ARRL 10 G & Up Contest, Leg 1, August 2026

 Leg one, August 15, 2026, of the ARRL 10 G & Up contest started with thunderstorms overnight early Saturday morning just past dawn. Today, it looked like it would only be Kevin AD7OI and myself and whoever else I could hear to operate leg one of the contest.  I decided to go for distance points. I, KO0Z left St. Peters EM48 amidst rain heading towards Litchfield, IL EM59ee at 7:00 am.  Plans are to be QRV by 9:00 am to work Kevin AD7OI located on one of our favorite microwave sites, Lover's Leap, high above Hannibal, MO EM49hq 100 miles away to my northwest.  

                        KO0Z set up at Litchfield, IL EM59ee ready to work Kevin AD7OI in EM49hq

                                               Rain just north of Litchfield early Saturday morning 

 Around 9:00 am Kevin and I tried to work one another but without any luck.  Kevin discovered an issue with rig. In the meantime,  I was able to hear the St. Louis 10 G beacon WB9PNU very well. Kevin's workshop is close by to EM49hq so while I waited for Kevin's return, I called CQ towards Chicago but with no response.  A very short while later, Kevin was back and both he and I tried again.  I could hear Kevin, but he could neither hear or see me on his Icom 705's display  We were 100 miles apart. Drats.  We attributed it to poor propagation.

I packed up and headed east 25 miles towards Ohlman Cemetery EM59ji.  It felt good to arrive at another one of my favorite microwave locations for it had been four years or more since I was there last.

           The sun was beginning to pop out between the rain clouds at Ohlman Cemetery EM59ji

 

             Pointing towards St. Louis and the WB9PNU/b from Ohlman Cemetery EM59ji

 While at the cemetery, I could easily copy the WB9PNU beacon 73 miles to my southwest.  I then tried to work Kevin from this location, now 118 miles away.  I could hear him but once again, he couldn't hear me.  I suspected my transverter or its relay were malfunctioning.  Since propagation wasn't too good for either of us. Kevin kindly made available his excellent workbench in Hannibal to test my rig. Darn, so much for working distance points plans. Now I needed to drive a distance.  Ah, the best laid plans of mice and a frustrated microwaver...

                                                 Kevin AD7OI testing my Xverter output 

 

                              AD7OI outside his Hannibal shack next to his VHF-SHF tower.

 I'm glad I made the trek over to Kevin's.  We measured my output at approximately 80 milliwatts.  No where near my normal 3 watts output. I'll be sending my Xverter back to Steve at DEMI for his expert repair.  Oh well, I can now claim I'm working 3 cm QRPp!  Tnx Kevin for making you and your bench available to test my 3 cm rig.

Sunday, August  16,2026

Armed with the knowledge I am now operating 3 cm QRPp, my strategy changed.  I planned to operate closer in to our Sunday location - the Farmersville, IL gob EM59ek.I again left St. Peters EM48 at 7:00 am amidst light to moderate rain heading towards a rendezvous with Jim N9LQF, the keeper of the gate, at the Farmersville, IL  gob wind turbine just east of I-55 exit 72. We were up on  the gob by 8:30 am.

                              Driving up towards the wind turbine atop the Farmersville gob EM59ek.

 

                                         Me set up next to  the wind turbine on the gob.

 Soon Herbert AF4JF arrived on site and together we were set up ready to work our fellow microwave enthusiast and SLAMS member,  Jim KK0U who was setting up at Litchfield, IL to our south by 22 miles, which we both did.  We were also ready to work Kevin AD7OI and his wife Tammy KI7GV at Hannibal EM49hq.

     IDOT left their mowing tractors on top of the gob and Herbert used the trailer's additional height.

Herbert was able to put Kevin and Tammy into his log, but my 80 milliwatts wasn't punching through the 118 mile path.  I was able to work Jim KK0U 22 miles away with my QRPp station! After that QSO, I decided to rove around the gob to give Herbert and Jim more points.  I went to Morrisonville, IL, Pawnee, IL and finally at Virden, IL. I was able to put Herbert and Jim in my log.

                                                      Me set up near Morrisonville, IL 

 

 

                                           Morrisonville looking west towards the gob's direction.

 

 

                                                        Storm clouds over Pawnee, IL.

 It was now around 2:30 pm and thunderstorms were rapidly approaching.  Herbert tried to work Mike KM0Tvia rainscatter but with no luck on two different occasions.  So we packed up, left the gob and headed west to Girard to try out a new Mexican restaurant El Campineo.

 

                                        Jim KK0U and Herbert AF4JF looking over the menu.

 

 After a late lunch, Herbert left and Jim and I decided to take the "scenic" route back to Missouri stopping every 10 miles to find a location and then one of us would travel another KM to make a two-way QSO. It was a lot of fun and quite an adventure!  We ended up arriving home in EM48 somewhere around 7:00 pm.

On Saturday, I managed to add 350 miles on my new Subaru Outback.  Sunday, I added over 200 miles.