N1MU/VE2 June 2009 Rover Trip
Tom Mayo, N1MU
Len Desmond, N2NAO
Click here to see our pre-contest plans.
By Band
- 50 MHz
– Nice opening on Saturday afternoon!
Had high SWR towards the end of the contest. Not sure what happened. It seems better upon arriving
home. Inspect.
- 144
MHz - Shortened Yagi is good to make pointing less important.
- 222
MHz - Back working again since new T/R relay installed! Hooray! Shortened Yagi is good to make pointing less important.
- 432
MHz - Good
- 902
MHz - Good
- 1.2
GHz - Good
- 2.3
GHz - Back working again with 24 V to 12 V regulator for synthesizer. Hooray!
- 3.4
GHz - Good
- 5.7
GHz - Back working again with temporary laptop supply powering LO, new
WA2AAU Avantek LNA, and new T/R relay.
Still weaker than expected.
Perhaps we need shorter feedline between the transverter and the
dish. Have the new offset feed dish.
Look to use that for 5/10 GHz instead of Phalanx dish.
- 10 GHz
- Not sure if this is working.
Made no QSOs.
By Location
- Border
into Canada - No problems. Tips:
Answer questions honestly. Do not
hide information or get too mouthy.
They want to know where you are from, where you are going, what you
are doing, and if you are bringing anything into Canada for sale or if you
are travelling for business. You
are not.
- FN25
(Long Sault) - Buggy but good.
- FN36
(Ste Melanie) - Buggy but good.
Little fricking midges first, then bird-sized mosquitoes.
- Comfort
Inn, Trois Rivieres. Nice but very
expensive: $100 for one night!
- FN46
(Vianney) - Beautiful!
- FN45
(Ham Nord) - Beautiful! Struck up a conversation with a neighbor - Michele
(a guy) - who is a Geographer and is prospecting in the Wind Farm business
in the area. Very intelligent guy
and his great all-white Husky dog.
- Border
into U.S. - No problems. Tips:
Answer questions honestly. Do not
hide information or get too mouthy.
They want to know where you have been and what you were doing. They want to know if you are bringing
in anything you obtained in Canada that is valuable or controlled. You are not.
- FN35
(Rouses Pt.) - Fine.
- FN34
(Rouses Pt.) - Talked with Port Authority (who control our original setup
spot now, not the Border Patrol).
They declined giving us permission to set up inside an orange
barricade, which effectively kills this spot. We used another spot on Mason Rd. instead. It’s terrific!
- FN24 -
Found a new run and gun spot that was terrific. Better and flatter than the spot in Stone Mills. Recorded the spot as a favorite on my
GPS.
Misc
- Want
to continue to practice French. It
was fun trying it out.
- Stay
away from Poutine---french fries with gravy and cheese curds. It is pretty good going down, but sits
in your stomach like a lump. Try
another local specialty instead next time.
- Forgot
the level, but things worked ok anyways.
Len had a level application for his Blackberry. Pretty cool.
- I had
skeds with K1TEO but I just cannot get a system down to work him. We listened for him at the appointed
times on 2m, but never heard him.
- Worked
K2DB in FN24. N2YB says he runs a
remote station. He only wanted to
work CW and shouted “something something 95” at us when we tried to work
him on phone.
- Nice
windmills near Potsdam, NY! See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j0wWYfEHZ8.
- Want
to put up new offset fed dish for 5/10 GHz.
- Want
to remove inverters from setup (except for powering laptops).
- Need
to get my weak-signal source running.
- Photos
are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tmayo6/N1MUVE2June2009RoverTrip?feat=directlink