ARRL 10GHz And Up 2020 as seen by AF4JF

As Ron KO0Z has just published in his posting, some of the members of the SLAMS group attended second leg of the ARRL 10GHz And Up contest today. We have not attended the first leg for various reasons, so we decided to take it light and only participate in one day of the activities. Some of our usual contacts went to the Great Lakes for this contest anyway.

As we published earlier this week, we have recently tried to use good tropo propagation to work Russ KB8U and Gedas W8BYA on 10GHz. We didn't make the QSOs, but it was close. Gedas W8BYA and Ron KO0Z copied each other S-8, but the propagation didn't last long to complete the QSO. Driven by this in our mind, we tried again and scheduled some tests with Gedas this morning. However, there was no propagation, no enhancement from Mr. Hepburn or Rain Scatter and we didn't make a QSO today. No problem, there will be more thunderstorms in the future!

We have picked a location at one of the YMCA gyms in Saint Louis, because it is close to the WB9PNU beacon and because we have worked stations from the direction to Gedas on this hill before. Following picture shows the horizon in the direction of 60 degrees:

Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS set up their stations for 10GHz and 122GHz today. Darcey (Herbert's dog) made sure everything was set up properly:

Speaking about 122GHz - Harry and Herbert both used the popular module from Australia with a radar chip on it. The modules worked well, but we will have to make some finishing touches to our stations - thermal insulation being one of them. The CW signal was a little unstable until Herbert covered the unit by Darcey's drinking bowl to lower frequency drifting. The units are GPS-disciplined by 1pps signal, but the short term stability needs to be improved. However, that didn't stop us from making our first QSO.

All this activity took place in the morning. Ron, KO0Z arrived at his location on the cliff in EM48rx shortly after 10:00 am and we made our contest QSOs on 10GHz.

Herbert and Harry moved from YMCA in EM48sq to the Community College in St. Peters (EM48qs) and later to the town of Wentzville (EM48ot) and mase several more contest QSOs on 10GHz. It was shortly after 1:00 pm when we decided to stop for the day and return home.

ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest - September 2020

 COVID-19, busy work schedules, grandchildren, moving QTH locations all combined took its toll on this year's SLAMS efforts to be radio active for the ARRL 10 GHz and Up contest.  Still, it's hard to keep uW hams away from a contest and Harry WA0CNS, Herbert AF4JF and Ron KO0Z put in a day's worth of activity on Sunday, September 20, 2020.  We weren't trying to break any records.  Instead, we wanted to try 122 GHz and get some activity on the air.  Herbert and Harry tried to work Gedas W8BYA in Indiana, but the path just wasn't there.  KO0Z didn't even try.  His path to Gedas would involve shooting into a thick forest.

Basically, our plan was a modified version of last year's operation.  Ron positioned himself at Eagles Roost at Pere Marquette State Park, EM48rx, near Grafton, IL.  Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS moved along Interstate 70.  We made 3 attempts and we made 3 QSOs each.  Some on USB and some using CW.  

The weather was nice.  The morning was chilly (47 F), but by 10:30 it was in the mid sixties.  It was a sunny day.  Ron noticed the river water levels were way down from April of this year.  With such nice weather, KO0Z had a fair number of visitors to Eagles Roost, which made shooting a 10 GHz signal to the west problematic.  He packed it in around 1:30 pm after it took about 30 minutes for the crowds to thin out to make a QSO with Herbert and Harry.

The real big story is Harry and Herbert made a 122 GHz QSO!  I will let Herbert tell the story and to supply pictures!  Although, it was a clear, nice, sunny day, the pictures will reveal a haze.  The haze is due to high altitude smoke from all of the forest fires along the west coast.

                                              Grid square EM48rx, Pere Marquette State Park, IL

    Flood conditions on the Illinois River in April 2020.  St. Charles, County is in background.

       A small crowd at Eagles Roost, just where I need to point my dish to the west.

                                  Toula keeping a watchful eye out for visitors to Eagles Roost

                In between 10 GHz QSOs as Harry and Herbert moved along I-70, I had a good book to read.

            More people gathering at Eagles Roost.  Otherwise, the site is great for uW.

                                Note the hazy skies due to forest fire smoke out west.

                      I took the Grafton Ferry boat across the Mississippi River back to St. Charles County.

ARRL UHF Contest 2014

For the second morning in a row, my cell phone alarm clock woke me up at 09:30 Z (4:30 am, CDT).  Yesterday, it was to get me up and going to unlock the venue for the West Central Illinois hamfest in Carlinville, IL.  Today, it awakened me to my trek to participate in the ARRL UHF contest.  Earlier, it dawned on me that I hadn't dragged my 10 GHz rig out at all for 2014 and I needed to rectify that omission.  A few days earlier, I posted with SLAMS asking if anyone was planning to participate in this contest.  Jim, N5MU wrote that he'd be available on Sunday morning.  We agreed to try and work each other at 7:00 am.  Jim went to the tried and true YMCA site in EM48 and I went to Ohlman cemetery hill, just east of Ohlman, IL. 

When my alarm woke me up from a deep sleep, I asked myself, "Ochu, what on God's green Earth were you thinking?"  I forced my self up, showered, dressed and loaded up the car and made the 42 mile trek to the cemetery, but not before first making a pot of coffee to assist me along the way.

It was spectacular morning.  The sun was peaking above the eastern horizon and it was awash in orange behind the low-hanging, fog banks.  The birds were chirping and there was the promise of working Jim, N5MU later on this morning.  Now, I remembered why I agreed to do this; especially so, since I just spent the prior day working on a hamfest!

I made it to Ohlman Cemetery an hour later after leaving my Girard QTH.  It was 7:00 am and I called Jim on the cell phone to tell him that I had arrived and that I would be up and running in about 20 minutes.  Less than ten minutes later I had the tripod set up and the 10 GHz rig warming up.  I erected my mast for my six element 70 cm yagi, connected the coax and hooked it up to the 817.  I gave Jim a call and we heard each other with no problem at 12:35 Z.  The S meter wasn't indicating anything, but we both had solid copy on USB.  An 81.5 mile QSO.  Now, let's try 10 GHz.  I was copying John, WB9PNU's beacon about a S-5.  It had been almost a year since I heard it last and hearing the beacon's CW telemetry was like hearing an old friend again after a long absence!

Peaking up on the beacon, I nudged my dish a degree or so to the south to hear Jim.  I could copy his CW about 519.  A short while later Jim was 579.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go back to him because my FT 817 wasn't keying up.  I could hear my rig's sidetone, but the rig itself wasn't keying up.  It turns out that, somehow, a menu setting had changed and once I found it, I was able to correct for it and I was putting out CW.  Jim and I made the QSO at 13:22 Z with 519 reports!

After working Jim, I swung my 70 cm yagi towards Ron, W9ZIH's direction and towards Chicago and I made some noise, both CW and USB, but to no avail.  I took down my portable station and soon I was on the road to nearby Pana for a sausage and egg McMuffin before heading back to Girard. By 10:40 am, I was pulling into my driveway.  All said and done, it was an exceptional start to my day.  Thank you Jim!

 

                                          ( About 4 miles east of Girard, IL.  Notice the sun and the fog bank)

                              ( A better shot of the fog bank.  A good day for microwaving!)

                                          (  My view to the south.  Notice the fog bank)

 ( Here I am on top of the Ohlman cemetery hill.  My 70 cm yagi and 10 GHz rig are visible)

                                           (Another view of the cemetery portable set up from EM59ji)

                             ( My view back southwest towards Jim in EM48, 81.5 miles away)

ARRL 10GHz And Up Contest from another hilltop

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

2013 ARRL VHF QSO Party

Once again did some of the SLAMS members participate on a VHF+ contest. I have set up equipment for 144/432/1296/10368GHz in my usual location at YMCA in Westport, EM48sq.

The location actually is identified by following Maidenhead grid designator (according to my GPS): 

EM48SQ58AX

my usual setup

More pictures from AF4JF can be found here.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

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!

SPRINT Microwave on September 29, 2012

Herbert AF4JF, Jim N5MU and Rich N0PQU met at YMCA in EM48sq for last microwave contest of the season. We didn't have big contesting plans, just intended to try with Zack W9SZ who went to EN50rl on 1296MHz/10GHz and Ron KO0Z who went to his new location in EM59cl this morning on 10GHz too.

Propagation didn't really look promising - a little Hepburn enhancement, some water vapors, but nothing really promising from our usual sources of prediction:

(I believe that this made the difference today)

The day started quite bad - Herbert has forgotten his 23cm antenna and Jim forgot to bring his antenna pole, so we have had to combine our hardware into one 23cm station. It didn't matter much, because we didn't work Zack on 23cm today. Zack copied Jim's signal S5 on 1296.100MHz but Jim didn't copy Zack this time. Oh well ...

However, after a year of trying and trying, we have both finally worked Zack W9SZ in EN50rl from YMCA in EM48sq! That is a #5 grid for Jim and #6 for Herbert from this particular location. Thanks for all your patience with us, Zack! There are no terrain obstacles between us, but the distance is over 160 miles, so it requires a little help from propagation. Following picture shows the terrain profile between both locations:

Wonder of all wonders, it has worked today! Zack didn't hear the St. Louis beacon on 10GHz, but he has heard a 2.3GHz beacon from Chicago unusually strong, so something has been happening this morning.

Following picture shows Jim working Zack on 10GHz. We have had to move Jim's station close to Herbert's, because there was no signal from Zack at all 10ft. down the parking lot!

We have tried with Ron KO0Z on 10GHz after working Zack, but didn't succeed this time. Well, we have always tried much earlier in the day before ...

One more achievement can be claimed today - Rich N0PQU tested his 10GHz transverter today. He uses a MACOM brick oscillator on 10224MHz with a mixer and IC251 radio (more info about modifying that radio here).

Signal from this simple transverter was very stable, Jim N5MU and Herbert AF4JF have both made SSB  contacts with N0PQU across the parking lot. Although there still are things to be improved, Rich has certainly made it to the qroup of 10GHz-capable stations in St. Louis area. Congrats!

73 Herbert

AF4JF

MAD Activity on September 1st and 2nd

We have set up at YMCA in EM48sq at early hour today - my 10GHz station was operational at 5:45am this morning. Reason for this early setup was a "sked" with Garth W0GR on 10GHz. Garth copies the WB9PNU/B beacon signals with significant strength almost every morning, so we wanted to try while remnants of the tropical storm ISAAC were still in the area. EM38 would be new grid for me on 10GHz. 

NOAA satellite picture

Rain Scatter conditions

I was hoping for Rain Scatter, but all the usable storms went North out of Garth's reach. The only one remaining didn't have much reflectivity and was moving North, behind a line of trees from my point of view.

However, we have set up close to Marine Ave. at the YMCA entrance. Jim KK0JIM came to participate. Note the orange flashing light in the middle of the picture at its bottom:

Well, we didn't work Garth, although we have heard his beacon from time to time. Signal was very weak and never lasted long enough to copy even a single character in morse code. Just a few beeps and elevated noise. Not good.

Sudden burst of wind finally turned the antenna over and everything landed on the road. This has never happened before, but I have never set up with that umbrella in windy weather. Anyway, here comes a solution that I will be using from now on:

We gave up Garth at approx. 7:30 and moved to the usual location in the YMCA parking lot to try with Ron KO0Z. Signals were not as strong as usual, but we made it, both CW and SSB between 8:05 and 8:25 this morning. Signals were coming from azimuth 19deg. while direct line between us was 33deg. Signal takeoff angle was approx. 15deg. Signal was showing signs of Rain Scatter distortion. Distance 65 miles.

This was new grid for Ron KO0Z and first QSO on 10GHz ever for Jim KK0JIM who also celebrated his birthday today! Congratulations and thanks for all your help, Jim!

Packed up and returned home after that.

--

Tried one more time on Sunday 09/02 in the morning, right before SLAMS breakfast meeting. Rainy weather, no luck, despite setting up across the road from the YMCA entrance. We have to bribe Mr. Hepburn for better propagation next time ...

Very inconvenient rain ...

Note my car parked across the street 

AND 

the tripod anchored by the heavy battery!

Garth was unable to copy the WB9PNU/B beacon on 10GHz this morning, not even on Spectran. Too much water in the air .. and Garth reported heavy groubd fog in his area. Well, next time ...

NOAA satellite picture from Sunday 09/02

Herbert

AF4JF

ARRL "10GHz And Up" contest by AF4JF

I have set up in EM49pa near Winfield, MO for the first day of the contest (Saturday 08/18). The intention was to find new location in EM49 closer to my house than the AT&T tower near Dow in Illinois where we usually go.

I have worked N5MU from EM48sq (27 miles) and WA0CNS from EM48rl (38 miles). Didn't work anybody East of me, probably thanks to the higher ground on the Illinois side of the Mississippi river.

--

I have set up at YMCA in West St. Louis County (in EM48sq) on Sunday 08/19. It was raining a little when I arrived at the hill, so I have "installed" an "all-weather-option" on top of my 10GHz station:

I have encountered Mr. Murphy today - found a damaged transfer relay at my dish antenna. The relay was switching (means clicking), but the "TX" path didn't connect. I have to check my sequencer before replacing that relay.

More details here and here.

73 Herbert

AF4JF