Ron KO0Z posted a nice report about our weekend activities around the ARRL 10GHz And Up contest this year. He mentioned the weather, but didn't post any picture .. so, here is one taken by me (Herbert) from a highway rest area on my way to the gob. This was at 8:15 am, about 30 minutes driving distance from the gob site:
We were actually considering to cancel the outing, for the weather forecast was nowhere close to acceptable. However, the forecast was wrong once again. The skies cleared and we all got the usual sunburn. My dog Darcey discovered that our car provides some shade and cool shelter, especially with several doors kept open:
Unfortunately for us, our microwave stations were built to operate outside of the cars, so we have really spent over 8 hours outdoors on the hill. We didn't even bring a folding chair, not to mention a canopy! We have both had (identical) umbrellas - probably the reason (per Murphy's law) why the rain stopped. Here are our stations, note the distance from our cars:
Ron was our only guy driving between the locations. It took him approximately one hour to pack up, move to the next spot, set up and call us. I am sure it was busy for him, but very lonely for us on the hill. For the future, we need at least one more "rover", preferably driving around in opposite direction. Some additional stations to work in reasonable distance from the gob would be nice too. This will be much easier in VHF+ contests where we can make more microwave contacts on 23cm.
We have tested our stations and identified what might make our stay on the hill more convenient (hope someone finds out how to get rid of the sweet bees, they were very annoying even for Darcey). I have had a big cooler full with beverages, but didn't get ice in the morning because the weather made any ideas about hot temperatures look foolish. Won't make that mistake again!
Everything considered, we have had a great time. The plan is to return to the gob for ARRL VHF contest on September 14-15!
73 Herbert
AF4JF
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