The first weekend of the 10GHz contest Aug 21-22, 2010

Saturday--- Started from home at 3:30am and drove to Pt. Judith, RI, FN41gi
for a 6am start. Got to try to get those early morning enhanced propagation
qso's. Point Judith is a really nice spot. Water on 3 sides with an elevated
parking lot. You can work in every direction. There's not a lot of traffic
because there is no real wide beach there, and there's no boat ramp. It's
just a scenic place. But, Condx were not as good as predicted. Tried with
Connie NG4C, at Elizabeth City, NC. FM16ti, but no luck, so I guessed that
working W4DEX was out of the question. Best dx was K1WHS at 143miles/231km.
Dave was plenty loud.

Overall, throughout the day, conditions to the south were only slightly
enhanced, and flat up into interior New England.

If condx down the coast were good, I had planned on driving out to Cape Cod. But that wasn't happening, so I stayed awhile at Pt. Judith, then left for the Westboro, MA Water Tower site (FN42fg).

Except for southeast, every direction can be worked from this site. It's a
parking lot for one of the large corp's in Westboro Business Park. The lot
is paved almost right up to the water tower that's on top of the gently
sloping hill. Mark, KA1OJ, and George, W1JHR, were already there and had worked quite a few stations. The best dx from this site was K2KIB, FN21qh, High Point, NJ, at 172m/278km. Jim and I worked 2 more times this weekend.

Mark and George left and I worked them both from their next sites.
Buildings, Airplanes, and Water Towers have been successful relectors, but this was the first time I've used a mountainside about 25 miles away for a bounce shot, this one with KA1OJ.

On the way home, I stopped at Baypath High School in Charlton, MA (FN42ad). The building and grounds designer was a genius. The school is on top of the highest hill within 20 miles. A parking lot surrounds the school, with playing field below all around--so, very few trees! All directions can be worked from here. I would not go there much after dark, but day hours there is always a few folks using the athletic fields, so it's not likely the police will chase an operator out. Best DX here was W1GHZ and W1AIM on Mt. Washington, NH, FN44ig, at 151m/242km.

Sunday---With rain on and off, it really looked like Sunday was going to be
a bust. But, I heard K1TEO calling on 144.260. I figured, why not give it a
try from the front porch. Jeff and I worked rainscatter easily. That got me
charged up. Then I worked rainscatter with Paul, K1GX (FN31tt) and Dale,
AF1T & Micky, W1MKY on Block Island, RI, (FN41ee), with a big hill in the
near path on my end, best DX from my porch at 74m/119km. So, if it rains,
try your portable station from your home site even is you have never worked anyone from home! I've worked from home before, but only a very few times, so it was really a great surprise to work those last 3 contacts.

Then the sun came out for 10 minutes, so , I decided to go down to Soapstone
Mtn, in Somers, CT (FN31tw & tx). Of course, that's when the rain really
started. Still, this was where the best DX of the weekend was made--Mike,
N1JEZ, on Mt. Mansfield, VT, FN34om at 177m/284km. Soapstone is a good site,
but the best place is at the top of the observation tower. It's a 500 ft
hike with equipment from the parking lot. The tower is on the north side of
the hill and some trees block to the south. But southwest up through the
north and over to just north of east can be worked. There is a pullover on
the way up where you can work out of the car but only toward the east and
southeast. The park is open sunrise to sunset.

Even with Sunday's rain, we still had a good weekend in the Northeast. I had more Rainscatter QSO's in one day than in the last five years total! 

For the Sept. weekend, I hope to rove down the coast from MA down to VA or
NC.

In a few days, check "vhfsites" on You Tube for video of some of these
sites.

73
Mark K1MAP FN32sb 2w 22" dish