ARRL June VHF Contest - 2021
Call: N6RO
Operator(s): N6RO WD6T W6DMW N6WM
Station: N6RO
Class: Limited Multi-Op HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 33
Radios: SO2R
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 267 108
2: 69 11
222:
432: 24 6
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 360 125 Total Score = 48,000
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
During the pandemic, Ken N6RO has been busy beefing up his station's VHF/UHF
capability. First came a home-made "PVC Special" mast for his 4
element LPDA (2m/70cm.) This was followed by a new 21-element 70cm Yagi on a
hand-rotated mast, and as of last weekend, a 9-element 2m Yagi installed by Bill
W9KKN and friends at 140 feet, above the stacked 40m Yagis. The remainder of
the VHF menagerie includes three 6 meter antennas: 7 elements at 100 feet (above
10m tower), 7 elements at 35' (on a separate tower) and an omni loop at 80'.
Ken sez: "1296: next week!"
With all that hardware itching to go, Ken inspired several of us to team up for
a Limited Multi ("Limited" meaning four or fewer bands, we had
three.)
6 meters: The first day was far better than the second, with nearly-continuous
E-Skip propagation to the SE all the way to Florida that lasted well into the
evening. And it wasn't just FT8... CW beacons from Texas were Q5 and W5 stations
were loud on phone. For me personally, having recently completed a several-year
6m VUCC from my small home station, it was a thrill to work 94 grids on 6m the
first day. This included several JA Qs. However, the second day was a different
story, with only very intermittent propagation to the north, and many incomplete
FT8 Qs (meteors?) and only two hours of rates beyond single digits. Kudos to the
team for sticking it out.
2 meters and 70cm were "point and shoot" and the brand new Yagis
reached out admirably to SoCal (on 2m), proving that "height does
matter," (the crystal ball shows an amplifier coming soon.) The new
Icom-9700 performed well, though we wish its CAT could do IC-7610-style SO2V. In
addition, we had a dedicated 2m FM rig monitoring activity, with a separate
vertically-polarized antenna.
Best of all was the in-person camaraderie. As Chris N6WM put it: "It was
great operating with the two Daves and Ken. Nice visit from Rick N6SPP Saturday.
Best part of FT8 is being able to continue to operate
while socializing. Next year we will barbecue."
FT 8 was certainly productive, but not as engaging as phone/CW. While the
majority of our QSOs were FT8, a full one third were on phone. The CW QSOs
numbered only 5, but they were always appreciated. Our ambivalence over FT8 as
a contest mode remains. Again, quoting Chris, "FT 8 is a phenomenal mode
for DXing and DXpeditions, but its use in contesting is perhaps too automated.
Had most fun working 2M SSB making long haul grid contacts up and down the CA
coast north to Crescent City and south to Los Angeles. Made 1 CW QSO on 6 and
stared at WSJT as the rest of my 6m experience. Making SSB and CW QSOs is a lot
more fun and skill inspiring than letting WSJT work E-skip." Perhaps ARRL
will consider modifying the rules to allow the same station to be worked on SSB,
CW and digital, which would reinvigorate those modes on VHF/UHF.
Mode breakdown:
6m: CW 5, FT8 201, MSK1 1, USB 60
2m: FM 13, FT8 7, USB 49
70cm: FM 2, FT8 5, USB 17
73
Dave WD6T & N6RO team
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|