The San Bernadine Microwave Society (SBMS) in Sothern California is hosting a 2 GHz and up contest the first weekend of May. The PNW Microwave group held a tune up day the weekend before to verify that the rigs were operational and that we were able to make a few short contacts. A couple of new operators on the 10 GHz band were testing the rigs for the first time. We started out in the back yard at AG6QV where the equipment was put through a quick test before a few operators moved to a different location, just 1.6 km further south. As expected there was no problems getting connections, even through the trees. W7GLF and AG6QV at one end and W7FU and WA4OSH at the other end. W7FU were operating his SDR based setup but was unable to get the system to transmit and WA4OSH noticed his horn was mounted for vertical polarization and his microphone did not modulate the transmitter. W7GLF and AG6QV were also listening for a signal from N0CYT. He was further north and attempted to get a reflection off of the Olympic mountains.

W7GLF and W7FU is attempting to make configuration changes to a 122GHz transverter. To the right is AG6QV's 10GHz and 122GHz rigs.

The image below shows W7GLF's 10GHz rig pointed at the Olympic mountains.

At the end of the day W7GLF moved to the location on the beach about 1.6km south to test the 122GHz stations with a bit more than 20 feet between them. The first attempt was made with AG6QV at the beach using a HT as the IF radio. After several tries we had a full duplex FM connection and was able to hear the CW beacon from both ends. WHen operating full duplex the station transmitting a signal will hear the same signal in the IF radio as it's transmitted back from the other end. AG6QV then moved back to the patio to connect the Yeasu FT817 as the IF radio and use SSB instad of FM to get a bit more sensitivity. The video below was taken from that connection. It's still 1.6 km over water and through the trees.