Herbert AF4JF, Harry WA0CNS and Jim N5MU met on the hilltop in EM48rq for Microwave Activity Day today (remember, MAD Days are every first Saturday of the month). The task for today was 24GHz.
We have tried 24GHz from this location several times. Everything looked OK today, Harry and Herbert have copied each other in the parking lot. Harry moved to the valley approx. 3.8 miles away and set up there. Herbert and Jim copied his signal well, but Harry didn't hear us down there. The station on the hill (on picture) was only about 1 mW of power while Harry's station was close to one watt RF.
Another interesting problem was the wind. Not only did we have problem hearing anything between the gusts, there also was a mechanical problem. The dish on picture was mounted on long piece of aluminium which was vibrating in the wind, causing the dish to lose aim. Yes, 24GHz beam from a dish of this size is quite narrow and difficult to aim.
The other tripod usually holds 10GHz dish. That band is "trivial" for short distance like this :-)
We didn't even try today.
73 Herbert
AF4JF
