Up early so I should be able to make the 0800 #N8DUY weekday morning roundtable on 2 meters. 145.15- PL100 in Ann Arbor, the repeater has very wide coverage over SE Michigan.
The plan is to bicycle into town, then go up to the top of the parking structure that is next door to the coworking space I belong to, and operate from there.
Previously in parking structures on the air, my notes from 2014
From the top of a 7 story parking structure in downtown #AnnArbor I can hit the South Lyon MI #N8SL repeater, about 14 miles away, with a 5 watt HT and rubber duck antenna and nothing exceptional in the way of VHF propagation.
I tried reaching a few other repeaters at a simple 15 mile distance and didn't get them.
Parking structures on the air
parking structures on the air (#PSOTA). drive or take the elevator to the top of the ramp, point your antenna far away, see what you can get!
amazing how few milliwatts on an HT you need to hit a 2 meter repeater when it's actually line of sight, even if it's completely unreachable on the same rig from ground level at the same location.
also planning more #BicycleMobile operations, still need to sort out a reasonable battery + antenna + rig for that but I have the bike ready to go.
Worked the weekly Washtenaw (Ann Arbor MI, EN82) #ARPSC net on #N8DUY at 30 mw on 2 meters #QRPPP , while parked atop the Maynard St parking garage in downtown Ann Arbor. "Loud and clear" the report from net control. I had line of sight to the repeater.
Now I want a cross-band repeater in an HT or mobile rig, so that I can park the car on top of the structure near the @workantile coworking space, and then work the net from inside the office (where it's warm).
Fantastic morning 2m net on #N8DUY
From the 8th floor of the parking structure I have clear line of sight to the repeater and got good reports at 30 milliwatts! Bumped it up to 300 mw and it was full quieting.
Thanks Jim #W8STX for running the net.
Now inside with the morning coffee.
Scheming to do AREDN portable next as there is line of sight to a station there as well.
#PSOTA (parking structures on the air) π
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Planning to operate #PSOTA (Parking Structures On The Air) for the 800a #N8DUY morning roundtable.
Not a lot of info about the Ann Arbor "Fourth and William Parking Structure", 115 E William St, online at the moment - a few notes on #arborwiki at https://localwiki.org/ann-arbor/Fourth_and_William_Parking_Structure about 2015 construction - but I will at a minimum report back with the elevation of the top deck and any signal reports.
Conveniently this is across from the bus station, so it should be less than 30 minutes door to summit.
Elevation again wins - I operated 2 meter portable on the #N8DUY roundtable from the top of the nearest parking structure (Forest St) and was full quieting on the repeater and also copyable on the input from the freeway. #PSOTA (Parking Structures On The Air)
Next step I think is a portable #AREDN node and to see what kind of connection I can get to the local microwave networks, and to much more carefully map the elevations of the municipal structures I'm interested in (there are 5 of them).
Still liking my (new to me) 1994 vintage #Kenwood #TH22AT as a 2 meter bicycle mobile radio. Still sorting out VHF multipath tho in downtown Ann Arbor, not really sure what people were hearing.
The #N8DUY repeater is tracked on #Broadcastify - this might get me to subscribe there to listen to the recordings.
Next experiment: #PSOTA ("Parking Structures On The Air"). An All Hands Active outing to the top of the Liberty St structure a few years back was a success in hitting far-away repeaters.
Ed W8EMV 