Dates: Utah April 6, 8 - 10 Colorado - April 13/15
Call: KB7Q - always 1st sequence
Call: KB7Q - always 1st sequence
Location: Southeast Utah & Southwest Colorado - see below
Operating Schedule:
Utah
April 6 - 1800z start (due to travel) 70cm 432.090 Mhz DM58 near Green River, Utah
April 8 - MR 1800z 23cm 1296.090 MHz DM57 Valley of the Gods, Utah
April 8 - MR 1800z 23cm 1296.090 MHz DM57 Valley of the Gods, Utah
April 9 - wind cancelled
April 10 - MR 2000 70cm 432.090 MHz DM57 Goosenecks State Park, Utah
Colorado
April 13 - MR 2300z 23cm 1296.090 Mhz DM57 Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado
April 15 - MR 0015Z 70cm 432.090 MHz DM57 Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado
Modes: 70cm Q65-60B, 23cm Q65-60C CFOM preferred, can do CW after I work digital stations
Gear: 70cm - 1x 9wl Yagi 500 watts 23cm - 2.4M dish, 400 watts
Internet: At times
Thank you donors - NC1I, DL9KR, PA3FXB, DL7APV, OK1IL, DL1VPL
April 15, 2022
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| A small RV makes for tight quarters, but everything has a place. |
The relay repair held up fine with the first 500 watt smoke test, and I had a very nice evening session on 70cm from here in Colorado (DM57oj) to finish up this trip's EME operating. I very much appreciate the folks in Europe crawling out of a warm bed in the middle of the night to give me a contact. The trip was a great success, and several folks added a State or two to their Worked All States quest. LoTW is up to date.
Worked: DG5CST (-13), PA5Y (-15), DK3WG (-15), ES3RF (-22), UA3PTW (-12), DL7APV (-5), NC1I (-11), OK1VUM (-17), ZS4TX (-22), OT7K (-18), OK1KIR (-15), SM7THS (-15), W2HRO (-22), K5DOG (-23), W5LUA (-15), DL1VPL (-19), W7MEM (-16), W7JW (-25). On CW I managed DL9KR (549), OK1KIR (419), DG5CST (429).
April 14, 2022
Last time I took the 70CM station apart I managed to twist the N
connector loose form the body of the power relay in the pre-amp
switching box and in the process bend the wiper arm. This morning with a
full cup of coffee I managed to get things right and re-assemble the
relay. We'll give 70CM EME a go from this lovely camping spot.
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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. |
April 13, 2022
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| Ute Mountain from the cliff top site. The ropes are extra wind anchoring insurance. |
We'll gave 23cm EME a try today from Colorado. We found a great site at DM57oj on a cliff edge with Ute Mountain out there on the southern horizon. Setting up for a 2300z moonrise was easy, and the Internet connection was solid. Talk about having it all.
The site had no soil, it was all sandstone, so I laid my tent stakes horizontally, looped the tie-down strap around them, and put about 200 pounds of rocks on top. I also ran 2 lines upwind to make sure the gusts wouldn't topple the dish. Toward sunset the wind totally died as expected.
A great session - plenty of folks worked on Q65-60C. NC1I (-18), OK1KIR (-16), G4CCH (-18), IQ2DB (-20), IK1FJI (-16), SM5DGX (-14), OT7K (-23), PA3DZL (-17), DK3WG (-24), N1AV (-23), K5DOG (-22), WA3RGQ (-24), OK1IL (-22), UA3PTW (-14), W5LUA (-19), AA4MD (-24), K6VHF (-28), FG8OJ (-33), XE1XA (-21), W5AFY (-23), G4YTL (-27), W2HRO (-23), KB2SA (-24), CX2SC (-25), KA1GT (-22), N0CTR (-20), W5LUA (-14), N5BF (-24)
Bonus - We stopped and hiked the trail at Sand Canyon Pueblo a few miles back down the Forest Service Road. Interesting to see the ruins of a site that was inhabited around 1250 A.D. by several hundred folks.
April 12, 2022
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| April snow SW Colorado. Given extreme drought this is a very good thing. |
The gate on the road to the Forest Service site I was going to use for the 23cm EME ops was closed and locked. How rude! We booked into an RV park down the road to re-group and wait out the storm. And a fine storm it is! It looks like April 16 or 17th before we can try another Colorado spot.
April 10, 2022
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| DM57ae - Utah. Looking way down at the San Juan River. |
Joyce and I decided to give Goosenecks State Park a visit, so we headed south for about 30 minutes, arrived, and set up the 70cm station easily. Even though it clouded over just before moonrise I was able to complete with 14 stations. We had to walk a whole 100 feet (30M) over to the edge to see the San Juan River meander 1,000 feet (320M) below us.
Worked using Q65-60B: DL7APV ( -5), DL1VPL (-23), DG5CST (-15), OK1DFC (-22), PA5Y (-19), UA3PTW (-19), OK1KIR (-19), PA2V (-19), PA2CHR (-27), OK1VUM (-19), DL8FBD (-25), DK4RC (-19), OT7K (-21). DL9KR sure knows where to place his CW signal to get my attention - we completed effortlessly 539/559.
A nasty storm is going to hit the whole western part of the USA - we'll see how we fare in Colorado on 23cm tomorrow.
April 8, 2022
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| DM57cg, Valley of the Gods, Utah 2.4M dish ready to go. |
It was a perfect day for 23cm EME. We found a dandy spot well off the road in the Valley of the Gods and set up easily. No wind, visible moon, and Murphy was missing in action. I worked all I heard! 24 stations were logged, all with good signals. Things really died off in three hours, so after another hour of CQ'ing to a quiet band I stopped and went for a hike. Later I got the drone out and shot this video.
In the log via Q65-60C: NC1I (-12), DG5CST (-8), UA3PTW (-11), DL4DTU (-16), OK1DFC (-19), IQ2DB (-22), HB9Q (-9), DK3WG (-25), N1AV (-27), OK1CA (-11), PA3FXB (-23), ES3RF (-17), DL8FBD (-22), G4CCH (-16), IK1FJI (-16), DK4RC (-12), OK1IL (-23), VE4MA (-21), DL7UDA (-20), W5AFY (-20), ON4AOI (-23), DG0FE (-22), W2HRO (-22), RA4HL (-15).
The next morning before the big winds arrived I shot a sunrise video to show you more of the Valley Of The Gods and here also.
April 6, 2022
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| DM58cv Near Green River, Utah on BLM land |
A challenging, but fun day. We drove the 150 miles down from Provo and was QRV only 5 minutes late at 1805z. On 70cm Q65-60B EME I worked OK1KIR (-18), NC1I (-10), DL1VPL (-23), ES3RF (-24), UA3PTW (-12), DL7APV (-11), SM7THS (-20), HB9Q (-11), ON4AOI (-22), W2HRO (-22), DL5FN (-19), PA2V (-17), W5LUA (-17), and G4YTL (-20). On CW it was a pleasure to work DL9KR with 559 exchanged both ways - we hit it just right!. LoTW upload done.
Murphy tried his best today. The amp suddenly died - when I opened it up the little piece of Teflon coax that serves as a capacitor in the output section was rattling around in the bottom of the amp. The heat had melted the solder! My bad - I usually do put a small fan inside the amp, but I didn't add it to the 70cm unit. I will. Long story short - I soldered the coax back in place and got back on the air.
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| Back in place you go! |