August 2022 ARRL 10 GHz and Up

 Saturday, 20 August, 5:00am, my alarm woke both me Ron KO0Z, and Debbie KC9ULA up.  After quickly showering, Debbie, Toula (our Aussie) and I met up with Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS in St. Peters by 6:00 am and formed a caravan up to Hannibal, MO EM49hq for the first leg of the ARRL August 2022 10 GHz and Up contest.  We were looking forward to meeting two, new SLAMS members Kevin AD7OI and his wife Tammy KI7GVT who recently moved from Arizona.  Kevin and Tammy are originally from Hannibal and both are experienced microwavers. 

 AD7OI has a very strong signal with his 10 GHz 60 watt signal!  We all met up just south of Hannibal at Lovers' Leap EM49hq.  This river ridge park is an excellent microwave location.  

Pictured left to right:  Debbie KC9ULA, Harry WA0CNS, Herbert AF4JF, Tammy KI7GVT and Kevin AD7OI at Lovers' Leap EM49hq, just south of Hannibal, MO.

 After our meet and greet, we set-up our rigs and began to make contacts.  One attempt was with some buddies near Cedar Rapids, but band conditions were not with us even with Kevin's 60 watt flame thrower.  However our group had much better luck working Gedas W8BYA, 337 miles (537 km) away near Ft. Wayne, IN!  We also succeeded working Zack W9SZ north of Champaign, IL in EN50rl 159 miles (256 km) to our east.  Zack went to another hill in EN50 for a successful 10 GHz Q.  

Ron KO0Z and Debbie KC9ULA crossed over the mighty Mississippi River to John Hays Recreation Area in EM49hr72. It is clearly visible a mile away as a gravel area from Lovers' Leap.

      The yellow arrow points to the Hays Recreational Area in East Hannibal about 1 mile away.
 

 Unfortunately Ron, Herbert and Harry were not able to make a successful two-way 24 GHz Q.  Herbert and Harry could hear me, but I was only able to copy one of them just for a short time, but not long enough to make a valid Q.  Drats.  But the weather was nice and the breeze across the river was welcome.

24 GHz dish pointing back across the Mississippi River towards Lovers' Leap EM49hq, 1 mile away from Hays Recreation Area EM49hr72.

 

Debbie KC9ULA is enjoying a good novel while her hubby Ron plays with 24 GHz.

 

                      

                                 Toula, our Aussie is taking in the sights and smells of EM49hr72.

 

              Larry KA9GWM spotted our uW activity and stopped by for a nice "eyeball" QSO.

 

 

Once we completed our EM49hq Qs, our next stop further down MO Hwy 79 is Lousiana, MO.  Zack W9SZ was making tracks for Ohlman Cemetery EM59ji and we needed a clear shot.  This was our first attempt to work Ohlman from this location.  We arrived on site after 2:00 pm and set-up. Although, we had partly cloudy skies, rain clouds were forming to our east which gave us rain scatter opportunities.

We worked Gedas W8BYA (322 miles, 518 km) and Zack W9SZ  ( 98 miles, 157 km) from that location.  Lousiana is another good uW location towards the northeast through southeast along the Mississippi River.

              Kevin AD7OI's dish aimed  towards Zack W9SZ in EM59ji from Louisana EM49lk.

 

 Kevin, Harry and Herbert made two-way 10 GHz Qs with Zack from Louisana to Ohoman cemetery!

Our next Saturday stop would be the park and Cottleville, MO  EM48qs and Dow, IL EM49ua.  Zack left Ohlman and headed towards Dow.  In the meantime, we parted company with Kevin.  He headed back home to Hannibal.  It was great meeting him and Tammy for the first time.  We made plans to continue with the contest on Sunday.

   Tired, but not exhausted 12 hours later Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF made a successful 10 GHz two-way Q with Zack 25 miles away at Dow, IL.  EM48qs to EM49ua.

 Twelve hours later Harry and Herbert made a ten gig contact with Zack W9SZ in Dow.  As luck would have it with microwaving, the shortest distance contact proved to be the most challenging.  It took a few tries, but the effort was worth it!  A huge rainbow complimented everyone's efforts.  Fortunately for us we had a few miles to go before home.  Poor Zack had at least a 3 hour drive for him back to Champaign, IL.  

Sunday, 21 August 2021  

 On Saturday we all agreed to not get up so early on Sunday.  Herbert called me around 9:40 am and asked if I'd like to accompany him to Kingdom City EM38xw to work Kevin planning to set up somewhere Macon, MO.  Sure!  A tall coffee cup later from Flying J Truck Stop and armed with a banana and two apples I was ready!  We arrived at our location along I-70 about 3 miles west of Kingdom City EM38xw to work Kevin AD7OI.

Successful 10 GHz Q with Kevin AD7OI Sunday afternoon from EM39xw and EM39uf.  About 25 miles.

 

Herbert AF4JF tried to work Harry WA0CNS in EM48pq, near High Ridge, MO but no luck on this attempt.

                            A close up screenshot of our uW site outside of Kingdom City EM38xw

 

                                       Darcy checking out the sights and smells of EM38xw
 
 EM38xw, about 3 miles west of Kingdom City alongside the I-70 south service road.  It's a good spot in almost all directions.  Noisy with all the interstate traffic, but not a bad contest location.  AD7OI and KI7GVT joined us for another meet and greet and to check out this location for future reference.  Afterwards we headed east towards St. Peters and Kevin and Tammy went into town for lunch.

All in all, a great contest and 10 GHz outing.  As luck would prevail, we got our 24 GHz rigs working towards the end of the contest.  Next month!

More contest photos

ARRL 10GHz And Up - Part 1 as seen by Herbert AF4JF

The SLAMS group has once again attended the "ARRL 10GHz And Up" Contest during the weekend of August 21 and 22. We have split the activities between the two days of the contest - first day was just moving around our area, second started with a 90 miles road trip to Hannibal, MO.

The first day was mostly to test our modified equipment. Harry WA0CNS started at High Ridge EM48rl while Herbert was at Community College EM48qs. Fast QSO over 33km.

AF4JF at Community College aiming South

Ron KO0Z joined Herbert (and brought a breakfast) at the CC park while Harry was driving to our next stop, which was the Lakeside 370 park in EM48rt. Harry and Herbert made a QSO on 10GHz, 24GHz and 122GHz from there.

Lakeside 370 Park

Next stop was the Iffrig Road in EM48qt. Harry and Herbert worked Zack W9SZ from EN50ue over 250km over Rain Scatter from that location. Also tried to work Gedas W8BYA, but no success this time. Sorry, I forgot to take some pictures.

The day was very hot, so we gave up at this time and went home to get ready for "tomorrow".

On Sunday, the day after, we got out of beds quite early and met at the commuter parking lot in St. Peters at 5:00am. The topic of the day was a road trip to Hannibal, MO (yes, that's the Mark Twain town with caves and the Tom/Huckleberry/Becky kids). We have arrived there in the "Lover's Leap Park" at 7:00am, just in time for first QSO with Jon W0ZQ and Gary WB0LJC in EM42bn, about 322km away!

Harry WA0CNS in EM49hq Hannibal MO

Herbert AF4JF set up for 10GHz in EM49hq

View across Mississippi River in Hannibal, MO

Herbert and Harry also made a 122GHz QSO across 5 km from the hill to a parking lot in downtown near the river in EM49hr where Harry set up before we left Hannibal and went to Louisiana, MO.

We arrived in Louisiana in EM49lk just on time to catch Zack W9SZ and John K9JK at Ohlman Cemetery in EM59ji about 152km away. We have made some QSOs and continued our journey by returning to the Community College in EM49qs while Zack and John moved closer to Saint Louis.

Harry WA0CNS in EM49lk

Herbert's dog Darcey in EM49lk

We have returned to EM49qs from there. Zack went to Dow, EM49ua and John to Gillespie EM58ax to make another QSO with us. John joined Zack in EM49ua again to make another QSO with us. These were 62 and 40km.

Both teams were quite tired after all this, but we have decided on one more move - John and Zack went to Eagles Roost in Pere Marquette State Park, EM48rx. They both made a final QSO with Herbert over the path of 24km and we have called a day. The Saint Louis team was home in several minutes, but John and Zack spent most of the evening driving back home. Thanks guys for coming here and playing with us!

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!

EM49ua my fifth grid square!

This is the distant grain silo that reflected the signals from EM49ua!

Pointing towards EM49ua

A big thank you to Dave, KB0PE and John, WB9PNU for venturing out to the Dow site, EM49ua to put it on the air Saturday 15 September.  By six am they were up and running and they were able to work Garth, W0GR both CW and USB.  This makes another new grid for Garth!  Congrats guys.  Next they were able to hear Zack, W9SZ in EM50rl, but then his signal disappeared.  Evidently Zack's transverter went out of lock and they were unable to make a two-way, which was especially annoying because this is the first time John has been able to hear Zack from this particular site.  Drats. It is now around 7:00 am I am up and running and I am hearing the WB9PNU/b 5X7.    Telemetry indicates that at 12:58Z the beacon is putting out 2.45 watts, voltage is 12.94 volts, internal temp of 70.5 degrees and external PA temp of 49 degrees.  At 12:14Z I work Dave and John on CW with 599 signals.  At 13:06Z I work Dave and John on USB!  Propagation was so good that morning that I was able to hear Dave and John off the backside of my dish.  When I was swinging it back towards them I noticed that their signal peaked when my dish was pointed at a metal grain silo!  Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the angle of inflection equaled the angle of reflection!  Too cool!