ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest - 2019
Call: K1RZ
Operator(s): K1RZ
Station: K1RZ
Class: 10G Only HP
QTH: FN41ee
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Summary:
Band Number of Calls Tot Dist(km)
-------------------------------------
10G: 54 43621
24G:
47G:
75G:
123G:
134G:
241G:
Light:
-------------------------------------
Total: 54 43621 Total Score = 49,021
Club: Mt Airy VHF Radio Club
Team:
Comments:
August 17-18 2019 Block Island Rhode Island FN41ee with the Dale AF1T and Mickie
W1MKY team, plus new team member Steve K3WHC.
Contest Saturday morning started with the four of us on the porch before 1000
UTC, looking for the short-term sunrise enhancement that sets up on paths to the
mainland early, almost every summer morning. Our first contest QSO was with Ray
N3RG, fixed station, in FM29ki at 360 km. Ray has such a consistent 10 GHz
signal from southern New Jersey – on Block Island, or from my home QTH, or
from the other few sites I have been to in the Mid-Atlantic. By 1115 we had
also worked Tyler KM3G portable in FM29ti at the northeast end of the Atlantic
City Boardwalk, at 310 km. Tyler had previously only made a 10 GHz contact once
- with Rover Rich and Al NN3Q, in the same parking lot. [KM3G Pictures]. Then
John N9ZL FM08us at 630km’s. Four foot dish and 20 watts! Yikes! Worked
John on sideband [Pictures at Blue Knob in September]. We also worked Rene
VE2UG at his home QTH in FN35gs for 530 km’s. Plus a number of other
contacts were completed that day and as we finished the day we felt we had a
very good start.
Sunday morning started off same way as Saturday. Everyone on deck at 1000 UTC.
Many stations were worked across the Mid-Atlantic, western New York and across
all six states in New England. At a certain point in the early afternoon we
shut down due to close by lightning strikes near the border of Connecticut and
Rhode Island, right on the coastline – not far from us. When we started up
again, Steve K3WHC had set up his cell phone as a mobile hotspot, which provided
internet service to his laptop. This feature allowed Steve to drive the teams
pointing to stations across the region where more high altitude rain storm cells
were displayed on the K0SM Rainscatter program on Steve’s laptop. And with
close liaison using the cell phones allowed us to instantly share that awesome
pointing accuracy with other distant stations. On rainscatter, with Steve
“driving the train”, we four worked Kevin VE3KH in FN03cg at 713 km’s,
Peter VA3ELE and Hugh VA3TO both in FN03vw at 621 km’s, Steve VE3SMA in FN03bi
at 722 km’s [our Best DX for the two weekends] and Peter VA3ELE and Hugh VA3TO
again now in FN14ba at 602 km’s – all on USB with very strong signals.
It was a pretty exciting time over a period of almost three hours. In the
middle of this time we also worked Andrea K2EZ/R at FN21ia, for what we think is
her first 10 GHz contacts. We finished off the evening with a tropo contact
with Brian N3OC in FM19le at 512 km’s.
My total for the first weekend was 70 contacts, 50 unique calls and about 27,000
km’s. Be sure to Work the List.
September 21 2019 at Big Pocono State Park in FN21hb with Bill W2RMA.
We got to the east overlook and set up and again worked Ray N3RG in FM29ki at
316 km’s. I used Ray’s signal to calibrate the compass rose and we were
off and running. Bill was using the Sun Calc app to fix our azimuth with the
suns shadow back in the dish. Both worked well, and Bill’s app worked even
better as we move around the mountain to get to the other overlooks. We quickly
worked AF1T, W1MKY, W1GHZ and KB1VC on the islands and Tyler KM3G in SNJ. Then
worked the K1GX in CT, K2DH and K2UA in FN42ad, and K1OR, N1DPM & AA1I on
the northern tip of Cape Cod. And it was time to move to the northern /
southern overlook. This took a little longer than expected, as had a cable
disconnect in the ¼ mile transit. Regular stuff, but accounted for the 2
hours to make the move. Anyways got back on finally and worked Ray VE3FN in
FN26rf on Mont Tremblant for 578 km’s. And then Ed W3EKT (my closest 10 GHz
neighbor in Maryland) at FM19lg, providing Ed another new grid for his VUCC. We
worked many mountain top stations across New England on Mt Washington and Mt
Equinox. Plus connected with Peter VA3ELE who was roving over toward Montreal,
but he had no south look, so he brought up his remoted home station near Toronto
using his cell phone and laptop and gave us FN03dm at 450 km’s. Peter
confirmed with ARRL that using both his stations could be counted for his score,
so this was another new technology experience for us. We finished off the
afternoon by shifting back to the east overlook and working Dale and Mickie in
their other Martha’s Vineyard grid, plus George W1JHR and Steve K1IIG in CT.
Then folded up everything transited to western PA.
September 22 2019 at Blue Knob Ski Resort in FN00rg with Bill W2RMA, John N9ZL
and Steve KB8VAO.
It should be noted that a tropical storm (Jerry) was moving easterly in the
western Atlantic toward Bermuda through this weekend. We felt that this
depression would definitely modulate the 10 GHz propagation and I think it did.
After the day long Blue Knob operations and connecting with many mid-Atlantic /
New England / Upstate New York stations who said those low elevation stations
were experiencing S9 10 GHz conditions up and down the coast. At the same time
we at 3100 ft ASL could not work many of them, and could only squeak through to
some that were 500 to 600 km out. And we found that we were able to work some
of the other distant high elevation mountain top stations in New England with
“normal” signals…not strong, but normal. And while we could work the
distant islands off Rhode Island and Cape Cod, we seemed to be cut off from the
lower elevation stations immediately to our east. In past years I had
experienced early to mid-morning conditions where I could not work Blue Knob
stations 160 km’s away until an “apparent layer” between my home QTH
elevation at 800 ft and Blue Knob at 3100 ft, “burned off”. And at the
end of the day on Sunday I never felt the apparent layer burned off. As we
four ops on Blue Knob were squinched off from most close in lower elevation
stations. Perhaps an effect of the relatively close tropical depression,
departing to the east.
Two experiences on Blue Knob are worth noting. Bill and I found we could do
“Ski Lift Pole Scatter” with strong sideband signals with Kevin VE3KH at
FN03cg and Peter VA3ELE at FN03dm, by finding strong reflections coming off a 40
ft high Ski Lift support metal pole about 100 m from our site, slightly off the
direct path to the DX. Such reflections are another part of what makes this
band so fun. And then after working K2DH, K2UA and N2MG in FN23nc at 439
km’s, Bill and I heard the amazing “WOW” exclamation from Rus coming over
the liaison channel when John N9ZL turned his 20W and 4 ft dish at them. It was
obviously a vast increase in strength from the smaller stations that we were
using. It was amazing to see what John had built in both dish support
structure, software driven positioning, and signal detection and display
capability. And then I packed up the tri-pod and made a 4 hour sprint to the
home QTH.
September 23 2019 Damascus Maryland FM19jh at K1RZ
The enhancement my neighbors reported in the middle of the day to the New
England islands was no longer in place when I got home about 0030 UTC. I worked
Dale and Mickie at 609 km’s and Paul and Matt at 519 km’s very quickly,
although weaker than the two other locations I was at through the weekend.
Finished the log out by working N3RG, WB2RVX and W3EKT.
My total for both weekends was 122 contacts, 54 unique calls and 43,621 km’s
with total score 49,021.
After thought -and- Note to self. I should have taken my own advice. Get FT8
/WSJTX running on 40m (7074 kHz) where there are LOTS of signals, then put that
same exciter and computer back on your transverter(s) and try VHF / UHF/
microwaves. During the week running up to the contest on Block Island we
played radio more than last year, operating mornings and afternoons, and some
evenings. One afternoon working closely with Roger W3SZ in FN20ag I got my
laptop set-up for WSJTX modes in case an opportunity came up to use these modes
for weak signal work on the contest weekend. In order to make that mode play I
knew from my HF, VHF and UHF operations at home I’d need to verify those WSJTX
modes work with my already disciplined, laptop and an MLINK 5 modem-controlled
portable 10 GHz station. Roger’s fixed station had been set up for WSJTX for
years so all we had to do was apply finishing touches to get my WSJTX set-up
onto an already functioning laptop. Prior to leaving Maryland I worked with
Bill W2RMA in EN90xh to learn how he sets up his FT-817 to work WSJTX on his
rover tripod station. Bill uses the DG mode on the FT-817 to work me in
Maryland over a 267 km path crossing multiple Appalachian mountain ridges –
sometimes on FT8 but more often on JT4F. On 10 GHz JT4F mode is more tolerant
over a difficult path, or a rain scatter path, or when one or both stations are
drifting in frequency slightly. On Block Island that afternoon, after about an
hour’s time, Roger and I got my radio sending FT8, but neither of us could get
any decodes. We switched to JT4F and got nearly immediate decodes and a QSO on
JT4F. [JT4F is not automatic, you have to manually sequence your transmissions].
I was now ready for anyone who wanted to try WSJTX. Did I try WSJTX with
anyone in the contest? No. But I am ready now for next year if anyone else
has pre-tested their gear BEFORE the contest...the pre-tested part is the
take-away I had testing with Roger, should really weak signal work be required
on a long distance contact, or a non-CW contact be required. The pre-test
should have been before the Contest. HaHa
Work the List
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|