Call: KB7Q
QTH: Northern Montana grids
Frequency: 6 and 2 Meter bands, normal FT8 and MSK144 calling frequencies
Gear: 6 Meters - 4 el. Yagi IC-7300 100 watts 2 Meters - 9el. Yagi, IC-9700, SSPA 500 watts
Internet: DN57 for sure, DN48/58/68 probably.
It will take us a bit of time to get to DN68 so we'll overnight in DN57gb near the Lewistown, MT airport and make a major 2M meteor scatter effort (MSK144) the evening of July 7, and the following morning. I will come up on PingJockey. Then on to the grids of desire further north!
The general plan is that over several days we hit DN68 near Malta, MT, work west into DN58 around Havre, MT, and then southwest to DN48 at Big Sandy, MT before heading home.
July 7 - Arrived DN57gb by noon, 6M was open to the Midwest and then double hop to the east coast for a while.The cold front caught up to us and I had to QRT for an hour of rain and lightning. A funnel cloud was spotted 25 miles to our southeast. The band got really hot in the late afternoon and I was working both coasts at the same time. This my second visit to DN57 this summer.
July 8 - 2M morning meteor scatter was very slow, but five stations worked before we packed up and drove a couple of hours up to DN68bi. I set up in the town park at Malta, MT and worked an easy 100 stations on 6M with great Es propagation, again to both coasts at the same time.
DN57 total:
6M Contacts 95 2M Contacts 9
6M Contacts 95 2M Contacts 9
July 9 - I'm working 6M meteor scatter this morning with success from DN68bi. 2m meteor scatter tomorrow morning. Lots of Es around already. We'll see what the day brings. Six Meters is rocking and rolling again at mid-day. Worked into Florida easily, but making an effort to look and work west coast also. The opening tapered off in the early afternoon.
July 10 - Some 2M meteor operating in the morning to finish DN68 operations. Then west to DN58lo in the rain. Raining hard, and too nasty to go up on the roof to mount the Yagi so I took a snooze for a few hours. I finally got the 6m Yagi up and it was double hop to the east coast, so I jumped all over it and gave several FFMA chasers a new grid. Bonus - Japan was in and I swung the beam and worked six or seven JA's and KL7NC as well.
DN68bi Totals:
6M 169 contacts 2M 7 contacts
July 11 - Solid morning on 6M meteor scatter, 16 stations logged from DN58lo. Slow afternoon, not much in the way of Es so I pre-staged the station for 2M morning meteor scatter ops from a superior location up the road about a 1/4 mile. We'll operate from the side of the road up there.
July 12 - I worked 2M Meteor scatter in the morning before I vacated DN58lo, 14 stations worked out to 1250 miles. Sunrise was quite the light show. We arrived DN48va on the Missouri River and found the band open strongly to the west coast. Then basically the band opened to everywhere USA, and I even bagged another Japanese station. After supper worked two stations on 6M meteors.
DN58lo Totals:
6M contacts 161 2M Contacts 15
July 13 - Excellent morning 6M meteor session handing out DN48va, followed by plenty of single and double hop to the Midwest and East Coast. Around noon a strong opening to Arizona showed up so I could work stations I missed in this morning on meteor scatter session. I'll finish up 6M ops late this afternoon and pack up for the trip home in the morning.
DN48va Totals:
6M contacts 135
I made 593 contacts for the trip - the propagation gods were kind! I don't know how it all could have gone better, I know many FFMA chasers worked me for new grids as they closed in on that elusive 488 number. Murphy was kept mostly at bay, he only managed to send an errant rock into the windshield of the truck as we worked our way thru the construction on US Route 2 aka "The Hi-Line". LoTW has been fed.
A special thank you to the many folks who made a donation to help with the cost of this trip - it is very much appreciated.
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| DN48va - Missouri River at Coal Banks Landing, Montana |
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| DN58lo - pre-dawn 2 Meter meteor scatter action. |
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| Early morning 2M meteor scatter station. So many wires! |
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| Wall to wall JA stations on 6 Meters. Click to enlarge. |
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| DN58lo - Little Rockies Mountain Range out there on the far horizon. |