Hi Tree:
Ed K3DNE said it all concerning the activity hours. They are still valuable
but asking everyone you work what other bands they have and relentlessly
moving them without fail is the way to go in a VHF contest. That said,
trying to increase activity on activity night (Wed nites at 9 p.m. local) is
a good way to keep up interest every week not only the week before the
contest. Your plans for a beacon are also very valuable - nothing better
than knowing in advance that your station is working.
Likewise mail/Email to known active stations couldn't hurt and might help.
The Packrats have for many years sent out a mailer to all the stations
within a certain tropo radius of Philadelphia, who sent in contest logs the
previous year or have been known to be active in the past. This mailer
contains a list of all the Packrats and what bands they have available.
Finally you should definitely consider a preamp for the 736R on 432. Works
great with one even in the shack; deaf as a stone without one. ARR sells a
really good RF switched one that handles 25 watts if your brick doesn't have
one.
Best of luck.
73 Gene W3ZZ
On: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 09:19:53 -0800 Tree N6TR <tree@kkn.net> said:
I have seen some references to "activity hours" for 432 in the VHF
contests. I was wondering how widespread this concept extends?
During the June VHF contest, I was surprised to work 45 stations on
432. This increased my lifetime 432 QSO total to about 48 QSOs. My
station is an FT-736R - sans preamp, with a 100 watt brick. I had a
28 element M2 up around 55 feet.
I am pondering what could be done with some efforts to improve activity.
One step we are taking is to put a beacon up. I felt really "in the dark"
about the performance of my station until I actually started working guys
in the contest. Having some kind of beacon around will allow me to make
sure my systems performance is up to snuff. It appears I have found a good
QTH for it - about 30 miles from my QTH. Hopefully, it will be heard from
Seattle down to Salem (a 200 mile corridor).
Another step is to try and be active on the band during the week before
the contests.
Finally, I am thinking of sending out mailers to the 45 stations I did
work and encouraging them to spread the word. It would seem that
announcing some kind of activity period - to focus the random activity
towards would be useful.
While most of my 432 QSOs were moved from other bands - it seems there might
be some guys that show up here and nowhere else.
Please share any experieces you have had.
73 Tree N6TR / K7RAT
tree@kkn.net
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