ARRL June VHF Contest
Call: W9SZ
Operator(s): W9SZ
Station: W9SZ
Class: Single Op Port QRP
QTH: Illinois
Operating Time (hrs): 12.0
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 1 1
2: 16 12
222: 6 6
432: 8 8
903: 2 2
1.2: 4 4
2.3: 1 1
3.4: 1 1
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 39 35 Total Score = 2,485
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Operating portable, every contest is different, has different conditions. This
year, the wind was my nemesis. When I got to the top of the hill I like to use,
the wind was constantly blowing in the range of 35 to 45 mph. I had great
difficulty putting up the mast with 6m through 432 MHz. I didn't bother with
the higher bands on Saturday. I made one QSO on 6 meters, and then I decided
the antennas were too unstable and possibly weren't going to stay up. I took
them down, removed the 6m beam, shortened the mast by 5 feet and put 144, 222
and 432 back up.
When I got to the hill, I also found there was a huge crane truck in the drive
right at where I usually set up. I parked about 50 feet from it, slightly down
from the peak of the hill. I noticed that my beams, particularly the 144 MHz
beam, weren't very directional at all. I suspect it was caused by the truck
nearby. The truck was probably there to service the windmill farm in the area.
Conditions were mostly poor to average. Later in the evening on Saturday I did
work people in EM96 and EM97 on 144 MHz. I went to sleep around 11 pm local
time. A little after midnight I woke up. Something was telling me to turn on
the rig and see who might be around. I heard KA1ZE/3 BOOMING in on 144 MHz. I
worked him. That was 555 miles - probably my farthest QSO on 2m ever with 6
watts.
Sunday morning the wind was calmer, so I set up the higher bands. I made quite
a few QSO's on 902 and 1296 and also worked Bob K2DRH on 2304 and 3456. By that
time the wind was picking up again and I had to hold the microwave dish tripod
while balancing the IF rig on the window ledge of the car to make those QSO's.
I took the dish off the tripod after I was done for fear it would blow over. I
quit around noon local time because I'd had enough of the wind. Oh well ...
next time will be better.
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