2nd Weekend ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest 2025

                      September 20& 21, 2025 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest

 Although, the 10 GHz and Up contest isn't quite over as I compose this blog, the writing muse is here and my 8 month old granddaughter is napping, so, I'm taking advantage of the time. This year SLAMS has had a few setbacks due to some medical issues, time commitments and equipment difficulties. But it's hard to keep a few good hams down for long.

 Herbert AF4JF, Harry WA0CNS and Jim KK0U may want to share their experiences in the contest. As for me, KO0Z, I only participated in the contest on Saturday for about one hour.  My stepson's wife had a medical emergency which required me to put on my "grandpa hat" to watch my granddaughter, but I was able to test out my 10 GHz rig. Previously, before the contest I installed a new dish, feedhorn arm extender and mini hardline to the external relay.

On Saturday, 9-20 I set up at MidRivers Mall west parking lot (EM48qt) to listen for Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS transmissions from Pere Marquette State Park in IL (EM48rx).  Jim KK0U joined me at MidRivers.

While waiting for Herbert and Harry to set-up, I copied the WB9PNU beacon via rainscatter from DePaul Hospital's roof which is about 12 miles away.  The beacon sounds good. I copied the beacon telemetry at 10:03 CDT:  4 watts out, voltage 12.3 DC, enclosure temp of 98 F and PA temp of 100 F.  Around 11:00 am, we were ready.  I transmitted to Herbert but he couldn't hear me.  Jim was able to hear me, but he was only 10 ft away. Herbert's signal was 599 +.  We were only less than 13 miles apart.  Herbert and Harry were able to copy Jim with strong signals. 

Obviously, I have some work to do.  I suspect my external relay may be the culprit. Drats! At least the receive side of my rig works!  I wish I would have been able to accompany Jim from there.  Our original plan was to travel along I-70 every ten miles or so to work EM48rx.  However, unexpected grandpa duty required me to get back home pronto.  I must admit, having a rig with little output made quitting the contest early easier to swallow. 

Now, I need check out that external relay.  Hopefully, that is my transmit issue. 

                                      AF4JF's rig up and running at EM48rx near Eagle Roost.

 

                                                          Pere Marquette State Park, IL EM48rx

                                              Harry WA0CNS back on the air from EM48rx

Darcy EM48rx "chillin."

 

 

                                     

                                           Jim KK0U joining Ron KO0Z at MidRivers Mall EM48qt
 

                              

                                            WB9PNU/b heard from EM48qt via rainscatter from MidRiverss Mall.

ARRL SEPT VHF QSO CONTEST

                                        ARRL SEPTEMBER VHF QSO CONTEST 

 

                                        Rear mounted yagis for 23 cm, 70 cm, 1.25 m and 2 m.
 

Finally, I decided to stop procrastinating and I took some steps to turn my Silverado into a more serious rover.  I've roved before with Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS to grid squares EM48 and EM49, but those outings were more portable set-ups.  They involved going to location and setting up, tear down and resetting up at another location. I wanted to get more serious about roving.

  I wanted to minimize set-up time.   I have end mounted yagi antennas which require a mast with a good base.  My past, portable set-ups varied in quality and overall were not that good.  This time I purchased a tripod with a steel mast and bolted it down to a plywood sheet.  I then put a heavy weight on the plywood and the antenna system stood up to highway speeds.

On the other hand, I found out the hard way, my folding bed cover needs to be strapped down.  On Sunday, while traveling up Interstate 55,  heard a "boom" as the wind blew my cover backwards against the antenna mast.  The cover blocked my rear window vision. I've done this before and never had a problem.  Then again, I wasn't traveling over 60 mph.  One lesson learned.

I also need to get an antenna switch and longer coax runs.  I fed my coax through the passenger side of the truck.  For the January contest, I plan to use foam rubber to fill in the air gap between the window and the coax.

This turned out to be a good trial run.  Debbie KC9ULA and I decided to not make this contest a "full-press effort."  On Sunday, we wanted to be back in time to view the KC Chief's vs. Eagles football game.  KC lost BTW...drats....  This decision limited our contest time, but this was a trial run.

The weekend of September 13-14 was hot (at times 100 F on my truck's thermometer).  We were under the influence of an weaker, omega, high pressure system.  Humidity levels were way down and so was propagation.  Many of the ops we worked noticed poor, propagation on 6 and 2 meters.  70 cm had better  conditions it seemed.  

On Saturday, Debbie and I started off at the park near St. Charles Community College, near Cottleville, MO EM48.  We made contacts with Herbert AF4JF, Mel K0PFX and Jeff K9KLD in Maryville, IL EM58.  From there we went to Foley, MO EM49 and worked Herbert, Jeff.  Not a bad start for our first day. Herbert convinced us to try again on Sunday.

 Sunday, September 14

 I'm glad we decided to go.  This was going to be a busy, full day in that we wanted to be back in time for the Chief's.  We were on the road by 9:30 am and we worked Mel, K0PFX, en route to EM 58 from EM 48 (I-270).  Our first stop was at a park in Troy, MO, EM58.  I couldn't hear Herbert AF4JF in EM48 or Warren WD9EXD in EM57, but we did work Jeff K9KLD from the park.  Jeff is only a few miles away.  I don't think we'll use that park again, too many trees and houses nearby.

From there we went to Staunton, Il in EM59.  We parked at a dental office located on a hill.  This turned out to be a very good spot.  I worked Warren WD9EXD, Jeff K9KLD, Tony KG9AP, and Gordan N9HYC. We did some band running.

On our way back home, we stopped again in EM58 at a higher location near SIUE.  I was able to work Herbert, Tony, John KE9CIP and Jeff from that location.

STATS 

Debbie and I activated 4 grids, EM48, EM49, EM58 and EM59.  We drove 300 miles on this weekend triip.  We worked 3 grids EM48, EM58 and EM59.  We made 37 Qs, 55 QSO points, 19 mults for a claimed score of 1,045 points.

CSVHFS 2025 Conference, Lincoln, NE

 Debbie KC9ULA and I, KO0Z, were able to attend another outstanding Central States VHF Society conference held on July 24-27 in EN10pu, Lincoln, NE.  The weather was noticeably cooler and less humid than what we were experiencing in St. Louis.

We left St. Peters around 8 am and arrived at Lincoln around 3:40 pm.  Not a bad trip.  It was great seeing friends and making new ones. The forums were top notch and the banquet was delicious.  I had steak and shrimp and Debbie had chicken.

On Sunday, we left the hotel around 9 am and arrived in St. Peters around 4:30 pm.  

It's said a picture is worth a thousand words, so rather than render a detailed narrative, I'll let my pictures tell the tale.

 

Pete N0OY's "ride"

                                                 Bill N0LNO  chatting with Steve N2CEI on rover row.

                                                  Outside Country Inn and Suites, Lincoln, NE

                                                                 Jon W0ZQ next to his dish 

                                                 Mark KG9OV/R along with Pat

                                                                          Inside Mark's rover

                                    Rod K0DAS chatting with Greg WQ0P.  Greg has a 10 GHz Horn

Mark WB0TEM  and Arliss W7XU visiting with Greg WQ0P

    

                                                                Greg and Pete at  the banquet

                                                 Debbie KC9ULA enjoying Italian cuisine

Congratulations Herbert!

 Congratulations to SLAMS member Herbert AF4JF for taking 3rd place in the CSVHFS Spring Sprints 432 Rover category.  Herbert's certificate was awarded on Saturday, July 26th at the society's conference banquet in Lincoln, NE.  Nicely done H!

 

 

 

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!

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

How the SLAMS tried to combine SPRINT Microwave with an expedition to Knob Lick in EM47tp

It was Saturday October 5 (2024), the day of both, MAD Day (stands for Microwave Activity Day) and SPRINT Microwave contest. The SLAMS group from Saint Louis decided to look for a new contest location in different than our own grid (EM48) and closer to other VHF+ stations. We have done similar explorer trip to that area 3 years ago (see our posting here) but did not find anything remarkably good at that time. Friends from the Saint Louis QRP Society (SLQS) told us about a hill they use for POTA activations and we decided to try that.

Herbert AF4JF, Harry WA0CNS, Ron KO0Z and Jim KK0U went to Knob Lick in EM47tp in the morning. We intended to try 1296MHz and 10GHz with our friends in EM64, EM65 and EM13. That's Tennessee, Alabama and Texas. The location is truly on the hill, one of the tallest in Missouri and it really looks good. Jim KK0U told us that this is an excellent place for HF activity, such as SOTA/POTA. First impression upon arrival was magnificient!

Nice find on the hilltop!

There is Texas somewhere in that direction

Fire tower on premises

There is a platform in the middle of the stairway

Jim KK0U climbed the stairs and shot this video from the accessible platform

As you can see in the video, there is 360 degrees open view above the tree level from that platform. The fence has holes big enough not to bother 10GHz signals, but probably not too good for lower bands, such as 23cm or even VHF, so we did not even try to carry the equipment (and batteries) up that high and set up on the ground instead.

Jim KK0U listening on 10GHz

Team setting up on the ground

On the other side were several guys. Next two pictures are from Blevins Gap in EM64rp

Left to right:
Jay/K4NKT (3cm)
Bob/KV4PC (23cm, 33cm)
Bob/KV4PC (3cm)
Stephen/KY4G (23cm)

Chris NV4B

We were communicating with the other groups using phones, SLACK and GroupMe chats, SMS messages ... one guy spoke for the group, so we do not even have all their names or callsigns. I have tried to work NV4B, WG8S, KV4PC, KY4G, W4RXR, K4NKT and AA5C. There were probably more and I apologize for not capturing all the callsigns.

To make this long story short - we did not make any QSOs. Not a single one. This was a microwave contest and distances were simply too long for the meager propagation that day. However, we are HAPPY with this location! We definitely will come back, probably for one of the VHF contests, with full set of bands 50MHz to 122GHz. Also, we will probably employ Q65 for microwave digi modes from there.