2003 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest
10/21/2003 |
W0JT
Work committments prevented me from joining my fellow Northern Lights
Radio Society members in the jaunt to Lake Superior for the first
weekend of the contest, but I made sure I was free to participate in
the second weekend's activities closer to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis
St. Paul) area. I managed to borrow a 10 GHz rig from Bob, W0AUS. I
was not only one of the least experienced operator among the NLRS
group, I was also at a bit of a disadvantage antenna-wise, having to
make do with a 17 db horn instead of the 23 db (or thereabouts) dish
commonly used my most of the rest of the folks. But beggars can't be
too picky, and this was a far superior system to the WBFM loaner I
used in the 2002 contest (as KB0ZEV), and my enjoyment was many
orders of magnitude greater.
I met up with several of the NLRS'ers on Saturday morning at Mounds
Park in St. Paul, where I made a few "warm up" contacts of 5 and
20 Km. I then tagged along with Donn, WA2VOI/0, one of the most
experienced of the local 10 GHz operators. We stopped at a couple of
familiar locations in St. Paul, and falling behind schedule, we jumped
ahead to a new location near Chubb Lake, MN. From there, I made one
easy contact of 38 Km back to Burnsville, MN, and three extremely
challenging contacts of 138 Km with Jon (W0ZQ), Mel (KC0P), and
Carol (N0HZO). My 6 db disadvantage compared to the rest of the
crowd who had showed up at Chubb Lake almost prevented me from making
the QSO's, but we toughed it out and finally completed all three of
them. But I knew that there was not much hope of another QSO with
them from their next stop, planned to be even further away. So I
slipped in one easier 74-Km QSO with W0AUS who was in Fletcher, MN,
before packing up the gear and heading one sub-grid North so I could
work all the folks at Chubb Lake to make sure I (and they) didn't miss
the opportunity to work each other at least once. As it turned out,
these would be only "insurance" QSO's, because they were all worked at
least one more time during the contest.
On Sunday, I got up without really knowing what the plans would be for
the day. Unable to raise anyone on the planned 2M liason frequency,
I decided to go to one of the popular local sites close to my home,
in Burnsville, and see if I could scare up any activity by myself. I
was pleased as could be to hook up with Gary, WB0LJC and WA2VOI/0 who
were in St. Anthony, MN, and who happened to be pointed at the
downtown Minneapolis buildings like I was. A couple more QSO's in the
log, but more importantly, we were able to make plans for the rest of
the day. Donn would meet me on the highway on the way to New Trier,
MN, while Gary would split up and visit other sites from which he
could work us and the other NLRS'ers. As it turned out, I switched
off the 10 GHz system a bit too quickly, as Donn was trying to tell
me he would need a bit more time to reach our rendezvous location
than I might otherwise expect. After a quick QSO with Eric (KT8O)
who was only 14 Km away (from the roof of his house, just prior to
leaving home for church services!), I packed up my loaner gear, jumped
into my vehicle, turned on the 2M rig, and headed towards my expected
meeting point.
Along the way, I called and called for Donn on the 2M liason freq,
but to no avail. As it turned out, my temporary 2M antenna was
performing horribly poorly, and we simply could not hear each other
at all. With much anxiety, I proceeded to New Trier guided only by
my GPS and the site coordinates stored in my Palm Pilot's GL program,
never having been to the site before. I found what looked like the
right location, called some more on 2M vainly, and decided to set up
and point at (what I thought was) downtown. As it turned out, I
was actually pointing at a local refinery (next time I'll remember
to bring the binoculars!), but in spite of this, I was treated to
strong signals from Jon (W0ZQ), Chris (N0UK), and Doug (N0NAS) and
a little boost to my confidence. When I heard some of the folks I
had worked calling Mel (KC0P) in Cannon Falls, I worked him with some
difficulty by bouncing my signal off downtown. As it would turn out,
I later realized that he was very close by and when I pointed my
rig to the direct path, his signal boomed right in. At that point,
we were able to "ragchew" a little bit on 10 GHz, and I realized that
he had heard from Donn on the 2M liason frequency. I asked him to
tell Donn I was already at New Trier, not simply wandering the
countryside lost (which is what Donn had feared, when he couldn't find
me at either our planned meeting point or on the 2M liason). He then
knew he need not worry further, and he proceeded directly to New Trier
where we hooked up for the remainder of the contest. After another
8 QSO's with other NLRS'ers who were moving around to our North, we
talked Mel into waiting for us at Cannon Falls, where we met him, made
a few more Q's, and moved together to our next stop, Vasa. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Vasa, conditions had worsened
considerably. Neither Donn nor I managed any successful contacts from
there, while Mel managed to eke out a couple of CW rain scatter QSO's
that sounded very aurora-like. After that, we decided to call it
quits rather than moving to an even more distant location.
All in all, I had a wonderful time. I was glad that there were some
"new calls" out there who had never worked 10 GHz before, as well as
many "old familiar calls". I especially appreciate the comraderie of my association with the folks in the Northern Lights Radio Society, who were instrumental in bringing the local microwave activity up from zero to a very substantial level in just a few years' time. Bravo to you, and keep up the good work! -- W0JT
Radio Society members in the jaunt to Lake Superior for the first
weekend of the contest, but I made sure I was free to participate in
the second weekend's activities closer to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis
St. Paul) area. I managed to borrow a 10 GHz rig from Bob, W0AUS. I
was not only one of the least experienced operator among the NLRS
group, I was also at a bit of a disadvantage antenna-wise, having to
make do with a 17 db horn instead of the 23 db (or thereabouts) dish
commonly used my most of the rest of the folks. But beggars can't be
too picky, and this was a far superior system to the WBFM loaner I
used in the 2002 contest (as KB0ZEV), and my enjoyment was many
orders of magnitude greater.
I met up with several of the NLRS'ers on Saturday morning at Mounds
Park in St. Paul, where I made a few "warm up" contacts of 5 and
20 Km. I then tagged along with Donn, WA2VOI/0, one of the most
experienced of the local 10 GHz operators. We stopped at a couple of
familiar locations in St. Paul, and falling behind schedule, we jumped
ahead to a new location near Chubb Lake, MN. From there, I made one
easy contact of 38 Km back to Burnsville, MN, and three extremely
challenging contacts of 138 Km with Jon (W0ZQ), Mel (KC0P), and
Carol (N0HZO). My 6 db disadvantage compared to the rest of the
crowd who had showed up at Chubb Lake almost prevented me from making
the QSO's, but we toughed it out and finally completed all three of
them. But I knew that there was not much hope of another QSO with
them from their next stop, planned to be even further away. So I
slipped in one easier 74-Km QSO with W0AUS who was in Fletcher, MN,
before packing up the gear and heading one sub-grid North so I could
work all the folks at Chubb Lake to make sure I (and they) didn't miss
the opportunity to work each other at least once. As it turned out,
these would be only "insurance" QSO's, because they were all worked at
least one more time during the contest.
On Sunday, I got up without really knowing what the plans would be for
the day. Unable to raise anyone on the planned 2M liason frequency,
I decided to go to one of the popular local sites close to my home,
in Burnsville, and see if I could scare up any activity by myself. I
was pleased as could be to hook up with Gary, WB0LJC and WA2VOI/0 who
were in St. Anthony, MN, and who happened to be pointed at the
downtown Minneapolis buildings like I was. A couple more QSO's in the
log, but more importantly, we were able to make plans for the rest of
the day. Donn would meet me on the highway on the way to New Trier,
MN, while Gary would split up and visit other sites from which he
could work us and the other NLRS'ers. As it turned out, I switched
off the 10 GHz system a bit too quickly, as Donn was trying to tell
me he would need a bit more time to reach our rendezvous location
than I might otherwise expect. After a quick QSO with Eric (KT8O)
who was only 14 Km away (from the roof of his house, just prior to
leaving home for church services!), I packed up my loaner gear, jumped
into my vehicle, turned on the 2M rig, and headed towards my expected
meeting point.
Along the way, I called and called for Donn on the 2M liason freq,
but to no avail. As it turned out, my temporary 2M antenna was
performing horribly poorly, and we simply could not hear each other
at all. With much anxiety, I proceeded to New Trier guided only by
my GPS and the site coordinates stored in my Palm Pilot's GL program,
never having been to the site before. I found what looked like the
right location, called some more on 2M vainly, and decided to set up
and point at (what I thought was) downtown. As it turned out, I
was actually pointing at a local refinery (next time I'll remember
to bring the binoculars!), but in spite of this, I was treated to
strong signals from Jon (W0ZQ), Chris (N0UK), and Doug (N0NAS) and
a little boost to my confidence. When I heard some of the folks I
had worked calling Mel (KC0P) in Cannon Falls, I worked him with some
difficulty by bouncing my signal off downtown. As it would turn out,
I later realized that he was very close by and when I pointed my
rig to the direct path, his signal boomed right in. At that point,
we were able to "ragchew" a little bit on 10 GHz, and I realized that
he had heard from Donn on the 2M liason frequency. I asked him to
tell Donn I was already at New Trier, not simply wandering the
countryside lost (which is what Donn had feared, when he couldn't find
me at either our planned meeting point or on the 2M liason). He then
knew he need not worry further, and he proceeded directly to New Trier
where we hooked up for the remainder of the contest. After another
8 QSO's with other NLRS'ers who were moving around to our North, we
talked Mel into waiting for us at Cannon Falls, where we met him, made
a few more Q's, and moved together to our next stop, Vasa. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Vasa, conditions had worsened
considerably. Neither Donn nor I managed any successful contacts from
there, while Mel managed to eke out a couple of CW rain scatter QSO's
that sounded very aurora-like. After that, we decided to call it
quits rather than moving to an even more distant location.
All in all, I had a wonderful time. I was glad that there were some
"new calls" out there who had never worked 10 GHz before, as well as
many "old familiar calls". I especially appreciate the comraderie of my association with the folks in the Northern Lights Radio Society, who were instrumental in bringing the local microwave activity up from zero to a very substantial level in just a few years' time. Bravo to you, and keep up the good work! -- W0JT
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