lot at the Community College in Cottleville in EM48qs and Harry WA0CNS who went to his favorite High Ridge, EM48rl. The distance between Herbert and Harry was about 34 miles, distances between Herbert and Ron or Ron and Harry were about half that.

Herbert had to cross the two rivers that separate Saint Charles, MO from Grafton, IL on a ferry. That was not exactly problematic, despite the fact that Herbert's car did not fit on a ferry (too many cars) and had to wait one extra round trip of that floating vehicle. Where are all these cars going?

.... of course, they all went to the Pere Marquette park. The parking at the park visitor center was completely full. So was the usual parking lot at the first viewing point at Eagles Roost where we usually park and operate from. Second parking at the Flagpole was crowded as well, so Herbert went to the next spot that we never used before because it was blocked by heavy foliage with no open view.

Surprise! The park people finally decided that "viewing point" has something to do with "seeing" and cut all the bushes that blocked the view. See following pictures. Even better, nobody from the other visitors expected this, so this parking was EMPTY.

This is South

Darcey supervising station setup

Herbert set up all his bands from 902MHz to 122GHz. Space in the back of the SUV is somewhat limited, so the higher bands (on tripods) were tested first and the lower bands with a logatithmic beam had to wait after the tripods were moved aside.

10GHz station in front

The topic of this MAD day was to test if we can make QSOs betweens us and Harry WA0CNS who was using his home made SDR transceiver PLUTO with Raspberry Pi front end, running only about 250mW. Not too surprising result - yes, QSOs with the PLUTO were made on 902MHz, 1296MHz, 2304MHz and 3400MHz. In addition to that also on 10368MHz using our "big" stations with 3W of power.

We were quite tired when we started the journey back home. All of us made it safely and added another chapter to the book of successful microwave activities in our area.

AF4JF waiting for the ferry to get back to Missouri and home

SPRINT Microwave

The SLAMS group was planning on combining the Microwave SPRINT contest with MAD Day (Microwave Activity Day) and with Pere Marquette park activation (POTA). Our plans have changed last minute and we ended up just testing our microwave equipment after months of winter storage.

Herbert AF4JF set up at the Community College near Cottleville, Missouri. Ron KO0Z on Kisker Road behind the close SSM medical facility and Harry WA0CNS went to his favorite place on High Ridge, MO. Ron worked me (Herbert) from Kisker Road and then moved to my location to work Harry. We used 1296MHz and 10GHz, QSOs were made on both bands. Harry WA0CNS used his multi-band SDR transceiver he built from SDR ADALM PLUTO and Raspberry Pi with a touch screen with about 200mW output power on 23cm. That was enough to work both of us on SSB although we were both running > 10W. Distance between us and Harry was 33 km (21 miles, EM48qs to EM48rl) and there is NO line of sight between these locations but we always make the 10GHz contact anyway.

AF4JF in EM48qs

Elevation profile between EM48qs and EM48rl (right side)

SPRINT 50MHz Contest 2023

Once again, last time this Spring, did we set up outdoors for a short SPRINT Contest organized by the CSVHFS society (click here for details). The 50MHz contest took place last Saturday evening. From the SLAMS group in Saint Louis, Herbert AF4JF/R operated as a Rover from Winfield EM49pa, Foley EM49oa and Cottleville EM48qs. Harry WA0CNS went to High Ridge EM48rl and Ron KO0Z operated from his home in EM48qs. Several other Saint Louis stations were on the band - KC0PP, KB9LLD, N0MII and others. Unfortunately, there was no propagation enhancement, the "magic band" once again behaved like VHF band and we made local QSOs only. Plenty of fun with that!

AF4JF/R in EM48qs at the Cottleville
Community College

Detail of AF4JF/R mobile antenna
(Tarheel 40-6m on magnetic mount)

Harry WA0CNS with one of his 50MHz loops

Second loop WA0CNS tested

M2 loop for 50MHz used by KO0Z on his house

Huge barge at the Winfield Dam and Lock in EM49pa
as seen by Herbert AF4JF/R on Mississippi River
just before the contest

Everything considered, this was a nice day. Let's hope for more participants in the contest next time!

222 MHz and UP 2020 Weekend

Sunday, August 2, 2020; COVID-19 Virus is once again on an exponential rise, plaguing the nation.  Social distancing is the order of the day.  Still, Herbert AF4JF, Ron KO0Z, Debbie KC9ULA and Harry WA0CNS ventured out this morning to practice some "radio activity" while still maintaing social distancing.

Herbert, Ron and Debbie went to Eagle Roost at Pere Marquette State Park near Grafton, IL EM48rx and Harry went to High Ridge, MO in EM48rl, a distance of almost 35 miles.  Herbert, Ron and Debbie were on the road by 7:00 am and crossed over the Mississippi River into IL via the Grafton Ferry boat.  By 8:40 am we were QRV.  At 9:16 am, Ron made a two-way CW 10 GHz QSO with Harry.  Right after that we made a two-way SSB 10 GHz QSO.  S-9 signals both ways, both times! 

Next on the agenda, Herbert using a BBQ dish antenna and his PLUTO SDR transceiver made could hear Harry's 2.3 GHz SSB signal!  After a little tuning, Harry was able to copy Herbert's 2.3 SSB 10 milliwatt signal with his downconverter and IF rig!  AF4JF then put in a 1-2 watt amp and both stations copied each other's SSB signals with 5 X 7 reports.

AF4JF then made a 1.2 GHz two-way QSO with WA0CNS with 10 milliwatts and a WA5VJB PC log periodic antenna!

By 10:30 am we finished packing up and we were on our way back to St. Charles.  Herbert went back via the ferry boat and Ron and Debbie continued southward on the Great River Road, enjoying the scenic view, towards Alton before taking Hwy 367 back to I 270.

Not a bad way at all to get some exercise, some radio and still social distance during the pandemic. It was great "seeing" (hearing) everyone today!                  

           

Herbert AF4JF making a 2.3 and 1.2 GHz Q with Harry WA0CNS 35 miles away.

    The white box near the tripod is Herbert's 1 to 2 watt multiband amplifier.

          Ron KO0Z's 10 GHz dish aimed south towards High Ridge and Harry WA0CNS 35 miles away.

                              Darcy is used to microwaving with Herbert!

               Herbert AF4JF tuning in Harry WA0CNS with his PLUTO SDR

                     

                             Herbert's PLUTO SDR

          Debbie KC9ULA and Toula waiting patiently.

             Herbert's 2.3 and 1.2 GHz set-up.  Ron's 10 GHz rig is pointed towards EM48rl.

                    Crossing the Mississippi River with a toe boat and barge in the channel.

                          Ferry boat landing in Missouri.

                                           Herbert waiting to board the Grafton Ferry

Harry WA0CNS in EM48rl, High Ridge, MO.  We made 10, 2.3 and 1.2 GHz two-way Qs, 35 miles!

                                                   EM48rl hitch hiker

                    This chap is attracted to KO0Z or he's an Illini fan, orange and blue colors!

Herbert summed up today's outing with this email:

Ron and Harry,

Thanks for coming out with me on such short notice! I wasn't sure until Friday evening if I will find the time .. I am glad that I did.

What I wanted to test today was:

- if Harry will copy me and if I copy him on the PCB antenna on 2.3/3.4 GHz .. negative, this didn't work on 2.3GHz so we didn't even try on 3.4GHz

- if Harry will copy me and if I copy him on the BBQ dish antenna without PA .. positive, this worked both ways

- if Harry will copy me using the LUXUL PA/preamp unit ... positive, this worked. RX preamp was fine, but TX needs adjustment of driving power

- if Harry will copy me and if I copy him on lower microwave bands (903/1296MHz) using the PCB antenna ... positive, we made 2-way QSO on 1296. Wow!

These results gave me an idea what I need to put in the box with SDR PLUTO to make it multi-band rover transceiver with as simple band switching as possible. 

73 Herbert

Another SLAMS 24 GHz Record!

Kudos are once again in order for Harry, WA0CNS and Dave, KB0PE!  Yesterday, 29 April on what started off being a foggy, hazy Monday morning, Harry made the trek to High Ridge, MO at EM48rl and Dave made the trek to Dow, IL at EM49ua to attempt a 24 GHz 39.7 mile two-way QSO.  According to Dave, they began transmitting around 9:40 am and Dave was able to detect Harry's signal but Dave reports there was deep QSB.  As the sun continued to climb in the sky, the fog burned off and both Dave and Harry were looking at haze along the path.  Dave is running a 3' dish with 4 watts and Harry has a "Banana " dish with perhaps as much as 200 milliwatts of output (Harry hasn't made it by Jim's yet to accurately measure the output).  At 10:13 am Harry and Dave worked each other using CW for a successful almost 40 mile 24 GHz QSO!  It is believed that this QSO is the first ever Illinois to Missouri 24 GHz two-way QSO!   Way to go you two!  Job well done!

24 GHz QSO today!

Just got the following text message from Dave, KB0PE earlier today:  Harry & I made our first contact on 24.192 GHz today! Harry was at EM48rl and was at the YMCA, a 15.8 mile path.  Only made CW contact but was 559 copy both ways. 

Congratulations to you Dave and to you Harry!  Well done you two!