My best showing ever in the 10GHz & Up Contest !  Once again, me and Peter VA3ELE travelled together on both weekends.

We began Saturday morning of the first leg in August at the west end of Lake Erie, roving east along the north shore. Enhanced conditions netted us 20 QSOs from our first stop in EN82OA, a great start !  K9PW, K9JK, K8ZR & KB8VAO were roving east along the south shore of the lake so were were able to reliably work them on 10 and 24 GHz from all five of our scheduled stops. The good conditions continued through the day and our logs filled quickly as activity on both sides of the border was noticeably up !

On Sunday we starting around FN14 on the north shore of Lake Ontario roving west. Activity was bustling as Tropo conditions were still enhanced so our morning was busy, but little did we know that a treat was in store for us. In the afternoon the radio gods gifted us with a series of dense thunderstorm cells that rolled east across New York state towards New England, providing several intense rain scatter opportunities. We worked K1RZ, AF1T, W1MKY & K3WHC in FN41ee on Block Island at 620km from FN03VW and again from FN14BA which would have otherwise been a stretch via regular tropo. We also worked W1GHZ, W1AIM & N1JEZ in FN34OM at Mt. Mansfield Vermont and managed to snag VE2UG in FN35GS and K2EZ in FN21IA before the rain cells finally dissipated.  I've never experienced such intense rain scatter with S9+ signals. What a rush that was !

The second leg in September was lackluster compared to August. We decided to drive about 8 hours east from Toronto to start on Saturday morning in FN36SJ near Trois-Rivieres, Quebec with hopes of working some new stations in the NorthEast. This time conditions on 10 GHz were flat with no enhancement at all. It seemed like we were in an RF vacuum compared to reports from some of the stations to the south. Despite being much further east we were unable to contact the crews out at Block Island and Martha's Vineyard after attempts from several different locations. To make matters worse, high humidity rendered 24 GHz & above useless. With such poor conditions we had to work hard for each and every contact as signals were generally on the weaker side. We ended Saturday evening by joining VE2JWH in FN35QI at Mont Shefford, Quebec at 1500 ft ASL. We worked a few stations from there including VE3KH at the west end of Lake Ontario in FN03CG at a distance of 618 km, giving all 3 of us our personal best non-enhanced tropo distance records. That was a very welcome surprise since conditions up to that point suggested that it would be a long shot (pardon the pun) but as I've learned, don't discount anything on 10 GHz, just try it ! That contact, as it turned out,  was the highlight of the September weekend.

Sunday was just as flat as Saturday as we roved West from FN25WK near the Quebec/Ontario border. Our first contact of the day was again with VE3KH in FN03CG but that would be our last with him. By the time we reached our next grid he had suffered a technical failure that put him out for the rest of the contest, a real blow to our plans since we were counting on working him from most of our stops as we roved back to Toronto. Activity was decreasing as the day progressed with just a few odd contacts here and there. As evening approached we attempted to coordinate with K2UA & K2DH who were heading west through New York state, but only got to work them a couple of times due to overlapping travel time between grids. We finished the night working them and a few other stations from FN14SG near Kingston, Ontario. At that point the prospects were slim so we decided to call it a night and head home.

Overall it was a very enjoyable contest !  I doubled my previous best score and increased my personal best distance on 10GHz. Good times traveling with Peter and we got to take in some beautiful sites along the St. Lawrence Seaway, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Total QSOs = 198

Best DX 10 GHz = 620 km.

Best DX 24 GHz = 131 km.