Microwave Road Trip

[VK5ZD]

David (VK5KK), Tim (VK5ZT) and I will be doing a tour which will include visits to VK1, VK2, VK3 and VK4 during the week from the 15th to the 24th of March. The main purpose of the trip is to work as many people as possible on the microwave bands, in particular the mm wave frequencies (i.e. 24GHz and above). We will be travelling in two vehicles each of which will carry equipment for operating on all bands from 1,296MHz up to 122GHz plus optical (red light). We will also have 2m and 70cm FM for liaison purposes.
We will be in the general vicinity of Melbourne from Saturday morning (16th) until midday Sunday (17th). Our operating locations have not yet been decided and we are open to suggestions. Note that this is the JMMFD weekend.

Following this we will head north.
Monday (18th) we will be in the Canberra area.
Tuesday (19th) we will be in the Sydney area.
Wednesday (20th) we will be in the Orange/Bathurst area.

On Thursday (21st) we will continue north and should arrive in the Brisbane/Gold Coast area on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday (23rd) we will participate in the VK4 ’23 on 23’ event.
We'll leave the Brisbane area late afternoon on Sunday (24th) to return home (so we can participate in the M.A.D. ).

If anyone is keen to schedule a contact (or just catch up for a beer) then please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

[VK7HH]

On Sunday 17th, I woke up at 6:30am and proceeded to pack the car for a 8am start on Mt.Wellington to take advantage of any thermal ducting across the path... Another amateur was also coming along so we could operate 1296, 2400 and 3398.

A hour or so later we arrived at the summit and proceeded to setup. Immediately the VK3RGI beacon was audible on 2403.434 MHz. Had this of been a two way contact, it would have automatically been a new VK7 record at around 505km.

We waiting around patiently and in that time we made contact with VK7PD at White Hills just outside of Launceston on 2.4 and 3.4 GHz. We also made contact with a local in Hobart to test his 3.4 GHz panel.

We waited and waited and waited, but despite having already clearly stated our operating intentions and emailed our contact details, the travelling VK5 party did not show. Nothing, not even a phone call. We were not supplied with a phone number for their end. The only information we had was operating from a certain location on Sunday.

This was extremely disappointing and a main draw card for travelling out portable. A post was made on Facebook by the VK5's about 2 hours after we had left, indicating they had a successful contact on 76 GHz to each other. We seem to have been forgotten and still as yet, I have not had a reason why. It's a shame these things were not more properly communicated.