[SCCC] September VHF - N7DA

[Dennis Younker NE6I]

Cool stories, Drew! You should have let the kids talk to Arizona. They might
have been hooked for life!

--Dennis NE6I

-----Original Message-----
From: SCCC <sccc-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Drew Arnett
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2023 9:36 PM
To: Southern Cal Contest Club <sccc at contesting.com>
Subject: [SCCC] September VHF - N7DA

I went out a bit on Saturday primarily to work the ops on San Clemente.
Took a 10 GHz rig and HTs for 2, 222, 440, and 1290.
Worked an op south of me when I was sitting at the north side base of a
mountain with an HT.  San Clemente ops weren't ready yet, so took lunch.
After lunch, went out to Double Peak Park.  Worked San Clemente on all bands
and including both of the new 10 GHz ops.  (Yes, they had two rigs.)  Worked
a number of other stations, but traffic was lighter than June as it usually
is.

Seeing the CB (thunderstorm) clouds in the distance, I texted N6RMJ to see
if he was up for a rainscatter contact on 10 GHz.  (My mistake during the
September 10 GHz weekend was roving instead of staying put and capitalizing
on the rain scatter. so I owed Pat a QSO.)  The rain cell was up around
Mojave and I could see it, so it was easy to line up.  SIgnals were loud.
We exchanged on SSB first then switched to FM where he was full quieting.

My not checking my work score is 624 but the log form said 546.  Not going
to check the work or search out the mistake.  Turned it in for SCCC as
usual.  Sometimes my contributions are small.  :-)

As usual, go out to the park with VHF rigs, or even better a dish, and folks
have to ask.  Had some good ones this time.  A young vet asked about the
radio gear as he used radios but didn't specialize in them in the service.
A couple of kids around 7 years old asked and I pointed to the cloud and
said I was talking to someone in AZ bouncing off of the rain drops.  They
were old enough to know AZ is long way away.  "Wow, that is so cool!" ...
It was the most exciting thing ever for them for just under 10 seconds, then
they were off to exploring rocks and bugs again.  :-)

We had the tropical storm for the September weekend and the marine layer was
extra thick and drizzly (in September???), but the 10 and Up contest was
good.  Lots of operators were on.  And quite a few new operators both in the
SDG and LAX areas.  New ops were doing great.
Was actually hard to try to work everyone, because it was so busy.

Fun stuff.

Drew
n7da
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