Dates: March 19 - April 24, 2021
Call: KB7Q
QTH: Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky
Frequency: 1296.090 MHz, KB7Q always 1st
Modes: JT65c preferred, listening on my echo. CW upon request.
Gear: 2.4M folding dish, 300 watts at patch feed, IC-9700, Leo Bodnar GPSDO, WD5AGO preamp
Note: I expect to have Internet, and I'll come up on the HB9Q Logger
Trip Summary
State Stations Worked CW
Arizona 11 0
New Mexico 34 3
Arkansas 51 7
Mississippi 54 7
Alabama 53 7
Kentucky 45 5
Thank You Donors!
WD5AGO, VE4MA, ES3RF, OK1KIR, OK1IL, N1AV, G4YTL, G4CCH, NC1I, VE3KRP, OK1DFC, PA3DZL, DL8FBD, SM6CKU, KN0WS, K4QF, HB9Q, PA3FXB, ON4AOI
May 4, 2021
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| Home ground! After 54 days on the road it is good to be back in Big Sky Country. |
April 23, 2021 - EM77el - Mount Sherman, Kentucky
The six State 23cm EME activation is done. We drove up to Craig, N8DJB's place in light rain. The skies cleared a bit for set-up, and even went blue with a visual moon for most of the actual operating session. The Q65-30B experiment was a great success, in 1.5 hours I worked 27 stations. Logged were SM5GGC (-23), IK1FJI (-17), HB9Q (-3), OK1KIR (-11), PA0BAT (-18), G4CCH (-19), OK2DL (-9), DG5CST (-10), OK1DFC (-20), PA3DZL (-15), DK3WG (-23), DF4RC (-11), ES3RF (-21), SM6CKU (-11), DL8FBD (-21), OK1IL(-20), G4YTL (-22), UA9FAD (-24), IK7EZN (-22), SM5DGX (-13), PE1LWT (-20), OM4XA (-20), PA3FXB (-19), DL7UDA (-16), KA1GT (-21), DG0FE (-19), K2UYH (-17).
JT65c produced as well - contact was made with NC1I (-9), ON4AOI (-12), IK1FJI (-13), K2UYH (-11), VE4MA (-18), VE3KRP (-19), DF2GB (-19), GM0PJD (-25), K5DOG (-17), CX2SC (-25), KN0WS (-20), N1AV (-19), PE1CHQ (-18), PA3FXB (-18), N5BF (-25), DL3EBJ (-12), W2HRO (-20).
There was time for CW also, conditions were excellent and I worked HB9Q (539), OK1KIR (529), G4CCH (519), IK1FJI (419), K2UYH (419). Altogether 45 individual stations were worked. LoTW up to date, including all Q65 contacts.
Donations greatly appreciated PayPal: geneshea@gmail.com
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| N8DJB/4 big dish, and the KB7Q little dish in Kentucky EM77el. |
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| Q65-30B action using the multi-decode function |
April 22, 2021 - EM64kq Wheeler Lake, Alabama
A perfect day to finish up the Alabama stay - a near full moon, no wind, and 70 degrees. I worked several additional folks to bump the total of stations worked to 53. On JT65C I worked UA3PTW (-20), ON4QQ (-21), DL3EBJ (-17), IK3COJ (-23), PE1LWT (-24), LA3EQ (-28), OK2DL (-8), DG5CST (-9), SM4GGC (-24), I5YDI (-25), VE3KRP (-23), IK7EZN (-27), DK3WG (-28), LA1TN (-23). CW signals were quite good today, worked were K4QF (419 on scatter), DK3WG (329), DG5CST (529), HB9Q (529), OK1KIR (419), G4CCH (519), and IK1FJI (329).
On to Kentucky tomorrow before the rain arrives, and then to drop all this gear off at a pawn shop - Ok, maybe not. :-)
April 21, 2021 - EM64kq Wheeler Lake, Alabama
A very pleasant 200 mile ride up into Alabama on back roads this morning. Set-up went well and the moon was just clearing the only tree at our campsite when I started calling CQ. It was another flawless afternoon of operating 23cm EME with 39 stations logged.
The big news was completing an easy contact with K2UYH for his State #50. He is just the third person to earn Worked All States on 23cm behind W5LUA, and K5JL. Congratulations Al!
Ben, K4QF stopped by for a visit and he seemed to enjoy the show!
In the log: DL7UDA (-18), PE1CHQ (-17), HB9Q (-5), DF3RU (-15), SM6CKU (-17), OK1KIR (-12), OK1IL (-21), ON5GS (-21), G4CCH (-16), OK1DFC (-22), DG0FE (-21), PA3DZL (-18), DL8FBD (-25), ON4AOI (-23), K2UYH (-17), IK1FJI (-20), UA9FAD (-26), NC1I (-12), ES3RF (-24), K5DOG (-18), PA0BAT (-20), PA3FXB (-24), DF2GB (-18), G4DDK (-25), OM4XA (-21), W2HRO (-20), G4YTL (-23), N5BF (-24), VE4MA (-21), KA1GT (-21), W5LUA (-11), SM5DGX (-10), DF2VJ (-26), RN6MA (-26), KB2SA (-24), N1AV (-19), AA6I (-19), KD5FZX (-10).
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| Al fresco operating on the shores of Wheeler Lake, Alabama |
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| An Alabama postcard picture from our campsite. |
April 20, 2021 - EM53cu Grenada Lake, Mississippi
Today I got on at moonrise for three hours, and worked a final few folks. DG5CST was an easy CW contact at RST 519. On JT65c worked were PA3DZL (-16), DG0FE (-18), I7FNW (-18), RN6MA (-25), PE1CHQ (-16), UA9FEM (-24), and G4DDK (-25).
This made 51 unique stations worked, many on more than one mode, for the Mississippi stop. How nice is that!? All the gear is packed and in the morning it's another 200 mile jaunt up to Alabama.
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| Rub-a-dub-dub, an amplifier in a tub. |
April 19, 2021 - EM53cu Grenada Lake, Mississippi
I moved the dish to a better spot this morning, and swapped out the 12 year old LMR-600 feed line. The changes seemed to restore my signal nicely. Let's report those worked today by mode. On CW it was OK1KIR (529), G4CCH (529), SM6CKU (419), HB9Q (549), IK1FJI (429).
On Q65-30B I worked 14 stations in 55 minutes as well as several others. Logged with the new mode were OK1CA (-16), OK1KIR (-16), PE1LWT (-26), IK3COJ (-21), ES3RF (-22), AA4MD (-20), DK3WG (-26), G4YTL (-23), DL7UDA (-20), PA0BAT (-17), DG0FE (-25), UA9FA (-23), KA1GT (-22), IK1FJI (-18), G4DDK (-28).
JT65c produced also with the following folks logged: UA3PTW (-13), IK1FJI (-15), UA9FAD (-30), I5YDI (-21), PE1CHQ (-18), VE3KRP (-26), DF2GB (-20), ES3RF (-22), IK2MMB (-18), OM4XA (-22), RX6AIA (-26), DF2VJ (-25), KD5FZX (-9), ON4AOI (-28).
I ran out of folks to work with plenty of moon left. 47 different stations have been worked from EM53 so far. I'll do a brief session tomorrow, then packing for Alabama.
April 18, 2021 - EM53cu Grenada Lake, Mississippi
A smooth 200 mile ride to MS, so I decided to throw the station together, and see who wanted to play 23cm EME. K2UYH nailed down State #49 on both CW and JT65c, and 19 others were worked - a great start to the Mississippi operation. We have a great camp site, and the weather looks to be perfect for the next few days.
In the log: DF3RU (-15), G4CCH (-14), SM6CKU (-22), DG5CST (-14), PA3FXB (-22), K2UYH (-16), N1AV (-21), SM4GGC (-23), W2HRO (-27), DL8FBD (-25), OK1IL (-21), HB9Q (-5), K5DOG (-22), DK4RC (-12), W5LUA (-23), OK1DFC (-23 Q65-60C), KD5FZX (-17 Q65-60C), VE4MA (-21 Q65 60C), K2UYH (CW), NC1I (-19), and KA1GT (-22 Q65-30B). LoTW up to date.
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| A perfect camping spot on Grenada Lake, Mississippi EM53cu |
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| Mississippi Sunrise |
April 17, 2021 - EM45dh, Arkansas
Today was a CW special. The following guys were logged on "Charlie Whiskey": DG5CST, G4CCH, OK2DL, IK1FJI, DF3RU, and HB9Q. HB9Q was Q5 on SSB, but I didn't have enough signal for us to complete. SP5GDM (-27), and PE1CHQ (-15) were added on JT65c to bring the grand total to 62 contacts with 54 different stations. On to Mississippi!
April 16, 2021 - EM45dh, Arkansas
A big, big day of 23cm EME - Arkansas must be rare! I completed 52 contacts with 50 stations made under cloudy skies, and a few rain drops. K2UYH was worked for his 48th State. My aiming technique was up to the challenge today.
Logged: HB9Q (-16 thru trees), DG5CST (-15), OK1KIR (-16), UA3PTW (-18), NC1I (-17), OK2DL (-11), OK1CA (-8), OZ4MM (-13), DL7UDA (-16), DK4RC (-8), IK1FJI (-18), PA3DZL (-16), ES3RF (-24), DF3RU (-17), DL8FBD (-23), G4CCH (-14), PA3FXB (-21), UA9FAD (-25), DG0FE (-18), OK1IL (-18), UA9FA (-23), ON4QQ (-19), DK3WG (-26), N1AV (-18), W2HRO (-18), G4YTL (-25), OK1DFC (-21), CX2SC (-27), PA0BAT (-25), OM4XA (-25), SM4GGC (-18), ON4AOI (-17), RA4HL (-19), IK3COJ (-18), DF2VJ (-26), K2UYH (-11), OK1KIR (CW 429), W5LUA (-9), IK7EZN (-21), SM6CKU (-9), I5YDI (-23), AA4MD (-22), KD5FZX (-9), SM5DGX (-8), VE4MA (-20), G4DDK (-30), N5BF (-24), VE3KRP (-29), PA2DW (-23), GM0PJD (-29), K2UYH (CW 419), K5DOG (-20). LoTW upload done.
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| Pile-up fun! |
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| Out of the wind and rain, and plenty of folks to work. Perfect! |
April 15, 2021 - Arrived EM45dh, 23cm EME set up
Joyce and I arrived early at W5ZN's place. Set up was error free, so I was QRV much sooner then expected. I put the time to good use working KA1GT (-27), and KB2SA (-27). It took a while to get my azimuth ring aligned, but things finally came together.
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| Fitting in at the W5ZN antenna farm. EM45dh |
April 6/7, 2021 - Bonus - 6M ops from DM73aq, Carrizozo, NM
We stopped at Valley of Fires BLM campground to hike the lava trail. I stuck up the 6M Yagi and over two days worked 34 station on a combination of meteor scatter, and ionospheric scatter. It was a pleasure to knock off another FFMA grid for several folks. Best DX was a midday shot to W0VVT 1,110 miles north using Q65-30A. The new mode continues to impress!
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| DM73aq - A horizon any VHF operator would love to have at home. |
March 29, 2021 SW of Silver City, NM (DM52sn)
A perfect EME evening with a full moon, perigee, no wind, and a cloudless sky. A special thanks to the EU folks who got out of bed to work me - much appreciated. Worked: OK1DFC (-23), VE3KRP (-24), PA3DZL (-14), DF3RU (-10), CX2SC (-19), OM4XA (-24), SP5GDM (-23). KB2SA (-25), and W2HRO (-22). That makes 34 contacts total for the New Mexico stop.
March 28, 2021 SW of Silver City, NM (DM52sn)
We drove the camper about 145 miles east into New Mexico, and found a great spot up on the Continental Divide at 6,400 feet. Setting up went well, and when the moon cleared a few low trees we were off to the races. It was an excellent session with 25 stations worked on a combination of JT65C, Q65-30B, and CW. No JA/VK/ZL activity however. :-(
Logged: K5LA on ground wave 115 miles, DG5CST (-9), UA3PTW (-12), HB9Q (-1), OK1KIR (-5), ON4AOI (-17), N1AV (-17), ES3RF (-21), DL8FBD (-19), SM6CKU (-11), DK4RC (-7), OK1IL (-15), OM3XA (-21), PA3FXB (-17), SM5DGX (-16), VA6EME (-17), DK5YA (-22), DG5CST (CW 429), OK1KIR (CW 419), W2HRO (-27), K2UYH (-11), DF2VJ (-25), KA1GT (Q65-30B -19), PA0BAT (-21), K4EME (-25).
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| Nothing like a full moon at perigee. Coyotes were howling! |
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| Moonbounce does have a certain aura about it. :-) |
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| Tight quarters, but it works if I get all the cables correct! |
March 19 - DM23vs Quartzsite, Arizona
Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you! Today was one of those days where the bear almost won. The 2.4M dish by nature of its size and stiff fiberglass ribs is sometimes difficult to open. Pointing straight up for a gravity assist helps, but imagine my surprise when I couldn't budge it past a certain point. Finally, I pulled the fabric off four rib-tips and was able to get going. After a pleasant afternoon of working folks on 23cm in both JT65c and Q65 30C/60C modes I sprayed the fabric on the dish with water and it stretched enough to get me back to normal opening and closing ability. As a ?bonus? I did blow my best pre-amp up by tripping on the PTT cable and disconnecting it. Who knew Murphy is a desert dweller! I must say Q65 is an impressive mode. Even with faster 30 second sequences I was working stations easily. All in all not a bad session for the moon being at apogee. The next day we had serious winds so no EME.
Worked: OK1KIR (-10), DF3RU (-13), ES3RF (-24), OK1IL (-15), HB9Q (-3), N1AV (-24), KA1GT (-25), SM6CKU (-9), N1AV Q65 (-20), KA1GT Q65 (-25), and KB2SA Q65 (-26).
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| A long day knocking trouble back, but rewarding. Open air shack. |