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.
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
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