There has been a large interest in the subject of CQ frequencies for
the geographically challenged, etc. I'm still sorting through emails
and I owe several people replies.
Short version of a long story: 144.237 WILL NOT WORK for me in major
VHF contests. So my search goes on. Some further thoughts on that...
Back in the day we operated CW around 144.100 and SSB from there up
to 144.250. Admittedly there were more active VHF contest stations
back then but we had a lot more room to spread out. Now, with
digital modes occupying more and more space we are basically crammed
into about 70 kHz for SSB/CW contesting... from 144.180 to 144.250.
>From my limited perspective it seems like crowding and QRM is far
worse now than it used to be. Maybe it's partly because I hear more
of the activity now with better antennas?
A number of people have indicated they don't listen/watch above
144.250 which makes using a run frequency up there less attractive.
But in a practical sense, those of us who are outside the NE
corridor looking in may need to move up and hope word of our run
frequencies gets around enough. Maybe we need to start a grass roots
campaign to get people routinely checking all the way up to 144.275
in contests! That would help!
I've been told 144.250 is a bad choice and I am well aware 144.260
is the microwave liason frequency. My current thinking is toward
trying 144.255 or 144.265 and see how that works out. Comments are
welcome.
Two other suggestions have been made (and I owe people personal
replies on these). Bot are interesting and in my opinion worthy of
serious consideration.
One is for several Maine stations to operate together where one,
probably the southernmost, would CQ and then ask stations to listen
for his friends who are on frequency. This sounds great for those of
us like myself who are "up north" but may hurt the QSO rate of our
benefactor down south. It could get complicated if only some of the
stations involved have other bands to run.
Another is to have several Maine stations CQing on different
frequencies but all aligned to the same time slots, say two 10
minute windows each hour. The hope here would be that knowing
several of us were on at specific times would encourage people to
look this way.
I am often asked if any other stations are active up here or in
grids further north. For the most part the answer has been no,
although there are two low power stations who have been around from
time to time in FN55 the last couple of years. Over the years many
have tried and lost interest precisely because it is so difficult to
make QSOs and have fun up here. I run legal limit to a long yagi at
110 feet on 2 meters and I am struggling. Imagine what it is like
for the guy with 100 watts or less and a small yagi.
It's not that contacts can't be made with small stations. Three
years ago when I started with the new station build I was active for
a summer with 25 watts to the most horrible little 6 element yagi
you ever would hope to see (or hope not to see!). I worked as far as
FN31 (350 miles) in contests that summer. But that was mainly
through arrangements made via internet chat sites.
We may have recently lost one of those two I mentioned. He was
active with a transverter I gave him but was struggling for QSOs.
Something killed the transverter (maybe lightning). I've made an
attempt to repair it but have not succeeded. I'm not sure if he will
invest in a transverter to replace it given the extremely low return
on investment. If we could figure out a way for us to be heard
calling CQ and/or get more people to look this way, it would help to
encourage activity in the area. I will continue to explore options.
I tend to think the same would apply to other outlying areas.
73,
Paul N1BUG FN55MF
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