122 GHz again

Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF succeeded in extending the distance covered by QSO on 122GHz to 7.671 km (4.76 mile) today. Harry was at new SLAMS location on Iffrig Road in St Peters, MO (EM48qt74cu) while Herbert went across Mississippi River to the Winneberg Road on a hill near Brussels, IL (EM48qv90rv). Two-way CW QSO on 122GHz was completed at 10:59am today (December 14, 2020). This is not only our longest QSO on 122GHz so far, but it also seems to be the very first QSO between Missouri and Illinois on 122GHz ever.

Herbert and Harry met at the Iffrig Road first. Harry started setting up while Herbert went to Golden Eagle Ferry about 3 miles away. That ferry operates every day and has quite short waiting time. At least usually. Mr. Murphy has not overslept today, so Herbert's crossing on the ferry was delayed by a huge commercial barge crossing the path. It took over 15 minutes until that huge thing disappeared.

There is a hill just across the river. It is not that high (590 feet a.s.l.), but still high enough to block the line of sight to everything on the Illinois side. Harry and Herbert actually tried much longer distance (over 25km) on December 4, but this hill protruded into the Fresnel zones between our intended locations. Luckily Harry WA0CNS, Herbert AF4JF and Ron KO0Z have done their homework this time and identified the location on Winneberg Road prior to this test today. Looks like we will use these two locations for future tests.

The atmospheric conditions were not all that great today. Sure, it stopped raining and fog went away this morning, but the relative humidity was still too high:

• temperature 3.6 deg. C

• dew point -5.2 deg. C

• pressure 1005.2 mBar

• humidity 51.1 %

• wind speed 2.4 m/s

Signal from Harry was S9 with QSB to S5. Herbert's signal was much weaker on Harry's side (Herbert uses a 21 dB horn antenna while Harry has a dish):

Herbert's AF4JF view towards Harry

Harry's WA0CNS view towards Herbert

Waiting for the ferry to return back to Missouri

Goal for today was met. However, we are still at the begin, many more miles to cross on 122GHz. Looks like this was probably close to the limit for a station with small horn antenna. We will try the same path with dishes on both sides next. Some other day.

SLAMS ZOOM MEETINGS

 We came, we saw, we chatted.  Doing our best to avoid COVID-19, yet still wishing to get together, thanks to the ingenuity, diligence and efforts of Herbert AF4JF; we have been meeting by ZOOM.  A few days before the ZOOM meeting, Herbert sends out an email to all SLAMS members reminding them of the upcoming meeting.  Last night, December 1 we decided to meet on the first Tuesday of every month by ZOOM for the foreseeable future.

A wide range of topics were discussed including the January VHF contest, PLUTO, 24 GHz, door knob capacitors and even audio frequencies.  Mostly, it was nice to see everyone and to catch up.

Pictured from top left to right:  Herbert AF4JF, Ron KO0Z, Gedas W8BYA, Zack W9SZ, Harry WA0CNS, Bob N0IS, Sam W0PCE and Jim N5MU.  Not pictured is Armand KD0PXF.