The Deep Space Exploration Society participated in the 2024 ARRL EME contest using the K0PRT station operating on 23 cm (1296 MHz). This was the first major contest that was held at the new building, and it was a very successful operation with over 20 participants across the two weekends. Paul NO0T coordinated the activity with several out-of-town visitors in attendance.
The first weekend, October 19-20, was impacted by a severe storm that came through Haswell on Friday night and prevented operations for the first day. After the storm it was discovered that there was a failure in the dish movement mechanism. After climbing inside the pedestal, a broken chain was found on the azimuth drive. After two trips to the Eads NAPA auto parts store a replacement chain was put into operation. This allowed the station to participate in the contest on the second day.
The second weekend, November 16-17, had very good attendance with some local visitors, good food, and folks sleeping over in the new building. The heating, kitchen and restroom in the new building worked out great for those that attended. Thanks to Bill KC0FHN for insuring that the new building was operational. In addition to the operators on site, there was also a remote operation by Mark VK6PY. Mike K0FYR shot a great video covering the second weekend of the contest: ARRL EME 2024.
Alex K6VHF provided a detailed breakdown of the contacts made during the contest: Contest Results. Highlights include 163 contacts, of which 9 were CW, the rest were Q65 Digital. There were 31 countries worked, across 5 contents and 18 zones. This included an amazing contact with Martin PJ4MM in Bonaire who was running 10 watts into a 63-element antenna. We were the first US station to work him. See the photo below that shows an in-person exchange of QSL cards at Alex’s house.
Over 50% of the contacts were to Europe. With a score of 1,536,800 points, we likely finished in the top 5 worldwide. If we had been able to operate on the first night in October, we would have done even better!
Equipment used include the DSES 60-foot dish, Icom 705 and “Dianne” – a 1296 MHz transverter with 300 watts of power. Various software programs include WSJT-X, Win4Icom, N1MM+, Splashtop (for remote access) and the DSES custom built antenna tracking software.
Thanks to everyone who participated and cleaned up after the event.
