ARRL June VHF Contest
Call: VE9AA
Operator(s): VE9AA
Station: VE9AA
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: FN66
Operating Time (hrs): 12:07
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 788 165
2:
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 788 165 Total Score = 65,505
Club: Maritime Contest Club
Comments:
F-I-N-A-L-L-Y ! A VHF (6m) contest I can write home about ;-D
For years, decades maybe, I have lamented about the lack of VHF QSO's in most
of the VHF contests, as we are just too far from the centers of activity up
here to make many Q's on 2m or 70cm. Also, 6m has to open via Es, as the # of
stations I can work on groundwave is about a dozen.
This year that all changed. I started off Sat. on LP and made a dozen
difficult Q's at the 100w level for 6m only. I decided to leave the 2m and
70cm rigs off. I thought I was done for the w/e. (I've seen this contest after
contest, year after year, so it was no surprise.)
Then I went outside as the WX was really nice and I got my 4m yagi and feed
line all fixed up. (that's not a typo, I really did mean 4m (70MHz) Check
youtube for some crossband videos I made working EU and also receiving a USA
specially authorized test beacon out of the Carolinas.
When I came back, not much was going on, so I decided to turn the amp on (which
I rarely do) and see if I could work some of the guys on scatter, as I was
hearing fellas like K3ZO come through on MS. Well, the King Conversions SB-226
made all the difference. I would call fellas with 100w, nothing. Call with
750w, they usually came back first crack.
I left the amp on the rest of the weekend, when I was able to be QRV.
This is not a DX contest, rather a grid square contest, but I was lucky enough
to work:
K, VE, EA, EA6, EA8, KP4, KP2(KV4), CO, XE, HH (quite rare), EI, 9A, G, DL, OE,
ON, PJ4 and ZF....thrilled to do it. They almost sound like mults in the ARRL
10m contest.
The # of old friends I ran into is too numerous to mention, however I have to
remember one fella in particular I was NOT able to work. That's my friend
Pete, VE3IKV, who's in recovery mode from a sudden Health issue. If you know
Pete, please send him an email. Even if he does not reply, I am sure he'll
appreciate the well wishes.
Highlights:
Amazing backscatter into New England both days. I never knew there were so
many ops in FN20/FM29/FN43 etc. I am pretty sure I worked most of them and was
happy to do it.
The # of CW QSO's I was able to make. My CW/SSB Q's are split almost exactly
down the middle. I love it ! Long live CW.
The patient ops at the other end. With my amp gurgling along, and a tiny bit
of new noise to the SW, I had times when I am sure there were QRP (or even
100w) guys calling that I was simply not able to piece together a call and
grid, so did leave a very few hanging after a # of overs......especially when I
had a small pileup calling. I apologize, but business must continue!
I was one fellas first 6m contact, out of W4 and I was tickled to do that.
One fella called but didn't know his grid. He said he would call back. In
10-15 minutes, he did just that. Thank you ! ...that was very cool.
The sheer # of folks on the band. Although this was not a full time effort,
nor were signals often strong, I got a sense there were lots and lots of folks
on. Thanks to the ARRL's new rules, we can use the cluster and spotting
networks. (I used ON4KST chat room to watch the boys to see what was what but
didn't arrange any QSO's, but spotted once in a while where I was calling (when
we had DX to EU)
That was fun. Previously, I shut the internet off. I don't really think it
increased my score much, but it was refreshing to see what I was missing (or
getting into) when times were slow.
Lowlights:
Yes, there are always a few. The ops in the DX window. Although there
weren't many, there are always a few who upset the applecart for the many.
Repeat offenders (from years past) irk me and many others to no end. Sadly, I
don't think this is spelled out in the rules, however anyone worthy of the
title 'gentleman' should know that 50.100 through 50.12499999 is reserved for
INTERcontinental QSO's and/or the exceptions of very rare DX nearby. (Ie: CY0,
CY9, FP_)
Please note......every year there are VE2's in the window. I don't know who
you think you are, but you are not DX to the USA. Get over yourselves.
There were also a small number of well known HF contesters sitting in the
window at times. Maybe they didn't know any better. Every month, I see
new-to-6m guys, but been on HF forever, get on 6m and I love it. The more the
merrier, but please surf your computer over to www.uksmg.org , a wonderful
organization and find out a little more about the bandplans and where you
should probably not operate.(rules or no rules, you likely stole DX from others
and are not popular when doing so.) Thanks !
I had to stop about 2.5hrs early during a 250/hr run on SSB as my son needed to
sleep for the morning as he was writing an exam.
As you can tell, the highlights well outweighed the lowlights.
I saw Dan K1TO (well know HF contester and WRTC man) announce that he had about
800 some contacts sometime on Sunday. I think I had 480 at that time. When I
heard that I decided to keep my butt in the chair as long as I was able to on
Sunday afternoon and see if I could make it to 800. I failed, but had fun
tryin !!! I was able to work Dan and a few other FLA and TEXAS stns late in
the game which was another highlight. FN66 is not exactly close to those EL
grids.
I had a fabulous time. Check back with me in 365 days to see if I am singing a
song of six(pence) then as well. I probably won't be, but I've very much enjoy
ed the moment(s) of prop we had this weekend when I was able to be on.
73 de Mike VE9AA
Ic-7410, N1MM+, SB-226, 6el yagi @ 24', QTH @ 660'ASL (good for the area) and a
slick N3ZN ZN-9DX paddle for fills, saying names, dit dits, and all the rest.
CM-500 Yamaha headset......no compression !
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|