ARRL 10GHz And Up - Part 1 as seen by Herbert AF4JF

The SLAMS group has once again attended the "ARRL 10GHz And Up" Contest during the weekend of August 21 and 22. We have split the activities between the two days of the contest - first day was just moving around our area, second started with a 90 miles road trip to Hannibal, MO.

The first day was mostly to test our modified equipment. Harry WA0CNS started at High Ridge EM48rl while Herbert was at Community College EM48qs. Fast QSO over 33km.

AF4JF at Community College aiming South

Ron KO0Z joined Herbert (and brought a breakfast) at the CC park while Harry was driving to our next stop, which was the Lakeside 370 park in EM48rt. Harry and Herbert made a QSO on 10GHz, 24GHz and 122GHz from there.

Lakeside 370 Park

Next stop was the Iffrig Road in EM48qt. Harry and Herbert worked Zack W9SZ from EN50ue over 250km over Rain Scatter from that location. Also tried to work Gedas W8BYA, but no success this time. Sorry, I forgot to take some pictures.

The day was very hot, so we gave up at this time and went home to get ready for "tomorrow".

On Sunday, the day after, we got out of beds quite early and met at the commuter parking lot in St. Peters at 5:00am. The topic of the day was a road trip to Hannibal, MO (yes, that's the Mark Twain town with caves and the Tom/Huckleberry/Becky kids). We have arrived there in the "Lover's Leap Park" at 7:00am, just in time for first QSO with Jon W0ZQ and Gary WB0LJC in EM42bn, about 322km away!

Harry WA0CNS in EM49hq Hannibal MO

Herbert AF4JF set up for 10GHz in EM49hq

View across Mississippi River in Hannibal, MO

Herbert and Harry also made a 122GHz QSO across 5 km from the hill to a parking lot in downtown near the river in EM49hr where Harry set up before we left Hannibal and went to Louisiana, MO.

We arrived in Louisiana in EM49lk just on time to catch Zack W9SZ and John K9JK at Ohlman Cemetery in EM59ji about 152km away. We have made some QSOs and continued our journey by returning to the Community College in EM49qs while Zack and John moved closer to Saint Louis.

Harry WA0CNS in EM49lk

Herbert's dog Darcey in EM49lk

We have returned to EM49qs from there. Zack went to Dow, EM49ua and John to Gillespie EM58ax to make another QSO with us. John joined Zack in EM49ua again to make another QSO with us. These were 62 and 40km.

Both teams were quite tired after all this, but we have decided on one more move - John and Zack went to Eagles Roost in Pere Marquette State Park, EM48rx. They both made a final QSO with Herbert over the path of 24km and we have called a day. The Saint Louis team was home in several minutes, but John and Zack spent most of the evening driving back home. Thanks guys for coming here and playing with us!

ARRL VHF Contest - June 2021

Once again, the sizzling time (referring to the hot outdoor temperatures during this contest) is back! Harry WA0CNS and Herbert AF4JF attended the ARRL VHF Contest as Rovers. First day (Saturday June 12) from Winfield in EM49pa / EM49ob, second day (Sunday June 13) from Cottleville EM48qs.

We met at the Winfield dam a little ahead of time and tried to find new locations in the area. Found two promising places closer to Foley, but both were surrounded by trees which made the higher elevation useless. We have tried a RS contact with W8BYA from EM49ob, but the dish was pointing right next to group of trees. That affects Fresnel zones enough to make the contact impossible. We will keep looking in that area, EM49 is quite rare grid on microwave frequencies.

The contest itself started for us on "wrong foot". We have experienced some technical difficulties that cost us some points from higher bands. Some bands that we tested just a week ago didn't work. Since we got them working the next day, we believe that the problem might have been heat-related. 

Herbert AF4JF at the Winfield Dam

Although in shade, the laptop screen was only readable with difficulty

The 10GHz station uses FT-817, no SDR

We called it a day and decided to continue on Sunday morning. However, when Herbert returned home and noticed the Rainscatter situation, he dressed again and went to the local park in EM48qs to try RS with Gedas again ... and IT WORKED!

RS situation in the afternoon of June 12 when AF4JF and W8BYA made QSO on 10GHz

That was a nice end of the day. However, we met in the same park next to Community College campus where this RS contact was made from in the morning of Sunday June 13 again. Probably thanks to colder temperatures, everything worked.

AF4JF station for 24GHz - still in "test setup" (cable ties etc.)

We were able to make contacts on 10 bands this weekend! We didn't bring our 122GHz simply because there wasn't enough space in our cars.

Several pictures of Harry and his equipment:

WA0CNS Rover (antennas on the roof are remotely controlled from the car)

Harry setting up his 10GHz once again

Harry WA0CNS and his 24GHz

Everything considered, this was a nice contest. We didn't make too many QSOs, but we were active on 10 bands and we survived the heat. Even my dog was quite happy with the results:

Darcey

SLAMS Zoom Meetings cont.

When Ron KO0Z published his post about the virtual SLAMS meetings back in December 2020, we have not expected to keep meeting "virtually" for too long. However, it seems to be working. We have two sessions every month:

• Virtual talk, not unlike the discussions we usually hold at Denny's or in other restaurants
• Virtual technical presentations and discussions

While the "talk" takes place every first Tuesday of the month, the "technical" comes one week after that, on second Tuesday of the month. We made a list of suitable topics for these virtual technical talks that will take a while to exhaust. Even with the COVID situation getting better, restaurants reopening and people coming back together again, we will keep the virtual solution in place. It has one significant advantage - even our members from "out-of-town" can attend our meetings and contribute to our talk.

The list of physical and virtual meetings on the SLAMS blog site is being updated on regular basis. Look at the right side of your screen and find the respective section.

Invitations for the ZOOM meetings are being sent out automatically to all full SLAMS members (that means the members of the club listed on the Roster, not the recipients of the email reflector messages). However, the invitations can be forwarded to any other person (preferably a ham). You need the invitation to connect, for it contains Meeting ID and Password required by ZOOM.

March Rainscatter Attempt

 Saturday, 27 March:  By 3:15 pm, Ron KO0Z and Toula made the trek to Louisiana, MO, Riverview Park, EM49lk to attempt a rainscatter QSO with Gedas, W8BYA.  A line of T-storms were lining up from MO to Peoria, but the T-storms began to fizzle out over Peoria.  So, Ron and Gedas didn't make a two-way QSO on 10 GHz.  On the way back to St. Peters, a big T-storm over Springfield, IL stayed intact and Ron pulled over near Winfield to attempt a Q with W8BYA.  Regrettably, some of his rig connections broke on the way back home and we lost an opportunity.  Next time!

Potential uW site in EM49lk

 On Saturday, February 27, Debbie KC9ULA, myself and the grand kids took a trip up MO Route 79 to Louisiana, MO to Henderson Park overlooking the Mississippi River in EM49lk.  It has unobstructed views towards the north all the way to southeast.  I would like to thank Ward Silver N0AX for making me aware of this park!

                                                             Looking east towards EN70

                                                              View to the north

                                                         View southeast.

47GHz Cumulative Contest

Following email (sent by Paul W1GHZ) landed in my mailbox today. I am going to accept the challenge and try to participate.

The 47 GHz Cumulative Contest for 2021

announced in January QST Microwavelengths

announcement and rules may be found at:

http://newsvhf.com/47_GHz_Cumulative_Contest_for_2021.pdf

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.