New first connections Germany – France

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UPDATE: New research has shown that the initial connection on 122 GHz has already been made by 2 French OMs. See this link. We have now made the initial connection on 134 GHz, 241 GHz and laser.

On September 8, 2023, Michael DB6NT and I, Matthias DK5NJ, drove to the VHF conference in Weinheim. Since we were on the western border of Germany anyway, we decided to create an initial connection to France on the mmWave bands. So we set off from the Franconian Forest in the morning around 9 a.m. towards the French border near Sinzheim. In the evening, we wanted to be at the Weinheim Convention in time for the barbecue. So we had the afternoon for some tests on the mm-wave bands.

Michael was on the German side near Sinzheim in JN48CS21TU. Matthias drove across the border into France and operated as F/DK5NJ directly on the Rhine in JN48AT80WW. Here is the connection of the worked route. A longer route from the French location in Roeschwoog was originally planned, but due to the dense tree cover, F/DK5NJ had no choice but to stand directly on the Rhine. Since we also wanted to implement a laser connection (660nm), we absolutely needed a direct view. After an hour’s drive through the French borderland, unfortunately, only the location on the Rhine dam provided a view towards Sinzheim/Weinbergstrasse. The weather was very hot that day, around 30 degrees in the shade. It was particularly difficult for F/DK5NJ to carry the equipment on foot to the dam after parking the car in a restricted area. But: no success without sweat and blood 😉

As always, to adjust the dishes for the exact direction, we first made connections on the 47 and 76 GHz bands. That worked great with reports 59+. On the 241 GHz band, the connection in SSB could only be heard at 55 this time; in CW, we would certainly have cracked the 59+ limit. All in all, it was a nice trip, and we were able to log 3 new first connections from 134GHz to the laser. In the evening, we had a barbecue with our friends at the campsite of the VHF/UHF conference in Weinheim and toasted with a beer.

The following connections were logged:

Band	Datum	UTC	Call1	Call2	RST1	RST2	QTH
47 GHz	08 Sep 2023	14:03	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	59+	59+	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW
76 GHz	08 Sep 2023	14:08	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	59+	59+	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW
122 GHz	08 Sep 2023	14:14	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	599	599	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW
*new* 134 GHz	08 Sep 2023	14:17	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	599	599	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW
*new* 241 GHz	08 Sep 2023	14:21	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	55	55	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW
*new* Laser 660nm	08 Sep 2023	14:30	DB6NT	F/DK5NJ	59+	59+	JN48CS21TU to JN48AT80WW