[3830] ARRL Jan VHF K7BV Single Op HP

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                    ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

Call: K7BV
Operator(s): K7BV
Station: K7BV

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  340    84
    2:           
  222:           
  432:           
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  340    84  Total Score = 28,560

Club: 

Comments:

>From my perspective, 2006 saw a very typical January VHF SS. I count as norms
the following: (1) high winter winds = lots of power line noise (2) not one
single Sporadic Es opening (3) NFL playoffs on TV competed for potential
contacts (4) Murphy arriving for his first – of many to come - visit of the New
Year.  

My primary reasons for entering VHF contests are to have fun, run into old and
new friends, extend my knowledge of my band of choice, and to use the large
antenna array I am blessed to own to maybe give a few folks their only 6 meter
FN31 multiplier. Therefore, I entered my usual non-existent contest category: 
Single Op, Single Band Obsession-6M, Single 8877, Single “H” Frame. However,
this year I moved from the Single Planet classification to the Multi-Planet
arena after deciding to use the moon for EME grid chasing. I used the following
modes to make QSOs:  SSB, CW, WSJT modes JT6m-FSK441-JT65a. Sadly, I forgot to
check the FM simplex channels and, even though I had a number of frequency
jammers, none of them used AM so I missed both of these modes.

I sent my transceiver in for a lube and tune-up the week before the contest. So,
having no life other than being a 6m fanatic, I had nothing to do in the
evenings leading up to the contest but to drive the meteor scatter community
nuts as I secured WSJT digital skeds with ops in 48 grids outside my tropo range
– 350 to 425 miles. While I did not have many dreams (okay, okay….I had some) of
working grids on the moon, I did arrange 5 skeds using the moon to work grid
multipliers.

I finished with 340 QSOs in 84 grids with 23 hours in front of the rig – yes,
you are right, I DO need to get a life….

The grid breakdown might be of interest to some. Looking through the log, I note
40 of the 84 grids were worked only via WSJT modes on meteor scatter. EME
produced 3 grids in EU. Therefore, lacking Es, SSB/CW tropo and forward scatter
accounted for the remaining 41 grids. DX worked included VP9 on SSB meteor
scatter as well as G, ON, SM on EME. 

New things learned:  

----Spacing my meteor scatter QSOs 15 minutes apart proved to be more than
enough time. Being careful to only sked EME’ers with BIG BOY toys, I was able to
complete those contacts in the dead of the night in anywhere from 10 to about 30
minutes.
----My station is an Alligator at times now with the 1,500 watt 8877 amp and I
need to be sensitive to that fact when listening for calls. I added an in-shack
preamp some months ago. I generally do not run the preamp on SSB or CW but did
pull it in a few times during the contest to hear some ether level callers that
otherwise would have been missed using the rig stock preamps. 

Old things that wish I HAD NOT learned to be true:

----Some Multi-ops stations cannot keep endless CQs off 50125, presumably
believing that stations listening on that frequency encounter some sort of
signal enhancement direct to their station. This logic appears to be seriously
flawed, though, because rarely do those CQ’ers seem to hear the bellowing curses
of non-contesters asking them to QSY, many times offering specific places to go
to – Heaven not being among them. 
----Through careful observation of various operating techniques employed in my
local area, I am reminded that it is indeed possible to turn up your mic gain
and to compress your audio so horribly that it can be made to be impossible to
copy even though your amplifier final is doing a meltdown and you occupy enough
bandwidth to accommodate, say, a TV video channel with one’s splatter. On this
subject, I note that those audio output adjustment also appear to affect the
offenders’ hearing as well since they rarely can hear all the screams from the
less-than-adoring observing crowds. 

Thanks very much for the fun – May the Es be with you in 2006

73 de Dennis K7BV


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