ARRL June VHF QSO Party
Call: K8CC
Operator(s): K8CC
Station: K8CC
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EN82
Operating Time (hrs): 22.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 712 191
2: 49 17
222: 30 14
432: 35 13
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 826 235 Total Score = 209,385
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
Equipment:
50: IC-756, homebrew 8877, 7L @ 95', KB6KQ loops @ 70'/50', 5L SE @ 40'
144: IC-746Pro, 2M18XXX @ 90', 4L N @ 70', 4L SE @ 70', 4L SW @ 70'
222: IC-756/DEMI xvtr, AM-6155 @ 400W, DSFO222-16L @ 65'
432" FT-847, CC 424B @ 75'
Great fun on 50 MHz! This was the first time I can recall working the west
coast since the June 1992 contest. Very enjoyable to work many familiar
VHF/UHF calls which we don't usually get to hear.
Lots of repair work to do leading up to the contest. My 6M 8877 developed
power supply problems in January which weren't fixed until 30 minutes before
the start this time. The 8874 in my 70cm K1FO amp went "zzzzztt" in the same
contest, and although a new tube arrived from RF Parts the day before the
contest it was just too big of a project to disassemble and replace before the
starting gun.
I did get my evil AntennaWorks W6PO 8877 running for the contest, which turned
out to be a mixed blessing. While working K8GP Saturday night, the amp decided
to suddenly morph into a free-running kilowatt oscillator, and blow out the
output stage of the FT-847 which was connected to it. Sunday morning I pulled
out my IC-746 so I was back to at least 100W on 2M. So while I am claiming the
high power category, in reality I was low power on 2M and 70cm.
But enough complaining. Six meters was open somewhere all day on Saturday and
much of Sunday. However, from Michigan the skip zone and geography is such
that such good propagation doesn't result in screaming fast runs, but when you
call CQ usually someone answers. My summary sheet says I pressed the F1 button
1806 times for my 826 QSOs, but this doesn't include "live" CQa by the
operator.
The western fun on 6M started mid-afternoon Saturday when KK6MC/R called me
while my beam was aimed at Florida. A few minutes later a K6 in DM13 called
(beam still south) and it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to aim
west. This brought in the Denver contingent, but eventually the propagation
spread to cover all of W6, W6 and the west part of W5.
As others have noted, it appeared to me that the great condx on 50 MHz seemed
to pull a lot of activity off the other bands. This lead to a strategy of
"hammer 6M all day, then try to make something happen on the other bands after
local sunset (02Z)". This was only somewhat successful...
One thing I thought was pretty cool that I worked an awful lot of rovers. The
great 6M condx made it possible to work far away rovers on that band. I think
I even worked three of the Southern Cal Pack Rovers, which I got a kick out of.
Locally, VE3NPB/R and VE3SMA/R were doing a good job, and I was able to catch
newbie rover N8ET/R on his three bands from four grids.
It's weekends like this that make the June VHF QSO Party a "must do" on my
contest calendar.
73, Dave/K8CC
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