ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest - 2023
Call: K2UA
Operator(s): K2UA
Station: K2UA
Class: 10G Plus HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Summary:
Band Number of Calls Tot Dist(km)
-------------------------------------
10G: 48 20560
24G: 17 1869
47G: 6 375
75G:
123G:
134G:
241G:
Light:
-------------------------------------
Total: 71 25423 Total Score = 32,523
Club: Rochester VHF Group
Team:
Comments:
The summary on 3830scores is weird, so here's the actual breakdown:
Band Qs Calls Points Best DX (km)
10 103 48 20560 570
24 21 17 3738 236
47 7 6 1125 67
Tot 131 131 71 25423 Score 32,523
Great contest this year, as always! I missed most of the first weekend, away for
a family wedding in FN21. Did take some gear along and made five Qs early on the
first day from FN21, including a couple of tough aircraft scatter Qs to Block
Island (FN41ee). There was no tropo to speak of; very tough conditions.
Sunday evening we got home around 5 and I was on the air from FN12gv by 6 PM
local. Stayed there for more than 2 hours and worked 39 Qs Sunday evening,
thanks especially to some well-positioned stations (K2DH, K8ZR, KB8VAO, N2MG,
W2FU, K0SM, KE2AIY, KE2AIZ, KE2AJA, KE2AMI, and K2AXX) all of whom I worked at
least twice. Thanks to K2DH, K8ZR, KB8VAO, and W2FU especially for QSOs from
10-47 GHz. Unfortunately none of us were able to make the haul at 78 GHz even
though it wasn't a particularly long path (in the 50 km range). Sometimes that's
just how it is at 78 GHz.
The second weekend, I greatly enjoyed a repeat of the trip to New England and
CNY with K2DH, N2MG, and K8ZR. The hurricane came up the coast Saturday morning
and brought some serious wind with it. Saturday morning we started on Hogback,
FN32ou, in the lee of the hill which protected us well. By Saturday afternoon
the hurricane had passed well to the north of us and winds began to subside, but
the NNW winds off the back of the storm were still too much to manage for large
dishes so we abandoned plans to go to Mt Equinox and instead spent Saturday
afternoon and evening at both overlooks on Mt Greylock (FN32jp and FN32kp). I
know this change of plans resulted in some scrambling from others (K1OR, N1DPM,
AA1I--sorry) but we had to pivot from our original plan.
Sunday we left New England before 6 AM to get to FN23nd in CNY, where we spent
many productive hours. This was one of the best spots of the contest for us,
where we worked our longest contacts (236 km) on 24 GHz with W2FU, WA2TMC, and
K2TER. We had help from rain scatter, which was widespread on Sunday. We worked
10 grids on 10 GHz from this spot before we left.
Our next scheduled spot, FN23ea, did not disappoint. The weather was beautiful
and we worked multiple New England stations--K1OR, N1DPM, AA1I, KC0IYT, W1GHZ,
AF1T, W1MKY, and K1TEO on 10 GHz with good signals. We had nice tropo--all those
contacts were easy. This isn't always the case on that path, where the DX to
Martha's Vineyard is 446 km. We also had some rain scatter from that site to the
ESE, which was interesting because we could hear both sides of the QSOs between
the K1OR group and the VA3ELE group quite far off in the opposite direction,
with massive rain scatter signals. We were also hearing the Mt Kearsarge beacon
quite well from FN23ea, but not the Mt Greylock beacon, which was curious. None
of us could recall hearing that beacon from that site before.
As we left FN23ea about an hour after dark, we found ourselves driving into
rain. The next stop was planned to be FN23bf, which we first activated two years
ago, but the rain continued to increase and by 9:30 PM it was clear we were
rained out once again like last year. So we made for home and arrived a little
before midnight in Rochester.
This contest is that wonderful mix of camaraderie, road rally, microwave DX, and
new surprises. It did not disappoint. Super happy to welcome some new stations
to the band as well! Our QSOs with SOTA activator N2YTF and POTA-eligible WW2Y
were particularly notable and fun. Love the excitement in their voices when they
make those first contacts (N2YTF) or first rain scatter contacts (WW2Y)! Super
energizing and fun, even though I missed most of the first weekend's activities.
Please send me your photos and stories for the ARRL website extended results!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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