Tools for planning 10 GHz "expeditions"

Activity on 10 GHz means portable operations. If you live near some mountains, it is a matter of finding a panoramic spot, clear of vegetation, open to possible correspondants. Besides asking for advice to "who has already been there", technology and Internet help a lot.

Street View on Google Maps allows to survey many places directly from home. You can get an idea of the possible presence of vegetation, parking place, pic-nic table or grass field for stuffing the equipment.

Once you're done you can run a coverage simulation with Radio Mobile online. You'll need some practice in order to get meaningful and reliable maps, but I am sure there are many tutorials to choose from.

Last but not least, the wonderful www.peakfinder.org website lets you name mountains/peaks surrounding any location of the world: without running a simulation you will know if two remote locations can "see" each other and stand chances for a 10 GHz QSO. This is also useful if someone will operate from home and wants to know if the portable station is visible.