Results- Rochester VHF Group 24GHz Marathon

 As some of you may know, this past Saturday, March 15, the Rochester (NY)
VHF Group- the oldest VHF/UHF club in the world- hosted a "Marathon" where
as many people as could participate tried to achieve VUCC on the 24GHz band
in one day.

The paticipants included: K2LDU/VE3, WO2P, K2EHF, KB8VAO, and K2DH.  K2LDU
took his gear to the North side of Lake Ontario and operated from FN04xa,
and FN14bb.  WO2P was accompanied by N2KXS and the pair activated FN23av- a
site we affectionately call "100 Cows".  K2EHF went to FN02wv and FN13ev,
KB8VAO operated from FN03wa, and K2DH operated from FN13he.

Things got started at around 8AM and by 9, everyone was at their first stop
and on the air.  We used 144.260 SSB for liaison (with an occasional call on
the cell phone when things got too busy on 2m).

Signals were great all day!  The site WO2P operated from is awesome- no
matter where my dish was pointed, if he was pointed towards Rochester, I
could hear him.  The over water paths were excellent all day- K2LDU had an
awesome signal, too.

We finished up at about 6PM, since it was getting dark and folks had to tear
down and start their drives for home.  Our results were very good:
K2DH worked seven grids and achieved VUCC- FN02, FN03, FN04, FN12, FN13,
FN14, FN23.
K2EHF worked six grids and achieved VUCC- FN02, FN03, FN12, FN13, FN14,
FN23.
WO2P worked four grids- FN02, FN03, FN13, FN23.
KB8VAO worked four grids- FN02, FN03, FN13, FN23.  His QSO with WO2P
represents the best DX of the day, at 207.4km!  And it was
done on SSB!

I cannot say whether there was any particular enhancement or not- the day
was sunny, with temps peaking at about 50.  With all the snow we have had
this year, there is quite a snowpack still on the ground, and I was worried
that the melt would cause humidities over the lake and ground to be very
high- if there was additional attenuation from this factor, then other
factors played in our favor- at times, WO2P and K2LDU/VE3 were "on the peg"!
Most QSO's were completed on SSB, except K2LDU, whose station uses a 12GHz
Frequency West source and doubler on transmit, limiting him to CW only on
transmit.

The equipment list is as follows:
K2LDU/VE3- homebrew TX and RX- TX is a 12GHz oscillator doubled to the TX
frequency and amplified to 0.5W, RX is a tunable converter with 2400 MHz 1st
IF and 144 MHz 2nd IF, and 18" offset-fed DBS tv dish.
WO2P/2- DB6NT transverter/LNA with image filter- 2dB RX noise figure, 2W TX
and 12" prime focus dish.
K2EHF- DB6NT transverter/LNA with image filter- 2dB RX Noise Figure, 0.5W TX
and 12" prime focus dish.
KB8VAO- DB6NT transverter/LNA with image filter- 2dB RX Noise Figure, >1W TX
and 24" prime focus dish.
K2DH- DB6NT transverter/LNA with image filter- 2dB RX Noise Figure, >2W TX
and 12" prime focus dish.

Congratulations to everyone for their fine efforts on Saturday!  A great
time was had by all and we all learned alot about propagation on 24GHz.

Look for a huge upsurge in Millimeter Wave activity in the Western NY area-
as many as SEVEN more locals are either planning or actively building 24GHz
equipment and all expect to be on by Summer 2003!  In addition, at least
three people have or are planning 47GHz stations in the same time frame.

Also, in the next few days, sound files from this weekend's operations
should be available on the club website: http://vhfgroup.rochesterny.org

Regards,
Dave Hallidy K2DH