ARRL September VHF QSO Party
Contest Dates : 09-Sep-00, 10-Sep-00, 11-Sep-00
Callsign Used : N5XU
Operators : W5JLP, KB5LBN, WM5R
Category : Multi-Limited
Default Exchange : EM10
Name : University of Texas Amateur Radio Club
Section : South Texas (STX)
Country : United States
Team/Club : Central Texas DX & Contest Club
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
6CW 2 2 2 0
6SSB 17 17 17 8
2CW 4 4 4 0
2SSB 36 36 36 10
222SSB 10 10 18 7
432SSB 22 22 42 7
1GHCW* 3 3 9 3
1GHSSB* 1 1 3 0
__________________________________________________
Totals 91 91 119 32
(* checklog only, not included in totals)
Claimed Score = 3,808 points.
This contest was an experiment. Having heard rumors that there was a
certain amount of discontent in the major Texas cities (particularly the
Dallas area) about VHF contesters calling CQ a lot on 144.200, we decided
to try the contest by calling CQ off the call frequency almost exclusively.
The hypothesis that one could still make a decent score this way was
disproved.
On Saturday afternoon, we had two zero hours. During this time, our
operators were calling CQ consistently on 144.205 MHz and 50.135
MHz, trying every direction to get some station to respond. Almost every
station N5XU worked this weekend on 144 MHz was either called by us
on 144.200 or moved to two meters from another band. Very few stations
found us on 144.205. Notable exceptions were K5TR, W5MB, and AJ4F,
all worked on CW. On Sunday, of course, there were four full zero hours
with a single QSO made over a five hour period. This isn't terribly
unusual for the September VHF QSO Parties of recent years in South
Texas. The zero hours on Saturday are very unusual.
Just how much worse was our score this year? The worst since 1996, the
first year that N5XU operated the contest. In 1996, the club station had
just 10 watts on six meters, used an HT for 440 MHz FM, and had no other
gear at all for 222, 432, or 1296 MHz. In 1996, N5XU made 69 QSOs on 50
and 144 MHz combined. This year, we made only 59 QSOs on those two bands!
Compared to last year, our score was down over 70%! Compared to 1998, our
score is down 83%!
Clearly, not calling CQ on the two meter call frequency is a sure method
to kill a VHF contest effort in South Texas. There are a lot of stations
out there that will never call CQ, and will not listen anywhere other
than 144.200 MHz. Unless you call CQ to get their attention and get them
to call you, they will not make it into your log. Being unable to raise
QSOs on two meters greatly affects the QSO totals and multipliers on
other bands as well, as many of the higher band QSOs are made by moving
a station found on two meters to the other bands. This has always been
the theory, but prevailing wisdom needs to be inspected once in a while.
Maybe stations would tune around and find us after all? The unfortunate
conclusion is pretty clear - to be successful, you must call CQ and make
QSOs on 144.200 MHz.
It was fun to work so many members of the Central Texas DX & Contest Club
(CTDXCC) on the VHF/UHF bands. This was the best showing ever on VHF/UHF
for CTDXCC members, with at least K5NA, K5PI, AC5AA, AB5K, N5KO, K5TR, N5XD,
W5TD, and N5IW making it into N5XU's logs. In fact, even though the two
clubs' membership totals are almost equal, there were more stations on
from the ranks of the CTDXCC than from the Roadrunners Microwave Group!
--
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Kenneth E. Harker "Vox Clamantis in Deserto" kharker@cs.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin Amateur Radio Callsign: WM5R
Department of the Computer Sciences President, UT Amateur Radio Club
Taylor Hall TAY 2.124 Maintainer of Linux on Laptops
Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
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