09/28/2006 | WA5YWC The 10 GHz contest is by far my most favorite contest of the year. Contesting in North Texas is somewhat of a challenge because of the heat and flat terrain. This year I decided to try something different to make the contest a bit easier to operate. I mounted my tripod and 24 inch dish on a rotor in the back of my pickup truck. In the past contests, I would have to conveniently find a spot to stop and setup, operate and tear down. These spots are far and few between when looking for a clear horizon. My station consists of a DEMI 10 GHz transverter, AD6IW external locked LO and a surplus 25 watt twta. The interface radio is an IC-706. I use my IC-746 for the 2m liaison radio. These components were located inside the truck. I also installed a 400 watt DC to AC inverter to operate the rotor.

This was a very hot summer in North Texas. Temperature started out in the high nineties early in the morning. Eric NM5M, his 10 year old son Blake KE5CIF and Al W5RLG were located on top of a parking garage in Frisco. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees by mid morning driving these guys to a cooler location. AL W5LUA and Wes WA5TKU were operating from home and Craig KA5BOU was roving with Steve N5AC. I started heading west from Frisco and was able to quickly find high spots with a horizon and pull off the road and make quick contacts while operating inside the air conditioned cab of the truck. All the equipment was inside the cab, so overheating was not a problem. The rotor worked perfect and was easy to rock back and forth to optimize signals. By noon, everyone was heading home due to the 105+ heat. I ended up driving to Weatherford, TX, approximately 70 miles west of Dallas, making contacts with Al W5LUA along the way. My best dx was 144 km with Al. Unfortunately; I was out of town for the second half of the contest. Next year will be even more fun with this new setup. -- WA5YWC