August 20-21, 2005August 20-21, 2005Wally WØPHD and I had enjoyed our 10Ghz operations in the Red River Vally of Minnesota and North Dakota last year. There was only one problem ... we had only operated for two closely spaced sites. This limited our number of contacts since many of the stations we worked were fixed location stations. This year I wanted to avoid that limitation.
For 2005 there were several new developments in NW Minnesota and NE North Dakota. Dennis NTØV was newly on 10Ghz, VE4MA was active for the entire weekend and there were several new stations in the Winnipeg area. As a result of this activity we were "on the rove".
Saturday morning we started operations at 12:30Z at EN18ni.
It was a beautiful morning with the near full moon setting in the west as we drove to our site. The sunflowers were gazing at the rising sun, enjoying the light and the warmth after a cool night in the 50's.
We worked Barry VE4MA quickly 5-6-9 on CW followed by Dennis 5-1-9 also on CW. We then waited as three stations VE4TV, VE4CCW and VE3KRP set up on a cold windswept 39 story roof top in Winnipeg. The group had some RFI problems from the fixed communications equipment that shared their rooftop location. The wind and cold made operation on CW difficult for them and that was the only mode possible. After some delay both Wally and I completed with VE3KRP and that was the only contact made with that group.
Saturday operations continued in a counter clockwise progression for the rest of the day until operations ceased. The last grid we operated from on Saturday was EN17kx just northwest of Grand Forks.
We were very pleased that once we reached EN18hg we were able to work the group at Sisseton SD some 292Km to our south. Sadly these contacts had to be CW also and that made it more difficult for some of the Sisseton operators. However we were VERY HAPPY to end our day working that entire group twice, first from EN18hg and then from EN17kx.
Sunday morning at 12:30Z found Wally and I out again, this time in EN18of just west of Warren Minnesota. We quickly worked NTØV and then VE4MA on CW and SSB. Barry's 50watts provided 5-9 SSB copy as he gave us a 5-3,not bad for Wally's 2watts and my 1 watt and our 18"DDS dishes.
We beaconed for the rover pack near Redwood Falls MN, about a 500km path beyond the valley with no success.
Wally could not rove beyond 13:00Z, so I continued alone activating subgrids EN18ob - EN17qf as I worked my way south. Contacts continued from almost all sites with NTØV and VE4MA. Contacts with Sisseton continued on CW at EN18ob and once I reached EN17qn and beyond, SSB contacts were possible with Sisseton with 5-7 or better signals.
At the end of the first weekend, 622miles of traveled, 245 miles of it during the rove, Wally had 36 contacts and 9 unique calls. I with the
additional time Sunday had 69 contacts and 10 unique calls. My average contact
distance was 212.88Km for a total of 15,689pts. I am very happy with that, for the region that we operated from. Wally and I enjoyed our first real 10Ghz rove.
The second weekend found us back in the "Red River Valley" working yet
additional sites on both sides of the river. The end result for both weekends
was that I had 14 unique calls worked, 153 contacts, average distance of 173km
and best distance of 292km. Total fun for the 2005 contest was 27,928pts ...
