Hamfests around St. Louis in 2013

We have just had the Winterfest in Collinsville, IL today - 01/26/2013

Here is a list of interesting hamfests and conferences in our area (please let us know about others):

• Winterfest - Collinsville, IL - 01/26/2013
• Egyptian Radio Club Auction - 03/09/2013 at 4:00pm, check in equip. at 2:00pm
• Lewis & Clark Radio Club Hamfets - Godfrey, IL - 04/20/2013
• Egyptianfest - Sunday 06/09/2013
• Augustfest, Macoupin County ARC - Carlinville, IL - 08/03/2013
• St. Charles Hamfest - O'Fallon, MO - 08/11/2013
• Joplin Hamfest - Joplin, MO - 08/23-24/2013
• CSVHFC - Chicago, IL - 08/25-28/2013
• Peoria Hamfest - Peoria, IL - 09/20-22/2013
• Midwest Div Convention - Lebanon, MO - Fri-Sat 11/8-9/2013

We will add some details to these later.

73 Herbert

AF4JF

First Contest in 2013

ARRL January VHF Contest takes place on the third or fourth weekend in January. Begins 1900 UTC Saturday, ends 0359 UTC Monday. It will be held on January 19-21 this year (2013).

Objective as found on ARRL web site:

For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the US & Canada (and their possessions) may only work stations in the US (and its posessions) and Canada.

Stations in KH0-9, KL7 & KP1-KP5, CY9 and CY0 count as W/VE stations and can be worked by DX stations for contest credit.

More details here.

Geminid Meteor Shower 13 December 2012

Before getting ready to turn in for the night, I tuned my 2 meter radio to 144.200 MHz.  I could hear about 5-6 pings per minute.  I wasn't hearing any CW or SSB, but I went outside here in EM59 and I was able to see two shooting stars.  I also looked at Andromeda, Jupiter, the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula.  When I came back inside to turn off the radio, I hear an op in EM58 making some Qs!  Darn I wish I had my tower and antennas up right now here in Girard!  Oh well, I am getting closer towards that goal!  Well, well, I just worked Smitty, W0DQY from a vertically polarized antenna!

SLAMS DECEMBER BREAKFAST

SLAMS had our last breakfast meeting on Sunday 2 December.  It was good seeing everyone in attendance and seasons greetings to all!

Last SLAMS Breakfast in 2012

Our next SLAMS Breakfast will be Sunday December 2 at 8:00am.
Location will again be at Denny’s.
Who can make it ?

73, John WB9PNU

Contest Monster

It's been a while since anyone has posted on the site, so I thought I'd include this awesome photo of a nicely equipped and awesome rover.  I think I will model my rover after this model!  Hi, hi.

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