2021 Road Trip - Update 49: EN46 Activation Morning Sept 1 UTC I am planning to activate EN46 in Northern Minnesota tonight. The plan is as follows: EN46AV91KI - Minnesota coast of Lake Superior - 0630UTC - 1200UTC September 1, 2021 (9 hours from now). The location is a boat launching ramp on Lake Superior. 2M EME 144.132 2nd JT65B
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2021 Road Trip - EN15 South Dakota Complete: August 31, 2021 1400UTC The EN15 South Dakota activation is complete. Thank-you to the 56 callers who completed QSOs. As usual conditions started out fast and became harder as the morning went on. Sorry I was not able to complete with a couple of callers. After about 5 hours I was getting very tired and was having trouble seeing the monitor :-) so we stopped the operation at sunrise here after starting at midnight. I am leaving now for a campground north of Duluth Minnesota near the border with Canada. Tomorrow I have a short drive to a campground in Houghton, Michigan which I will use as a base camp for the first four grids I will activate this week. The EN15 South Dakota log is uploaded to LoTW.
2021 Road Trip - EN15 Activation: August 31, 2021 0519UTC The EN16 North Dakota activation is complete. There were several requests to activate South Dakota so I have driven back to South Dakota and will activate the following grid overnight (local time): EN15KA20IO - Moonrise August 31, 2021 0519UTC - 2M EME 144.132 2nd JT65B I found a perfect location for tonights activation. Wish they were all like this. The Eastern end of a very nice modern mostly empty RV park. MIles of cornfields in direction of Moonrise. No power lines or radio towers. Very quiet RF. Utility power so no generator needed. 10C temperature so don't need to run air conditioner. Casino next door with restaurant. $27 per night to use the campground. Tomorrow afternoon after a few hours sleep (the activation starts at Midnight local time and runs until sunrise) I will drive to Duluth Minnesota on the US/Canadian border on on September 1st will go into Michigan for 2 1/2 weeks.
2021 Road Trip - August 30, 2021 1450UTC - EN16 Complete, EN15 South Dakota tonight The EN16 North Dakota activation is complete. There were several request to activate South Dakota so I have driven back to South Dakota and will activate the following grid overnight (local time): EN15KA20IO - Moonrise August 31, 2021 0519UTC - 2M EME 144.132 2nd JT65B This is the log for EN16 North Dakota. The log is uploaded to LoTW. At the beginning of the session I believe the signals on my end were consistently the strongest I have ever heard. A waterfall of speaker audible signals. The day before there was very heavy rainfall in completely flat corn fields. This type of soil has very good RF properties (for dirt) particularly when wet. Most of the signals were well-spaced which made it easier to find signals with fewer retransmissions. Thank-you.
2021 Road Trip - EL39/49/59 Hurricane: August 29, 2021 2330UTC One of the reasons I go on adventures is to meet people in many areas of the U.S. From June 12 -14 this year I activated EL39, EL49, and EL59 on the Southern Louisanna coast. As I am writing this today this area received a direct hit from Hurricane Ida with 150mph, 240km/hour sustained winds, storm surge flooding of 4-5 meters and storm waves on top. All of the locations in the photos from my trip are under water at this time. 16 years ago today this same area was hit by Hurricane Katrina. There are still 10 meter tall trees with all of the branches and leaves stripped off by the storm flooding. While I was in the EL grids I had many visitors. In EL49 a couple who lived right on the edge of the water visited me in the morning and in the afternoon brought me a great home-cooked lunch. In EL59 two shrimp fisherman stopped by and shared a 12-pack of beer with me. They said they would tell their friends about the visitor
2021 Road Trip - EN22 Iowa: August 28, 2021 1500UTC The EN22 activation is complete and the log is uploaded to LoTW. See below for photos and a copy of the log. I will leave for EN16 in North Dakota tomorrow morning and will operate overnight from Sunday night to Monday morning: EN16RG North Dakota - Monday August 30, 2021 0520UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b The EN22 activation location was a gravel farm road far from any town or powerlines. The location was extremely quiet. It was also very dark. The only visible lights were from one farm complex several KM distant from the site. And the Moon. Here is a flash photo of station setup on roadside. This location was about 20 miles East of my RV in the Southeastern corner of South Dakota. With no other light visible the Moon substituted for my flashlight. It was easy to keep the antennas pointed at the Moon. Toward the end of the operation many thunderstorms popped up in the distance, none closer than 15km (on radar) f
Road Trip 2021 - Sept Activation at the site of the First Moonbounce Operation I have received approval from the organization that operates the location where the first Moonbounce communication was performed to activate the site on September 20-21, 2021. Project Diana - First Moonbounce I plan to activate the site as follows: FN20XE34 - September 20, 2021 2300UTC - September 21, 2021 0500UTC The planned location is on the path underneath the large dish antenna. The Moonrise direction is to the East. Moon conditions are excellent for that day. There is a town to the East before the Atlantic Ocean. For more information on the location visit: https://isec.space/ I will be joined in the activation by the Amateur Radio operators who support ISEC. We will print commemorative QSL cards for the event.
2021 Road Trip - EN13OA Canceled : August 26, 2021 1530UTC Due to a bad weather forecast and the accuracy of forecasts in this area. The EN13OA activation for tomorrow morning UTC is canceled. Canceled - EN13OA South Dakota - Friday August 27, 2021 0350UTC Weather is currently favorable for this weekend and these activations are still on the schedule: EN22AL Iowa - Saturday August 28, 2021 0420UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 0830UTC EN16RG North Dakota - Monday August 30, 2021 0520UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 0900UTC
2021 Road Trip - EN12: August 26, 2021 1400UTC I have uploaded 31 QSOs from EN12TL to LoTW. The location had high noise on RX however I was able to start as soon as the moon was visible. I did not see many signals at the same time, but each cycle 1 to 3 signals would come through. There were some difficult 1-way communications at times. I had very high RF noise on HPOL and did not decode any 2M signals on HPOL last night, the only decodes were on VPOL. The QSO rate for the first two hours was good. At the end of the night, early in the morning my time there were a number of signals that were speaker audible. The weather forecast for tonight is severe thunderstorms. I am watching the conditions and will post updates during the day on whether I think I can operate tonight. See below for photos and more information The activation location was on the Missouri River on the Nebraska side of the border. There is a large old railroad bridge at the location. During the day the bridge
2021 Road Trip - August 25, 2021 1800UTC EN12 Activation will proceed in about 9 hours at 0310UTC on August 26, 2021 I have arrived at my next stop. I visited the activation site for tonight and it looks ok. Moonrise may be delayed for a while due to terrain across the river. The location is EN12TL34KC on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. I will set up on a bluff about 10 meters above the river. There is an unused 100 year old bridge in the direction of Moonrise as shown in the picture. Moonrise is scheduled for 0310UTC on August 26, 2021 however it will be delayed. I am planning 2M EME operation on 144.132 2nd from 0310 to about 0730UTC. After 2M I will move to 222.080 2nd JT65B and will use the HB9Q page for chat. At 0730UTC when 222 EME is scheduled the AZ is about 140 degrees and elevation about 40 degrees which should be a very quiet direction from this site. Moonrise direction.
2021 Road Trip - Update August 22, 2021 2124UTC Next Activations Planned I am currently in Des Moines, Iowa and will arrive in Sioux City, Iowa on Wednesday morning local time. Sioux city is at the meeting of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. This is the plan for the next four activations: EN12TL34 Nebraska - Thursday August 26, 2021 0310UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 0730UTC EN13OA South Dakota - Friday August 27, 2021 0350UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 00800UTC EN22AL Iowa - Saturday August 28, 2021 0420UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 0830UTC EN16RG North Dakota - Monday August 30, 2021 0520UTC - 2M EME operations 144.132 2nd JT65b followed by 222 EME at approximately 0900UTC I expect to have Internet access at all locations. For 222 operations I will be on the HB9Q page.
Road Trip Update - August 22, 2021 1300UTC On the Road Experience At this point I have covered about 1/2 of the total distance I plan for this trip. So far I have visited 18 states in the Eastern U.S. By the end of the trip the total number of states may be close to 30. I have driven 3,500 miles or about 6,000 km. I plan to drive an additional 6000 km by the time I return to Florida. Most of the travel so far is on the US Interstate Highway system. In most cases the roads are in good condition and are not very crowded. I avoid large cities whenever possible to avoid traffic. I drive at a speed of 100km/h. I have taken several long road trips over the years. When I was young my family would take 1 month camping trips across the U.S. When I was 17 I took a one-month long trip on my own from Michigan to Montana to backpack in Glacier National Park and then went north into wilderness areas in Canada. During the National Parks on the Air event in 2016 I visited 22 National Parks and
Road Trip Update - August 17, 2021 Mobile QTH My mobile QTH is a big improvement over the dry camping I did last year on activations. I can pack up and leave in 15 minutes and setup when I arrive at new locations in 15 minutes. Normally when I move to another location I try to drive under 300 miles or about 5-6 hours. I normally leave at sunrise and arrive before noon at my next location. From each location where I set up the RV I do activations as far as 200 km from my base location. For the remainder of this trip the distances will be shorter than than 100km. The photo below is my desk in the RV. The photo on the monitor is the 4X10HV 2 Meter array I used last year on operations when I only had a 400W PA. Photo is from top of Grizzly Peak looking at Mount Shasta in Northern CA. Last year it took two hours to set up that array. This year with the 2X10HV and other improvements, complete station setup only takes 30 minutes. If my truck is within wireless range of the RV, I c
Road Trip Update - August 15, 2021 FN22 Cooperstown, NY FN22 is in the center of New York state. It is a farming area. For the first time on my trip the operating location was within walking distance of my RV campsite. This campground was part of a farm. The photo below is the view from my RV to the operating location. The antennas are pointed in the Moonrise direction. I put the 6M beam up and I was heard on the Packet Spotter across the eastern US from Minnesota to Louisianna to Florida and most places between. Not many callers. Here is the view looking back at my RV that is directly behind the antennas. I had four visitors during the activation left to right N2JJ, W9IP, K2ZJ and K1PTF. They arrived about an hour before the activation and stayed for the first couple of hours. Two of the operators are experienced EME operators and two are just getting started. I am going to provide a "Parts List" of what I have settled on based on operations over the last 18 month
Road Trip Update - WCC Chatham Marconi Maritime Center Activation - August 13, 2021 Yesterday, August 13, I was invited to activate EME communications from FN51 from the grounds of the historic Chatham Marconi Maritime Center: https://www.wccara.com/wcc This site was built in 1914 by the Marconi company, but because of World War I, was never activated my Marconi. It was not possible to ship radio equipment from Europe to Cape Cod during the war. The site was completed by a new company that became the iconic American brand, RCA. RCA was founded to re-organize the assets for the Marconi Company in the U.S.: https://www.rca.com/us_en/our-legacy-266-us-en This site became one of the most important message traffic sites for communicating with commercial ships at sea. From the 1920's until 1997 when HF radio communications with ships was retired and replaced with satellite communications, this center known as WCC used CW only to handle traffic from thousands of ships. The Cape Cod
2021 Road Trip - Update 33: August 11, 2021 2030UTC Thank-you everyone who called today. I did not have Internet access at the activation site today. 36 QSOs uploaded to LoTW. Signals were very loud early but after 1500UTC not so good. Unfortunately didn't have Internet to coordinate for the harder QSO's. When I drove by earlier in the week there was Internet access but not this morning. Working some of the Northern EU stations, particularly OH was difficult. Their signals were -21 to -23 on my end but I wasn't heard when I tried TX both HPOL and VPOL. The only signals I saw today, from EU or NA were VPOL on RX. Probably 25 QSO's completed with VPOL TX and for the others I had to switch to HPOL to complete. Some stations I copied for hours and called them up to 15 times, on both POL but I was not heard by them. I will send emails individualy to those callers. Several Hams stopped to visit the station today. Several other visitors. Here is a photo of the stat
2021 Road Trip - Update 32: August 10, 2021 1930UTC I will activate FN64 at Moonrise tomorrow 1245UTC August 11 Updated plans: FN64AU78 - Wednesday August 11, 2021 - 1245UTC Moonrise (Moonrise may be delayed by trees) FN51AQ28HW - Friday August 13, 2021 - 1517UTC Moonrise ( May be delayed by trees) - Historic Marconi Museum FN22MU - Sunday August 15, 2021 - 1809UTC Moonrise (Short window due to low declination) Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota FN12, FN13, FN16 August 27 - August 30 Upper Penninsula of Michigan - September 3 - 6 EN46, EN57, EN67, EN66 I will call 2nd 144.132 JT65B. I should have Internet access.
KA6U EME Activation Plans and Results 2021 Road Trip - Update 31: August 8, 2021 2000UTC One Month on the Road Today marks the end of the first month of my road trip. Some statistics: 12 States visited 9 unique grid activations, 11 total activations (to help WAS pursuers) 560 QSO's My original plan for the trip was to visit 25 states, activate 20 grids and complete 2000 QSOs. I am planning at least 2 1/2 more months for the trip so I think I have a chance to exceed my plan. I have had at least 75 people visit my station and ask what I was doing. People have been very friendly and curious. And speaking with many different accents! I have started giving QSL cards to visitors. Thanks everyone for calling and your patience and waiting. 2021 Road Trip - Maine Update 30: August 8, 2021 1800UTC FN55 Activation is Complete - 46 QSOs uploaded to LoTW I will not activate FN65 tomorrow. I am going to take a break from getting up at 4AM. Next Activations: FN64AU78 - Wednesday August 11,