ARRL January VHF Contest - 2019
Call: K1RZ
Operator(s): K1RZ
Station: K1RZ
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 27
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 119 29
2: 133 35
222: 54 14
432: 73 21
903: 28 8
1.2: 35 11
2.3: 10 4
3.4: 5 3
5.7: 3 2
10G: 7 3
24G:
-------------------
Total: 467 130 Total Score = 124,540
Club: Mt Airy VHF Radio Club
Comments:
I have been trying to remember the last time a Winter Storm coincided with the
January Contest. And while I try to keep soap box comments from previous
years, I see now that I have not been consistent in writing what WX conditions
existed in the Mid-Atlantic over the different years. This storm was pretty
challenging to us all. And of course especially the Rovers. Many Rovers had
planned some pretty aggressive plans. K2EZ/R, W1RGA/R, NN3Q/R and others. And
then with the strong threat of the snow, ice and rain across the north-east,
these savy operators wisely modified or cancelled their original plans. And
whenever Rovers have to limit their operations it limits the activities and
scores of the rest of us. In my case I had a rain event, from the start to
sometime after midnight. Some of my close neighbors had ice, which is really a
very limiting factor - both to load the transmitter into the antenna, and then
to propagate across a very high path loss link.
Talking with Jeff K1TEO on Friday before the contest we remembered an iced
January contest many years ago. In my case I could only work 6 meter that year.
In Jeff's case he took all the antennas off the tower, mechanically broke off
the ice, and put them all back on the tower, completing this arduous task by
about start time, and then became one of the only stations on in CT. Tough
stuff. But after all it is the January Contest.
And continuing on WX for a bit, many folks reported that at some times their UHF
and microwave stations worked, and at other times they could barely hear the
locals. And then only to have those conditions reverse in a few more hours of
time. My close neighbor Mike W3IP reported that his 432 500W amp stopped
putting out power, and later, after the contest he found an inductor in the
output circuit had vaporized. Icy antennas are not good.
Then Sunday afternoon-evening the very cold temperatures and the very high winds
started. My WX station said 25 mph with higher gusts. And on the lower four
bands I realized I could not copy locals on SSB as I had a S8 wind driven noise
on those bands. Taken as a whole the propagation was far poorer than most
recent January contests.
Rovers who braved the difficult elements included Drex and Paul W3ICC/R six
bands 2 grids for me, Andrea K2EZ/R six bands six grids, Jeff N2MKT/R 2 bands 2
grids for me (2 Q's on FT8), Buff WB2SIH/R 2 bands 4 grids (of his 16 grids
ending in EL99), Jarred KF2MR/R 4 bands 1 grid for me, and Jack AB4CR/R 3 bands
1 grid. Thanks folks for braving the ice, wind, snow and rain.
Modes. I continued to mix my operating between the modes CW, FT8, MSK144 and
USB. I find I can't stay on one mode very long before have to change bands and
modes. I think that it is important to continue to cycle through the choices
of modes and bands to maximize possible contacts and score. I continue the
enjoy the DX capabilities of FT8. So far I am able to work 50 through 432 on
FT8. Low drift is important. After some equipment mods (heavier duty 9 volt
regulator on 222 MHz and crystal oven on 432 MHz) my stations drift on these
frequencies is minimal for me at this point and I find I can make contacts with
others on FT8. In addition to 50.313, FT8 activity in the region is on 144.174,
222.174 and 432.174. I think we need to concentrate on how to communicate that
we want to QSY when on FT8. Some try to arrange to QSY by typing QSY freq into
TX5. I personally have not gotten too successful at that either receiving or
transmitting these intentions. But we have to work on that to be sure both
stations know who is QSYing and too where. Sometimes the FT8 Wide Graph
frequency will show you who is asking. Personally I know I have concentrate on
QSYing going forward. Here are my QSO's and Grid summary by modes.
K1RZ
QSOs
Mode 50 144 222 432 902 1.2 2.3 3.4 5.7 10 Tot
CW 5 7 4 12 20 22 7 2 1 3 83
FT8 43 32 6 5 86
MSK 14 6 20
USB 57 88 44 56 8 13 3 3 2 4 278
Totals 119 133 54 73 28 35 10 5 3 7 467
Grids
Mode 50 144 222 432 902 1.2 2.3 3.4 5.7 10 Tot
CW 3 3 3 7 7 8 3 2 1 2 39
FT8 8 8 1 1 18
MSK 8 5 13
USB 10 19 10 13 1 3 1 1 1 1 60
Totals 29 35 14 21 8 11 4 3 2 3 130
I had a fun time running with Steve VE3SMA at his home QTH in FN03CH. Steve is
normally a Rover in VE3 but this contest he was at home. We hooked up on ON4KST
on Sunday afternoon and quickly worked on 144 CW. Then agreed to try 222 CW.
Nothing. Then 432 CW. Nothing. After a Rover sked we hooked up again and tried
50.313 FT8. A quick contact resulted. Then we QSY'd to 222.174 FT8. It took
about 7 minutes given multi-path at Steve's end. He had 15 story high rise
buildings south of him at 100m to 300m distance. Multipath on that band was
preventing an immediate decode for Steve, but we continued and got the contact.
Later I learned from Steve that he had 80W to a Moxon at 20 ft on 50 MHz, 100W
to an Omni at 20 ft on 144 MHz and 20W to a 7 element yagi indoors at 15 ft.
Amazing stuff!
Looking forward to June. Some heat always helps the VHF+ bands, especially the
microwaves. Thanks everyone for being on and being part of the VHF Contest Fun!
Thanks ARRL for sponsoring these VHF / UHF / Microwave events. 73, Dave K1RZ
FM19jh
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