BARS Brunch, August 27

Herbert AF4JF, Rich, N0PQU, Debbie, KC9ULA and I, KO0Z all arrived at the historic Wittmond Hotel Restaurant in Brussels, IL, Calhoon County around 10:30 am.  We waited outside until opening 11:00 am and reviewed our performance a week earlier in the ARRL 10 GHz and up contest.  We poured over tropo maps of our various locations and analyzed what went right and what went wrong.  In some spots such as Danville, MO to just outside of Kingdom City, MO there needs to be a little enhancement to assist the signal to get past the hill to the west which is roughly 30 feet higher about two-miles away.

Inside this quaint, over 100 year old hotel, the atmosphere was very nice and the home style food was excellent.  We did not walk away hungry!  Although we made reservations for ten, only four of us showed up.  Too bad, for the weather made it a wonderful day for a Sunday drive.  Herbert and Rich came over from St. Charles County via the Golden Eagle Ferry.  Ron and Debbie crossed over the Illinois River via the Kampsville, IL ferry and drove south to Brussels.  It was about a two-hour drive for us.  It was great seeing Herbert and Rich.

We discussed our plans for the second round of the 10 GHz contest and we plan to end up at Stone Hill winery in Herman.  We haven't decided which route we will take, but leap-frogging will be involved.  Over the next few weeks, we will pour over terrain maps and Google maps and decide a course of action.

Herbert and Rich planned to return to St. Charles County via the Golden Eagle, but Ron and Debbie completed their circle home by recrossing the Illinois River at Brussels and then touring Pierre Marquette State Park, Grafton and then to Dow, IL, Shipman and finally home to Girard.

Ron and Herbert discussed the idea of getting a few more inexpensive 10 GHz rigs together, use a FM HT as an IF radio and equip them with a feed horn to make things simple and have others join us in the contest.

All in all a very nice day.

                                     Waiting for the Kampsville ferry across the Illinois River 

                                     Almost across the Illinois River to Calhoon County 

                                        Historic Wittmond Hotel-Restaurant  in Brussels, IL

                            Rich, N0PNU and Debbie, KC9ULA enjoying family style cooking  

                                         Herbert, AF4JF and Rich N0PNU enjoying lunch 

                                       Check out the cuisine!  We didn't leave feeling hungry! 

                                             Inside the Wittmond hotel, a walk back into history.

                                                  The antiques were interesting 

                                         Check out the old pharmacy inside the hotel.

                                                            An interesting curio

 

                                                           Dow, IL EM49 ua is still up. 

                                        Boat passing by the Brussels Ferry on the Illinois River

                                           

  

                                       Alexander Graham Bell communications technology

ARRL 10GHz And Up Contest 1st Leg as seen by Herbert, AF4JF

Ron KO0Z published extensive details from our journey (see his posting below), so I will limit mine to basic comments and a few pictures.

First of all, I would like to thank Rich N0PQU for his never ending optimism and energy spent on our 2-day activity in the heat of summer.

We have actually started the journey on Friday 8/18 by testing the path between EM48rq (Saint Louis MO, hill above Chesterfield). Herbert AF4JF and Harry WA0CNS worked Bill K0AWU from there. Bill was in EM39ka at that time, distance 146 miles. Signals were weak when we started (6:00pm) but became stronger with time. I have also noticed that the signals were coming from higher elevation later - aiming the dish 5 degrees up made considerable difference. We have probably seen the "vapor ducting" propagation kicking in with the Sun going down.

After working Bill on 10GHz, Herbert and Harry switched to 24GHz and tested Herbert's repaired transverter across the parking lot. Signals were S9 both ways, so we will test real QSO soon.

We were approached by an employee of the medical facility who own the property we were set up on. No problem, the lady just asked what are we doing there in friendly tone.

Herbert AF4JF and Rich N0PQU went to EM58bv (near Edwardsville, IL) for first day of the contest. Nice location, (almost) abandoned parking lot behind a country restaurant. That was our first mistake - we were planning on using that restaurant for restrooms and refreshments. Too bad that they open at 3:30pm. However, we were approached by the property owner who reminded us that we are on her property, but didn't object much and let us stay there.

(picture taken from a gas station across the road)

We have set up Herbert's 10GHz + 24 GHz and Rich's 10GHz stations around 8:30am and started our long waiting.

As Ron described in his posting, we have made several unsuccessful tries before we finally achieved first contact at 10:48am while Ron was in EM59fh and later at 12:03pm from EM59ji. One more contact with Zack W9SZ from EM59ji at 02:36pm was all we were able to do. Only 48 miles QSOs after all day in the heat. We have absorbed lots of UV radiation on that hill and decided to leave at 3:00pm.

We have tried to work numerous stations during the day, but none worked. That location does not seem to be too good.

Trip home was far from uneventful - IDOT decided to close entire I-270 in one direction including all 3 exits between I-55 and the Mississippi river, so we have ended up searching for a way home. Nice to have GPS in a phone, it receives traffic updates!

Herbert AF4JF went alone to EM48rq to work Bill K0AWU from EM39ka in the evening at 7:00pm. Much better timing than the day before, signal was S9 at times! We have made CW and later SSB contact easily.

Herbert AF4JF and Rich N0PQU went to other location west of St. Louis (Callaway exit from I-70 in MO) on Sunday. As usual, we have found HAM-friendly vegetation around the place where we wanted to set up:

(microwaves really do not penetrate this)

We found a nice location couple of miles west of this place. Note that it is just in EM38, thus new grid square! We have set up on an intersection between highway service road and some farmers country road into corn fields:

As you can see on this picture, we were confronted with some rain. Not bad and unfortunately no RS propagation. This is in EM38xw.

This picture shows the direction towards Bill K0AWU. We have both worked him from his EM39ka with strong signals, both CW and SSB.  Distance 59 miles.

Finally, we have made severe QSOs with Ron KO0Z and his family - Debbie KC9ULA and Roman KD9COA. They were in EM48aw, about 5 miles away. Very strong signals, easy SSB contacts! Time was 01:50pm and we were done for the day.

The entire group met for lunch at nearby gas station ... no, we didn't drink gas. I have left that to my car and enjoyed the delicious home-made food at the Iron Skillet restaurant.

We will use the experience from this contest in planning for the next one. As Ron mentioned in his posting below, we intend to do some "leap-frogging" from Saint Louis towards a winery in Hermann, MO.

Funny was that we were visited by two Highway Patrol officers ... but they weren't interested in us. A guy on a motor bike stopped at our location for talk and parked his bike on the service road. They just warned him, but remained friendly otherwise.

This contest was followed by solar eclipse on 8/21/2017, full totality captured on following picture at 1:17pm from EM48rq:

73 Herbert

AF4JF

2017 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest - Round One Narrative by KO0Z

Round one of the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, August 19th and 20th, a most interesting weekend!  Largely due to the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017 and its path of totality crossing Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois on Monday, 21 August, as well as the FB efforts of Bruce, W9FZ's Eclipse-O-Mania's organization;   a larger number than usual of 10 GHz rovers made their way towards the Show-Me-State and Corn Husker states!   Microwave signals abounded.  Bill, K0AWU from northern Minnesota made his way back to the family farm in central Missouri, EM39ka.

BARS members Ron, KO0Z and Herbert AF4JF made plans for the contest weekend.  On Saturday, 19 August Ron put into play a "shoot and scoot" tactic.  He activated four different locations.  The first was east of Virden, IL EM59dm, the second was a hilltop farm near Raymond, IL, EM59fh, the third was Ohlman cemetery EM59ji and the fourth was Gillespie, EM59bd.  Herbert spent most of the day near I-55 and IL Route 140, outside of Hamel, IL EM58bv.

Surprisingly, Ron, KO0Z wasn't able to communicate with Herbert, AF4JF from EM59dm to EM58bv, a path of only 41.2 miles.  There must have been some obstruction.  The path to Bill, K0AWU was blocked by a coal mine gob hill to the west.  Zack was on the move from his EM50rl hilltop site.

Next Ron went to a hilltop farm near Raymond, IL, EM59fa with fabulous views in all directions except for northwest, north and northeast due to cornfields.  The east, south and west views are great.  If soybeans are planted next year, then the northern views should be excellent as well.  KO0Z worked AF4JF in EM58 bv with good signals both ways.  A path of 33.9 miles.  Next, KO0Z tried to work Bill, K0AWU in EM39ta without any luck on either side.  A path of  153.5 miles.

At Ohlman cemetery, EM59ji, Ron worked Herbert AF4JF. still at EM58bv, a path of 47.9 miles, with strong signals both ways.  KO0Z tried working Ron, W9ZIH in EN51nv, a distance of 185.8 miles, and both ops were able to hear one another, but W9ZIH wasn't able to copy KO0Z's grid.  Drats.  A half-houir later, KO0Z tried again with similar results. In the meantime, Ron copied the WB9PNU/b at S-5 and its telemetry indicated 1.19 watt output, 12.94 VDC, 111.76 F beacon enclosure temp and a PA temp of 107.84 F.  By this time Zack, W9SZ arrived at Ohlman cemetery. set up about 10 feet away from KO0Z and with many repeats he was able to successfully complete a two-way with Ron, W9ZIH!  At 12:52, Ron worked Jim, W9SNR in EN51xr for a distance of 175 miles!  Afterwards, Ron KO0Z drove 2.2 km from Zack's location and worked him before heading to Gillespie, IL EM59bd and Zack went on to Dow, IL EM49ua.  Unfortunately, Zack had a hill in the direction of Gillespie and even though they were only 24 miles apart, they couldn't hear each other.

Ron's plans included activating a high spot with views to the west from on top of the bluffs overlooking Grafton, IL EM48sx, but the hot, humid sunny day was taking its toll.  Herbert, AF4JF already called it a day, Zack, W9SZ promised a friend near Carbondale, IL that he'd be there by 8 pm and by this time it was already after 6 pm.  Bill, K0AWU was back at the farm so there wasn't too many folks to work and to be perfectly honest, KO0Z's face was sunburned, not to mention, tired as well.  So he wrapped things up from EM59bd and headed the 30 miles back home to Girard, IL to prepare for Sunday.

On Sunday, 20 August, Ron, KO0Z, Debbie, KC9ULA and Roman, KD9COA participated in the second day of the contest.  Our first stop was at Edwardsville, IL ( EM48xs/EM59as) overlooking the Mississippi River flood plain towards St. Louis but not after a long delay to get there because IDOT closed I-270 westbound lanes for repaving which caused Ron some frustration.  Herbert, AF4JF and Rich, N0PQU were set up outside of Kingdom City, MO, EM38xw and Bill was QRV from "Cow Hill" in EM39ka.Meanwhile as Herbert and Rich waited for KO0Z they worked Bill, K0AWU.  Ron wasn't able to work Herbert, a distance of  95.5 miles or Bill a path of 167.1 miles.  By this time, Ron was feeling cursed.  Zack, W9SZ was set-up near Carbondale, IL but KO0Z didn't try to work him because he would have been aiming his dish at an apartment building only 50 feet away.  Darn the luick.  Ron did have successfully reading the WB9PNU/b about 23 miles away with telemetry of 1.26 watts out, 12.9 VDC, beacon enclosure temp of 78 F and a PA temp of 96 F.

Next stop was New Florence, MO, EM48 gv by the water tower, but what looked good on Google maps turned out to not be so good, so on to Danville, MO, EM48fv. at the truck stop rest area.  Herbert was31.6 miles away and Bill was 90.2 miles away.  Ron was shooting into some brush and the ridge on the other side of the big dip in I-70 near Mineola, MO may have been too high.  No signals were heard.

On to Mineola EM49ev and I-70 exit 155 but trees, trees and more trees prevented any clear, unobstructed paths to the west.  Ron scoured the area, went to Fulton and still wasn't able to find a suitable site.  By this time we all wanted lunch at the Iron Skillet in Kingdom City, MO and Ron was there, but still no suitable westward site.  Giving it the "old college try and with the patience of both Debbie and Roman, KO0Z did find a site with a view to the west from EM48aw near the University of MO prairie research lab.  At 1:50 pm, KO0Z, KC9ULA and KD9COA worked Herbert, AF4JF and Rich N0PQU (5.3 miles) on CW and SSB but still no luck with Bill, K0AWU.  So far, a somewhat rewarding, but very  frustrating, disappointing day.

We gathered for lunch at the Iron Skillet in Kingdom City, MO for good food and to compare notes.  It was great seeing Herbert and Rich.   After lunch, Herbert and Rich returned home.  Ron, Debbie and Roman continued west and  went to Herbert's spot at EM38xw and finally, Ron KO0Z was finally able to put Bill, K0AWU into the log at 4:05 pm for a distance of 63 miles.Both Debbie and Roman were able to exchange SSB QSOs with Bill.  By this time, Ron's Yaesu FT817 was acting strangely.  Frequency split operation and problems switching between CW and SSB.  At one point, Ron accidentally turned off his battery booster and his signal was drifting until he realized the problem and turned it back on and the drifting stopped.  Repeated stops, set-ups and tear down's was beginning to take its toll on KO0Z.

Finally, Ron, Debbie and Roman made it to Centralia EM39wf to visit some friends, but before heading out to dinner, off to the east a line of thunderstorms extended between New Florence, MO to Hermon, MO.  Ron called Bill on the phone to try some rainscatter.  Ron's FT 817 was still on the blink.  Perhaps the heat and the humidity along with operator error were to blame.  Both Ron and Bill could see the Tstorms and we targeted the tallest one with an anvil forming.  KO0Z could hear K0AWU"s strong rainscatter signal, but Ron's FT817 would not send CW.  Drats.  Not giving up, Bill suggested FM, but Ron's FM had a offset to it, but both he and Ron were able to successfully exchange call signs and grid squares for a distance of 55 miles between them.  The actual radar indicated storm was 43 miles from Ron and 90 miles from Bill!  Not too shabby!

Upon returning home, Ron, KO0Z looked at his cw key and wire, but found no broken connections.  He couldn't find out what was wrong with his FT-817.  He did a factory reset and his FT-817 is once again working properly.  He wishes he would have had the documentation with him to have done this out in the field.  Lessons learned.

A big shout out to Bill, K0AWS, Herbert, AF4JF and Rich, N0PQU for their patience, hard work, encouragement and sunburns!

We're planning now for Round 2 of the contest  September.16 and 17!  Leapfrog strategy is being discussed.  Possibly up the Mississippi River Road and MO Route 79 or on to Herman, MO with a stop at Stone Hill Winery!
 

                         Hilltop farm outside of Raymond, IL EM59fh looking west.

                                     
                                Hilltop farm, EM58fh looking towards AF4JF in EM58bv
                             

                                   Ohlman cemetery, EM58ji looking towards EM58bv 

                                Ohlman cemetery looking northeast towards Jim, W9SNR in EN51xr 

                                         Zack, W9SZ on site at Ohlman cemetery, EM59ji
 

                          Zack, W9SZ at EM59ji with 24 GHz attempting to work AF4JF in EM58bv

                                                            Gillespie, EM59bd site 

                                    Gillespie site EM59bv looking towards Dow, IL EM49ua

                                      EM4838xv outside of Kingdom City, MO looking towards EM39ka

                                               Em38xv looking west towards St. Louis

            Centralia, MO, EM38xw working Bill, K0AWS via rainscatter using FM.  The T-storm between the trees is about 43 miles to my southwest and 90 miles to Bill's southwest. 

23 July BARS Brunch Meeting 2017

Sunday, July 23, 10:30 am, Arnold, MO in EM48, BARS members gathered for our July brunch.  We met at Ponderosa Steakhouse in Arnold.  According to Google there are only three Ponderosa restaurants in the immediate area.  Vandalia, IL, Washington, MO and Arnold.  It was great seeing everyone and the breakfast fare was good.

We discussed general plans for the ARRL 222 and up contest, the 10 GHz and contest and the upcoming solar eclipse.  We plan to be QRV as time, work and family situations dictate.

Harry, WA0CNS brought some microwave yagis for us to inspect and Herbert, AF4JF brought by his latest project - an affordable and easily constructed 10 GHz beacon to augment the existing WB9PNU/B.  Without a PA, these beacons constructed by modifying an ELCOM synthesizer will produce about 10 mW out.  This is sufficient drive for a 3 watt PA.  Plans are to make three beacons.  One to be placed in St. Peters, EM48qs, another near Troy, IL, EM59 and the other near Girard, IL, EM59ck.

As for Sunday, Aug 20, Ron, KO0Z plans to be QRV from Centralia, MO for the contest and for the solar eclipse on Aug 21.  He and Debbie, KC9ULA will be in the path of totality.  Ron is participating in W9FZ's Eclipse-O-Mania.  Herbert may be active from either EM48, EM38 or EM49.

Our next brunch will be after the St. Charles ARC hamfest in O'Fallon, MO on Sunday, 13 August.  Time and place to eat will be determined.

73 de Ron, KO0Z

 Left to right:  Debbie KC9ULA, Mike N0OBI          Left to right: Bob N0IS, Herbert AF4JF
Harry WA0CNS, Bob N0IS and Herbert AF4JF         Ron KO0Z, Debbie KC9ULA and Mke
                                                                                     N0OBI

 Debbie, KC9ULA holding up a home brewed, 2.3 GHz  yagi that Harry, WA0CNS brought.

                                          The driven element of the commercial WiFi yagi antenna

 Debbie holding up the commercial WiFi 2.4 GHz antenna Harry brought to brunch.

                                                   10 GHz slot antenna for the beacons

                        AF4JF's  programmable controller with five sensors for the 10 GHz beacon 

(made by Tomas, OK1DXD)

                                            AF4JF's 3 watts 10 GHz PA for the beacon

 Programmable controller on top of the Elcom synthesizer coupled to the 3 watt 10 GHz beacon

                                         
                                                  WA0CNS hairpin feed to his 2.3 GHz yagi.

 
                                                      Coaxial feed point to the 2.3 GHz yagi.