NW corner of Lake Erie EN82jb activity report. Weatherman predicted rain.
Was a really beautiful morning, no rain. Quite a bit of sunshine, and mixed
clouds. Heavy cloud like white haze over Lake Erie, limited visibility to
around a mile. Could barely make out the VE3 shoreline, about a mile away.
Haze increased all morning. Rose to about a 20 degree angle. Highly visible,
the boundry was very visible. High humidity, temp about 75F. Very light
wind. Due to construction enroute, etc, we got there later than planned. The
park had a kite festival this weekend, that proved interesting to watch,
with many unusual design kites. Including a large multi tenticle octopus and
scuba diver. This kept the crowd at the other end of the park, so it was
very unpopulated where we were set up. This event was really good to shake
down and pretest equipment prior to the ARRL VHF contest next weekend. What
I do as a rover, will depend entirely on the WX. WA8VPD and myself set up
through 10 GHz. We had a visitor W8ISS Jim, who stayed around helped set up
and tear down, and watched for some time. Jim often uses this location for
2M work. Stations worked. K8MD EN82bq Howell Mi, VE3STZ EN82lh Windsor Ont.
and WA8RJF EN91 East of Cleveland Ohio (other side of Lake Erie). VE3STZ was
running 2W on 1.2G and set up indoors, s8 signals. Short loop yagi.
Conditions were not that good. Inland, signals were very heavy multipath.
Accross the Lake, poor. Managed through 2.3G with Tony. Tried 3.4G and 5.7G
with no luck. Possibly that may have worked earlier in the morning. Stayed
there until about 1:PM ET (13:00).
Lake Erie Metropark, Rockwood Mi, offers several good Detroit River and Lake
Erie operating locations. Several of the paved parking lots are close to the
water, and fairly obstruction free. The general lay of the land, is low and
flat. The western end of Lake Erie is mostly low laying and flat. Eastern
end of Lake Erie, offers many high bluffs and hills. Our operating site, at
the South end of the Park, is about 100 ft from the shore, and about 3 feet
above the Lake level. Few trees to the Lake. Heavy trees to the west. This
park is over 2 miles N/S along the Lake, and about a half mile wide. Inside
the park, are several operating sites which are >1km apart. Along the
shoreline, accross meadows and swamps, and from a small ski (sled) hill.
Have operated rover here several times before. During the 10 GHz+
cumulative, it is normally finds really good paths along the north shore of
the Lake into VE3 land, up the Detroit River, and accross the Lake and into
Ohio. Park day admission is $4 US, and summer hours opens at 6:00AM ET.
Closes at 10:00PM (22:00). Took some pix that will send to Mark WB8TGY for
the Michigan Microwave website. Tommarrow (Sunday) activity was discussed,
however, the weather looks like it may be rain.
July 5 MAD, was discussed, and decided that we will try this location then,
weather permitting. August 2 MAD, would also be the same day as the ARRL UHF
contest.
There are many other rover sites along the Michigan Lake Erie Shoreline,
such as Sterling State Park EN81iv, Monroe Mi, which is more than 10 Miles
(16KM) away.
73 de Lloyd J. Ellsworth NE8I
P.O.Box 2132, Dearborn, Mi 48123-2132
e-mail: ne8i@arrl.net Packet: (uc)
Upper Whoville EN82jm + Rover 160M-47G
LM-ARRL, LM-AMSAT, SETI league RR#10
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