September 18, 2024
It's not everyday you get a chance to work Tristan Da Cunha (ZD9) on any band, much less 6M EME. Lance, W7GJ is on the ultimate DXpedition. LINK to see what the end of the earth looks like.
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| Sometimes it all just works, and quickly too! |
Date/Time: September 25 to October 3, 2024
Call: KB7Q always 1st sequence
QTH: BK29mn, Keeau, Big Island, Hawaii
Mode: Q65-60B CFOM 1500Hz DF
Frequency: 432.095 MHz
Gear: IC-9700, AGO Preamp, 500 watt SSPA, 1x 9wl Yagi
Internet: Will come up on the HB9Q Logger
Donors: KH6LC, PA3DZL, NC1I, N4DXN
It has been almost 8 years since I last activated Hawaii on 70cm. Time for another go during some pretty decent mutual moon windows to Europe. Shipping the gear over/back is spendy these days so any help is appreciated.
September 30, 2024
Dry and a lovely visible crescent moon until the sun came up. Worked EA5CJ (-26), K1WHS (-21) and VK4EME (-23). EA5CJ and VK4EME were new, so the final station count is 20. LoTW uploaded.
I lent KH6FA my SSPA amp, so he'll be on 70cm with 2x Yagis going forward.
September 29, 2024
Rain, rain go away! Never-the-less I worked DG5CST (-25), DK4RC (-23), and K1WHS (23). This brings my station count to 18. I ran with Cowles, K4EME for an hour, he peaked -18 but couldn't copy me no matter what polarity I tried. 😢
LoTW upload done.
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| The station on the lanai, well sheltered from the occasional showers. |
September 28, 2024
In a word 70cm was "DISMAL". Only OK1VUM re-worked.
I did get over to KH6FA's place and see his newly activated 23cm station. Nice that Hawaii now has a permanent 1296 MHz presence. Frank is working on his 70cm station also.
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| KH6FA is QRV on 23cm with a 2.4M dish and 300 watts. |
September 27, 2024
The dynamic duo of Digi-Key and Federal Express got the replacement power supply here from Minnesota in just under 24 hours from the time I placed the order. Some post-Covid things still work great!
A slow session, I only worked two new stations. Peter, PA2V worked me despite lightning strikes on his end that did pop the circuit breaker right after we completed. Logged: NC1I (-10), DL1VPL (-25), W6TCP (-21), PA2V (-18). LoTW updated.
September 25, 2024
Station set up went very well, and the moon came up thru the best opening in the trees right on schedule. I worked 13 stations, missed two, and gave PA3DZL State #46. Faraday rotation was the usual 70cm dance, but for the most part things would move off center every 30 minutes or so. Mr. Murphy sucked the life out of the amp's 48 vdc Meanwell power supply right at the end of the session. I'll not be on September 26th, but NH6Y will be from a portable spot on Maui.
There is a spare power supply on island, and in theory a replacement unit is being shipped FedEx over-night. We'll see ...
Worked: UA3PTW (-18), NC1I (-14), K5DOG (-23), UT6UG (-22), W5ZN (-23), DL1VPL (-23), PA3DZL (-20), UT5DL (-22), SM4GGC (-22), GD0TEP (-18), PA0BAT (-25), OK1VUM (-14), ON4AOI (-19). LoTW upload done.
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| Shooting the gap on moonrise at KH6LC's quiet QTH. |
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| A ham-helper came rustling out of the bushes. Feral hog! |
Date/Time: September 5, 2024 @ 1600z and September 7, 2024 @ 1735z
Call: KB7Q always 1st sequence
QTH: DN43rs Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area, Wyoming
Mode: Q65-60B CFOM 1500Hz DF
Frequency: 432.095 MHz
Gear: IC-9700, AGO Preamp, 500 watt SSPA, 1x 9wl Yagi
Honda 2.2KW generator.
Internet: Will come up on HB9Q Logger if possible
September 7
That was a bust! Conditions seemed to be just awful, as was the forest fire smoke. I did work NC1I again, but he was "only" -22. After an hour I called it off and went camping.
September 5
We found the wide open spot, "Moran Vista" aka "gravel pit" that Google Earth suggested, and I was ready to go just before 1600z. Today Faraday rotation favored Stateside stations, I worked only a single European. Even trying vertical polarity didn't produce. N9HF beat his computer issues into submission and worked me just before his afternoon thunderstorms started in earnest to bag his State #31. W6TCP now has 41 States on 70cm. Logged today: PA3DZL (-22), N1AV (-23), AG7CM (-24), W5ZN (-23), K5DOG (-27), NC1I (-14), N9HF (-25), and W6TCP (-22).
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| The Teton Mountains are just to the west of the operating position. |
July 27, 2024
I'm the only 70cm EME station in Montana and I haven't been on in over a year. So I put up my meager station of a single 9WL Yagi and 500 watts and got after it. This first session was quite productive. I had no wind, and a 100% visible moon. Logged were DK3WG (-20), PA2V (-22), OE3JPC (-20), DL1VPL (-26), W7MEM (-23), NC1I (-11), PA3FWV (-21), GW4ZHI (-24), and K4EME (-29).
July 28, 2024
The next night was quite a different story. Can you say "Faraday Lock Out" boys and girls? Each contact was an hour-long struggle. Through shear persistence I worked UX5UL (-27), W5ZN (-20), and G4RGK (-27). The contact with Joel, W5ZN was especially frustrating, as you can see from the screen shot below his 4x Yagi station was excellent copy for a long, long time before polarity finally rotated just enough for a contact. Phew!
July 31, 2024
Another session to work folks who were at the Central States Conference and more. I remembered can I change polarity with a twist of the boom if needed so that's a help. Official two way communications on 70cm via the moon completed with DL1VPL (-26), N9HF (-26), N1AV (-21), W6TCP (-25), PA3DZL (-17). W4ZST was as close to a contact as one can get, but no joy over 30 minutes. M0CTP was also heard well at times.
All in all good times - 17 stations worked over three sessions, and several folks nudged along toward their Worked All States award. LoTW upload done.
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| A fine example of Faraday Rotation effects . W5ZN peaking -20, but can't hear me ... yet. |
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| The not-so-little 70cm Yagi that could. ;-) |
Call: KB7Q always 1st sequence
Mode: Q65-60C
Frequency: 1296.095 MHz CFOM, 902.105 MHz CFOM
Gear: IC-9700, AGO Preamp, 500 watt SSPA, 2.4M folding dish w/ patch feed
SL-1 Tracker, Honda 2.2KW generator.
Internet: Will come up on HB9Q Logger if possible
Thank you donors: PA3FXB, W7JW, DL1AT
Logs have been loaded to LoTW
July 7, 2024 Idaho DN44gh 23cm Band
Set up went well, and I was ready to rumble on 23cm by 1500z. I had very gusty winds which messed with my tracking the whole session, but I still worked 20 folks. Interest in Idaho tapered off quite sharply so I went QRT, and packed it up. Joyce and I took the Mesa Falls Scenic Loop road heading south to Utah and the next operating site.
Logged: DL4DTU (-14), DF3RU (-17), OK1UGA (-14), PA0TBR (-22), PA3FXB (-22), OK1KIR (-10), DL1AT (-21), OK1VUM (-19), UA3PTW (-10), UA9FAD (-22), IK7EZN (-20), K5DN (-18), DK5AI (-23), N6RZJ (-17), N1AV (-24), OK1IL (-20), ES3RF (-24), PA3HDG (-22), PA0BAT (-19), KB2SA (-22).
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| The night before we camped on the banks of the Snake River. |
July 8, 2024 Utah DN41ai, 23cm Band
No wind today, and the morning was blissfully cool for setup. Newton Reservoir wasn't the very best location as I discovered - it was in a bit of hole. However, the north end had enough open skies to the east to work. A grove of cottonwood trees provided welcome shade.The road around to the north end called for patience, a 1 mph pace, and four wheel drive low range - but we made it.
The goal was to work Dave, G4YTL for his State #49 on 23cm. It took a while, but he was finally decoded and it was a snap after that. I also worked K7ULS via scatter. Mike was 42 miles south of me so I just bounced off the mountains to work him. There were some very strange conditions at times, I tripled checked my aiming and it wasn't me, but all signals pretty much disappeared for 30 minutes.
Into today's log went : K7ULS (terrestrial -7), OK1KIR (-14), SM6CKU (-20), SP5GDM (-23), OK1IL (-22), PA3DZL (-21), F4KLO (-23), UA3PTW (-15), RW6HM (-22), G4YTL (-27), G0LBK (-20), DL1AT (-20), PA0BAT (-21), PA3FXB (-24), EA8DBM (-22), ES3RF (-25), IK7EZN (-20), W2ZQ (-20), OH3LWP (-22), GM0PJD (-24), OK1VUM (-21), K5DOG (-21), KB2SA (-20).
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| Glorious shade, a real bonus this time of the year! DN41ai, Newton Reservoir, UT |
July 9, 2024 Utah, DN41ai 33cm Band
Joyce and I checked out of the hotel early while it was still cool, and headed back to Newton Reservoir to put a fourth State on 33cm. We found a lovely shady patch of cottonwood trees with wide open skies to the east. I went six for seven today, I even worked K0DSP, another 2.4M dish station. We packed up pretty efficiently and were rolling north by 2 PM local time. It was worth the effort to give folks a new State on a challenging EME band. Logged: W7JW (-25), K0DSP (-29), VE4MA (-27), W5AFY (-23), W2HRO (-22), VE6TA (-26).
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| Adding the 33cm transverter reaches wiring critical mass! |
Date/Time: June 9, 2024 1630z Start time (moon needs to clear ridge)
QTH: Wyoming - Yellowstone Park DN44lw
Call: KB7Q always 1st sequence
Mode: Q65-60C
Frequency: 1296.095 MHz CFOM
Gear: IC-9700, AGO Preamp, 450 watt SSPA, 2.4M folding dish w/ patch feed
SL-1 Tracker, Honda 2.2KW generator, Jimmy-Johns #7 sub-sandwich to fuel the op.
Internet: Nope
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| Just another day in the Park, but what a park. Yellowstone! DN44lw |
It was a fine day for a Yellowstone Park outing. I left the house at 7 AM, stopped at the last Internet access spot at Big Sky Resort to time sync my laptop, and by 9:30 AM I was calling CQ. Signals were a bit mixed until I cleared the top of the lone pine tree between me and the moon.
I worked 20 stations, and was pleased to give an initial Wyoming contact to several folks. Stateside folks were absent - only three W/K/N stations logged. Some sun, some rain, some wind, some mosquitoes, but nothing to slow things down. Being just past new moon meant that I never saw madam Luna, but the SL-1 tracker did great, the 1000 count/360 degree encoders are an improvement.
Best contact was with K4EME. Cowles chased me for 90 minutes. I saw him at a steady -23 most of the time, and finally it all clicked for him. Sweet!
Logged: F4KLO (-21), DL1AT (-23), OK1VUM (-22), PA3FXB (-21), DK3WG (-23), RX3DR (-20), ON4AOI (-15), DL8FBD (-22), OH3LWP (-20), N5TM (-20), NC1I (-11), PA0TBR (-23), DL4DTU (-20), SP9VFD (-18), IK7EZN (-21), CT1WO (-25), G0LBK (-18), G4CCH (-13), DF2VJ (-23), K4EME (-23).
Date/Time: May 11, 2024 @ 1800z
QTH: DN44GQ, just south of Raynolds Pass
Call: KB7Q always 1st sequence
Mode: Q65-60C
Frequency: 902.107 MHz CFOM
Internet:Yes
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| Drone shot - DN44gq, a mile south of Raynolds Pass in Idaho. |
Logged: W2HRO (-22), VE4MA (-24), VE6TA (-17), N0LNO (-22), KC0SKM (-22), W5AFY (-20), W7JW (-25), K0DAS (-22), W6TCP (-23), AC0RA (-24), K0DSP (-23), W6LUA (-22). LoTW upload done.
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| 6,834 feet, the waters divide here. |
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| Just too nice a day to not share the view. The road home south of Ennis, Montana. |
April 19, 2024
As promised, I rolled down to Yellowstone Park this afternoon. I was surprised to find the dirt road into the Big Horn Trailhead was still under four feet of snow, but the wide pullout off Route 191 was still 25 yards into Wyoming so that was where I set up. I did have two different sets of "Lookie-Lous" stop and ask about what I was up to. The looks I got were priceless - they thought I was loonie!
Anyhow, I worked all callers again. I did have to grapple with wind moving the dish off axis, the fiberglass center post just was too slick to hold in the light breeze. A few cinch straps fixed the problem, and I already have a long term cure thought out. Once on the moon the SL-1 tracker kept me there.
Worked (at apogee no less) were AC0RA (-24), W2HRO (-20), W5AFY (-23), VE4MA (-23), W7JW (-23), K0DAS (-23), N0LNO (-23), KC0SKM (-24), W6TCP (-25), K0DSP (-24). I appreciate the activity, it makes these outings well worth the effort. LoTW upload done.
Bonus: I saw elk, a moose, and a small herd of big horn sheep on my travels to and fro.
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| DN44lw32ns Wyoming (just). Big Horn Trailhead was still snow bound. |
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| Yellowstone Park, WY (DN44lw) with the moon riding high. Click on the photo to get a hi-res version. |
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| Back seat station, no quick stops! |
April 13, 2024
Of course it's easy if you spend a week re-doing every cable in the station with heavy duty connectors, and pondering where is the quietest location within driving distance. A friends cabin in Tom Miner Basin (DN45me), just north of Yellowstone Park, is the ne-plus-ultra for a quiet spot. So that where I went today. It was an exceptional spring day - usually the road up to the cabin doesn't go snow free until mid-May. This year it was an easy drive in my Subaru Forester. We're talking 71 degrees at 6,500 feet elevation!
Of 11 stations calling I worked 10! W2HRO (-21), W7JW (-21), W5AFY (-20), VE4MA (-21), AC0RA (-22), K0DSP (-23), K0DAS (-23), N0LNO (-23), KC0SKM (-23) and finally W6TCP (-23) after an hour's chase.
I have ready access to this location, so if you still need Montana I'm happy to roll uphill again.
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| 2.4M dish, 500+ watts, and no stinkin' noise! The wicker chair was a nice touch. |
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| The Theodolite app helps when setting the dish up. Looking 81 degrees. |
March 30, 2024
The new amp rocks with in excess of 500watts, so I threw the station into the truck and drove northwest to Canyon Ferry Lake for moonrise on March 25th. The 902 noise was down, the wind was down, the moon came up, and I failed ... again. I had lots of callers including W5LUA with his best of band signal, but I heard nil, and was heard by none. Hmmm, that's a hint - I'm not on frequency.
Sure enough, at N1AV's urging, I checking the local oscillator settings in the SG transverter. I was only 24 Mhz off frequency. The change of one, stinking, shorting block was the cure. Note to self: RTFM, it's only four pages!
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| A pretty, too quiet, early spring evening on Canyon Ferry Lake DN46fj. |
Noise is still an issue, but the road to the mountain cabin north of Yellowstone Park gets better everyday as the snow and ice melt off and the mud dries out. That has to be a great spot to get away from the RF smog. I'm looking forward to operating from that high, off-the-grid perch.
March 10, 2024
After two sessions trying to get the NXP LDMOS pallet to play nice, I replaced it with a W6PQL pallet. It took some fiddling to re-jigger the 12 vdc bias circuit, re-do the 50 vdc VDD lines, and solder the RF input and output coax in place. Slipping two layers of index card stock between the circuit board and the heat-spreader works really well - otherwise the copper heat-spreader draws the heat off too fast to get a good, clean solder joint. I could even solder the conformable coax in place with a 45 watts HAKKO soldering station cranked all the way up.
Today was the smoke test. 3 watts of drive = 400 watts. That's 21 db gain which is very nice! I have some level setting to do with the transverter's 144 MHz drive level, even at 0% power indicated, my IC-9700 hits the transverter a bit too hard. A 3db 10W attenuator is on the way.
I've also discovered my usual operating spot in the barn just south of town is not a good location for 902 EME reception. There are just too many 902 - 905 devices chirping away across the band. For the next test I'll retreat to the mountain cabin just north of Yellowstone Park as soon as snow comes off the access road.
In the meantime I've been streamlining the station's cables and generally getting things ship-shape for some summer travels with 902 and 1296 gear.
Onward!
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| Finished soldering the .250" conformable output coax in place. Note the card stock to be removed. |
February 10, 2024
There seems to be a sudden surge of interest in achieving Worked All States on 902 MHz. W5LUA has just nailed down WAS #1 and N1AV has 48 States in hand. I was asked if I could active Montana and other western States via the moon to help the cause. Sure!
KA6U has been out and about including 902 EME on his epic road trips, so folks have been upping their W.A.S. totals already thanks to his Herculean efforts. Here's a taste of his activity.
Many hands make a 902 moonbounce station - Ian, W6TCP sent me a NXP Semiconductor 915 Mhz test pallet to work up into a fully functioning amplifier. I managed to stick things together in two four hour work sessions to create one of my "KISS" amps, but but initial testing was a bust. After some expert help from W6PQL, we can now say, "It's alive". I should have 350 watts to play with given the drive from the transverter. The nice thing about the NXP pallet is that the bias voltage is generated directly from the 48 VDC VDD supply.
N1AV plyed me with a loaner 144 MHz to 902 MHz transverter he had picked up along the way. W2HRO sent west a patch dish feed for my 2.4M dish. I've have two superb WD5AGO pre-amps in hand, so I'm close to first RF on my sixth EME band! Later this month after a long-planned trip south to bask in the warmth of Mexico we'll see what can be done.
I understand Jim, W6PQL is now offering 902 amp pallets. So QRO power on the 33cm band is no longer hard to generate.
So this is a group effort to get some western States on the air - have camper will travel*.
* Once I won't freeze my butt off - we've seen -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 C) here in Bozeman this winter!
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| NXP QRO pallet with bare-bones support circuitry. KISS! |
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| The W2HRO feed is a big boy! The hybrid label was applied upside down. |
October 8, 2023
Click on the screen shot to enlarge.
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| With 100 watts and a 40M inverted V wire antenna - Laissez le bon temps rouler! |
September 5, 2023
It's not everyday that somebody gives you the keys to their ne-plus-ultra 6M EME station and says, "Have fun!". As Paul Harvey would say, "Here's the rest of the story".
Once a year Lance, W7GJ goes off to a rare place, usually an exotic island, to do 6M moonbounce with a single long Yagi and a KW. This week he's on Rodrigues Island out in the Indian Ocean as 3B9GJ. Somebody has to go to his Stateside QTH and put the W7GJ home station on. Teacher, teacher pick me!
You need to understand Lance's home setup is a monster 4x 50 foot (15.25M) Yagis array and 1.5 KW - about as good as a 6M EME system gets. So each year Lance goes half way around the world and I go 3.5 hours west on the Interstate to Frenchtown. Thankfully, Lance gives me a 20 page check list so I can get the station up and running correctly.
This year was extra spicy as our mutual moon window to make the contact was exactly 55 minutes. Faraday rotation be damned! At least we both had ground gain - DXpedition Lance was enjoying a a moonrise over salt water, while his home station was racing moonset. We nailed it! I started seeing his signal when his moon was +0.5 degrees. Lance's portable station was a solid -20 during the four minutes the contact took using Q65-A and pile-up mode.
I've been doing this annual pilgrimage for about 10 years and I'm proud to say that I've been able to maintain a perfect batting average ... so far.
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| W7GJ 2m EME array in the foreground, 6M array in the rear. |
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| 3B9GJ - Lance's Yagi looking at his first moonrise of the DXpedition. |
August 11/13 2023
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| Sunrise DN64bu @ 9,350 feet. Duncum Peak to the north. |
GEAR: IC-7300, 600W LDMOS amp, 4el. LFA 6M Yagi, WSJT-X. 2.2KW Honda generator
August 11/12 from DN54 - Joyce and I squeezed into Horseshoe Bend Campground above Big Horn Lake. Not the best horizon, plenty of 6 meter QRN from RV charge converters, and a bit before the Perseid peak, but 30 folks logged, and a few 1200 mile contacts made. All meteors, no Es to be found.
August 12/13 from DN64 - We explored the top of the Big Horn Range and using the truck's 4x4 took the Sheep Mountain Road to a fantastic site well above tree line. The Perseid peak was the best I've ever experienced! Despite a frontal passage in the middle of the night that saw some 40 mph wind gusts, I logged an amazing 90 meteor scatter contacts. WA5TKU nudged his FFMA count to 480 grids and K5ND now has 483. Best contact was with WB8ART in Ohio at 1251 miles because we worked so hard for it.
LoTW upload done.
Dates:
June 13/14, 2023 - DN87 North Dakota
June 15 - DN86 North Dakota
June 16/17 - DN85 South Dakota
Gear:
IC7300, KW amp, 4 element LFA Yagi.
Modes:
FT8/MSK144/Q65
Internet:
DN87/DN86 for sure, DN85 maybe.
Slack VHF Chat - rover-rare grid area.
This was a camping trip with the pickup camper to the great American prairie to activate a few grids before it got too hot.
The trip was a success despite conditions not being the best - double-hop Es was quite limited. However, N3SL and W0JW completed FFMA with their contact to DN87 (Grassy Butte, ND). That made the whole trip well worth the trek east!
In total 500 folks were worked via a combination of FT8/Q65/MSK144 modes.
My rebuilt 6M KW amp refused to fire off so it was 100 watts only. I had inadvertently over-driven the amp during last summer's outing, and replaced the MRF1K50N device. However, I never got around to bench testing the amp. Murphy heard about my laziness and promptly showed up. It turns out the amp was fine! The 48 VDC power supply was the same one I used hard for the 23cm EME DXpedition to Curacao, and the tips of the blade fuses had burned off in the cheap Chinese fuse holder opening the 48 vdc line to the amp. All this was sorted out after the trip of course. A great lesson learned about getting too casual about these outings!
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| Murphy says, "Gotcha!" |
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| The view from North Cave Hills (DN85), South Dakota - a sky island. |
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| Teddy Roosevelt wandered DN87 for several years. |
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| Behold the correct orientation of the hybrid device. |
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| Waiting for the moon to clear the ridge on the ?sun? deck. |
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| PJ2T HF contest station - I'm also here as part of the ARRL DX CW team. |
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| It's alive! Test bench setup with the Sub-Lunar SL-1 unit tracking the rising sun using PSTrotator software. |
With the ARRL EME contest in a few weeks and a Montana winter coming on it is finally time to embrace auto-tracking. A slew drive system was a bit beyond my budget, but Paul, W2HRO has just developed a tracking unit that I could afford. The Sub-Lunar SL-1 looks to be just the ticket to cut my workload down and keep my toes toasty warm while operating from the barn this winter.
My solution was to start with PSTRotator software running on my laptop to calculate the moon or sun position, and then talk to the Green Heron RT-21azel controller through two USB ports, the Green Heron RT-21azel runs the motors on the SL-1 rotor system, counts the pulses from both the azimuth and elevation encoders to calculate the dish's position, and reports back to the program where the dish is pointing. As you can tell basically the challenge was to integrate and debug three separate systems.
The Blue Heron Engineering RT-21azel controller is adaptable to so many different types of rotors it took a while to figure out how to teach it the specifics of both axis of the SL-1 rotor unit. The biggest key to success was telling Green Heron Engineering to configure the unit as a SPID rotor before shipping, then I could make a few modifications to the settings from there using the RT-21 Utility software to properly fine tune the SL-1 rotor unit. This ensured the unit came with the jumpers properly placed inside the tightly packed chassis.
I really like that you can reduce the size of the PSTRotator's screen once you're comfortable that everything is working well. Nice to save some laptop screen space.
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| The all important "STOP" button is still there. |
Long story short - after about eight hours of set up, some step-by-step debugging, and then cable building all the units play together nicely. When the moon gets a bit more declination I'll move things out to the barn and try a few contacts.
Hands on test: I spend about 12 hours on the moon during the ARRL EME contest the weekend of October 15/16 and the automatic tracking allowed me to work 56 stations on 23cm. A very good result for a 2.4M dish, around 300 watts at the feed, and near apogee. What a pleasure to just be on the moon come clouds or open skies!
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| The SL-1 kept me on the moon the whole weekend. |
GRIDS: DN43, DN52, DN42, DN51, DN63, DN73
MODES: FT8, MSK144, Q65
CALL: KB7Q
GEAR: 4 element LFA Yagi, 500W, IC-7300, WSJT-X
LoTW: Yes
INTERNET: At times
Thank you Donors
K7BG, K1TO, W9XX, K8SIX, N5OMG, K5ND, W4AS, N5DG, KP4AJ, W8TN, N3XX, K4PI, W4IMD, N8BX, W3CP, N4WW, W3IP
RESULTS
1452 contacts from six Wyoming grids were made at the height of Es Season. LoTW upload done.
DN44 - June 16 Yellowstone Park was closed due to flooding so our visit was not going to happen.
DN43 - June 17/18 Kelly, WY This grid turned out to be a dry hole! The band never did crack open. I worked N7NW and seven Arizona stations on FT8 'tis all.
DN52 - June 19/20/21 Fremont Lake, WY. I operated from this grid in three different places looking for the best open terrain to the south and east. No double-hop occurred while here, but 265 contacts were made. A decent result. Working N5OMG left him with nine grids to go for FFMA.
DN42 - June 22/23 We'll arrive mid-day and get set up on Fontenelle Reservoir. So far 121 contacts on a nice combination of Es double-hop, meteor scatter, and even Q65 scatter out to 800 miles. Very happy to work K4PI for his FFMA #486. More double-hop on the 23rd to bring the total worked to 300 contacts, and get K8SIX to FFMA #480, Al picked up three grids during this opening.
DN51 - June 24. Breaking camp this morning and heading south to some BLM dispersed camping just above Green River, WY - the land of wild horses. This will be a one day stop. There was double hop to Florida as soon as I turned the rig on. I can tell DN51 is not in demand as much as DN42. Lots of double hops all afternoon and evening SE and single hop to the west coast at times. 158 contacts so far.
DN73 - June 27/28 We're 25 miles north of Bill, WY. Two great days of double hop, single hop both east and west, and some scatter out to 770 miles using Q65. 325 stations logged, best DX was EA8DBM!. This spot is the highest perch for 20 miles in any direction. Having cell service was an unexpected bonus. Rapid and sustained QSB meant it took a while, but W9XX was logged for his FFMA #484. N5DG popped in for his FFMA #480. It was quite hot here, and given that I worked a bunch, we bugged-out after some meteor scatter late morning of the 28th and used the heat of the day to travel to DN63 with the a/c on full tilt
DN63 - June 28/29/30 We set up west of Kaycee, WY now at 6,000 feet in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. We arrived late afternoon, stuck up the Yagi and proceeded to work 125 station to well after sunset. More double-hop up and down the east coast and single hop throughout the Midwest. Some deep QSB to make it a challenge but on peaks we completed with W3CP to nudge him to #479 FFMA and best of all logged N3XX leaving him to work only two more grids to complete his FFMA award. Can one hope for more tomorrow? June 29 - Several nice Q65-30A contacts this morning out to 1100 miles. Then double hop east, single hop west, and in the evening lots of Texas stations in to push the total to 300+ contacts from DN63. Some ops in the morning, then pack it up and bounce back down the road. June 30 morning brought double hop to New England and I passed 400 contacts from this grid - a personal best. Also worked EA8DBM from this grid, the second time on this trip. XE2AT and I completed a 1500 mile Q65 contact over about 30 minutes. What a way to finish out our Wyoming grid ramble.
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| Looking northeast from our DN63 campsite at sunset. |
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| A superb high ground location complete with antelope in DN73. |
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| DN51 near the Oregon Trail - all sky and sage brush. |
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| DN42 - Sage Brush and Fontenelle Reservoir late evening. |
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| Corona y fajita celebrating 300 contacts from DN42. |
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| Spring time in the Rocky Mountains. 9wl 70cm Yagi. |
Over the weekend of May 6-8, 2022 I decided to put 70cm on EME as several folks needed Montana for their Worked All States award quest. The station was a single 9wl Yagi, 500 watts from a LDMOS SSPA, a very fine WD5AGO pre-amp, and an IC-9700 with GPS injection - a pretty small station for moonbounce. The weather started out with severe clear, but then the winds came followed by heavy wet snow. No matter, 25 stations were worked including one on CW. I hope this operation demonstrates that even a small station can be quite successful using Q65-60B mode on 70cm EME. Yes - I did tip the Yagi over and clear the snow off before operating!
Logged: OK1KIR (-17), DK4RC (-19), DL1VPL (-23), OT7K (-20), DL7APV (-12), PA2CHR (-23), HB9Q (-11), OH6UW (-24), UA3PTW (-16), W2HRO (-23), PA2V (-19), PA3HDG (-21), DL6SH (-13), DL8FBD (-24), W7JW (-24), W5LUA (-22), ES3RF (-18), AA5C (-27), K5DOG (-22), DK3WG (-16), SM7THS (-21), PA2V (-18), G4FUF (-22), PA5Y (-16). DL9KR (CW 539/549). LoTW updated.
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| Clear view of waterfall and spectrum during DL1VPL contact. |
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| A small RV makes for tight quarters, but everything has a place. |
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| Some creative bending of the actuator arm needed. |
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| Relay repaired and back in its rightful place. |
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| Easy to like this campsite. I flew the drone this morning as my reward for being Mr. Fixit. |
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| Ute Mountain from the cliff top site. The ropes are extra wind anchoring insurance. |
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| April snow SW Colorado. Given extreme drought this is a very good thing. |
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| DM57ae - Utah. Looking way down at the San Juan River. |
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| DM57cg, Valley of the Gods, Utah 2.4M dish ready to go. |
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| DM58cv Near Green River, Utah on BLM land |
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| Back in place you go! |