Tuesday, August 18, 2009

10 GHz & Up Cumulative Contest Part 1




Part one of the 10 GHz & Up contest was August 15 & 16th, 2009. I operated Sunday for a couple of hours on Lake Erie along with WA3TTS and KB8VAO at grid EN91kt. I would have stayed all day like they did, but I was on call at work for 13 radio stations, so I cut it short, just in case.
Although I only operated from about 9AM - noon, I managed to work 10 stations. A large number of VE3's were roving across the lake, into Michigan and around to Ohio. Unfortunately, I did not work them all at every stop, as I left around noon.
Veteran microwave operator, KB8VAO operated the lake both Saturday & Sunday. I dont know how many QSO's he had, but I'm sure he did quite well, as the band was even better on Saturday than Sunday.
Mike, WA3TTS worked 20 QSO's on Sunday. He spent all day there, and this was his first time out on the lake operating with any real seriousness. Mike was up on the lake last year during a microwave activity day running a milliwatt or 2, but his receiver was confirmed working perfectly. Now that Mike has had a taste of some 10 GHz operation, I'm sure he will be quite active in the future. Mike is also planning on building a beacon for 1296 and 10 GHz.
This was a really fun event. It adds a new dimension when you get to operate with other microwaver's. Steve coordinated the operation because he was running the most power and was the most experienced among us. I have to thank Steve because if it wasnt for him, I dont believe we would have done as well as we have.
Now for the 2nd part of the contest, there is talk that Saturday, we operate from Lake Erie again, and from Blue Knob, a mountain in south central Pennsylvania. I have never done a mountaintop operation before, so I'm sure that will be an interesting operation. From what I hear, the long haul DX possibilities are nothing short of incredible, so I cant wait to do something from there. I went to the mountain last summer to check it out, but havent operated the mountain. You can see for miles in every direction, so no doubt, 10 GHz will go a long way from there.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Mike
    Like Your Blog And Website..very Informative..Glad to have Worked You From EN91KT On Sunday...You Did Well For Only Being There 3 Hours... I Was Out All Day Sunday and Only Made 10 Contacts...I Was Only Running 250 MW ..18" Dish and a Kuhn 10G2 Transverter.. Next Upgrade Will Be a 3 Watt Amp..
    Take care..Hope to Run Into You Again On The Bands..
    73,s
    Jack / K8JA...EN82LN..Michigan

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  2. Same station I have, but I do have the 3 watt amp. Dont forget to attenuate the transverter TX output 10 - 13 dB in front of the amp. I have a -10dB SMA attenuator followed by -3dB worth (about 6 inches) of RG-174 used purposely as an attenuator to get the power from about 225 mW down to about 10 mW.
    One comment about the 3 watt amp, it gets HOT, it needs a pretty decent sized heat sink. Mine is actually too small to run modes like rainscatter beaconing, etc. I switch power on and off to the amp using a sequencer. In intermittent duty, it runs cool enough.

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