[3830] ARRL Sep VHF WB1GQR(W1SJ) Single Op LP

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                    ARRL September VHF QSO Party

Call: WB1GQR
Operator(s): W1SJ
Station: WB1GQR

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: FN33
Operating Time (hrs): 32

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  260    30
    2:  250    33
  222:   76    22
  432:   96    22
  903:    4     3
  1.2:   30    10
  2.3:    9     5
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  725   125  Total Score = 124,000

Club: Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont

Comments:

Conditions were quite unspectacular throughout most of the contest. In fact, it
seemed like a lead blanket was thrown over my location. Most of the weekend was
spent in a cloud with 110% humidity. I couldn’t get untracked on 903 MHz at
all and the results were only a few contacts. When I pulled the yagi down at
the finish, I found that the driven loop got loose and was shorted. This is the
second time this antenna got hit by Murphy. The dead antenna didn’t seem to
reduce the confounded crud I hear from the pagers on the site.

Things got really wild and wooly Sunday night. With two hours left, I found
that the UHF and microwave rotor didn’t turn. When I looked outside, I saw
that the mast was bent at a 45 degree angle. The wide open summit was hit with
hurricane force winds, courtesy of Hurricane Ike. I don’t know the exact wind
speeds, but the gusts were strong enough to knock you over. By the end of the
contest, the mast was bent over 90 degrees, and it looked probable that 7 yagis
would come crashing down sideways on the van. I flipped a coin and decided that
I would go out and attempt to remove as many antennas as I could off the mast.
Standing on the roof of the van in high winds wasn’t the smartest thing I
could be doing, but something had to be done. I was happy that I didn’t blow
into the next grid square.

Two out of three masts bend over and one guy rope failed, but I’m happy to
report that no antennas or operators (me) were harmed during the making of this
contest.

Mitch W1SJ


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