[3830] ARRL June VHF K1LT Single Op LP

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                    ARRL June VHF QSO Party

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: EM89
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  294   125
    2:   15     7
  222:    4     3
  432:           
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  313   135  Total Score = 42,795

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

Last year I had the 3 element yagi up about 25 feet just above the
shack.  That antenna had a great SWR curve.  At the time, I had a
defect in my antenna switch that coupled much noise from the power
line into the feed line (inverse, too), making reception noisy on 6
meters (and 15 and 10, too).  When I moved the 3 element yagi to the
top of the new tower, I was able to discover the antenna switch
problem.  However, the SWR became very bad.  I don't know why.

I rotated the tribander 90 degrees on the mast, in case there was
coupling, but the SWR didn't change.

So, I turned on the antenna tuner in the K3 and forgot about the less
than optimal antenna, except every time I couldn't work someone on the
first call.  I guess I am spoiled by my nice signal on 160.

I also put a 220 MHz antenna on the stubby tower by the shack in place
of the 6 meter antenna that moved higher, and brought both the 2 meter
and 220 MHz feedlines in through the window.

The goal was to work all 50 states, 100 grids, and 100 countries.
Just kidding.  That's the long term goal (by the end of summer).  The
real goal was just to see how much I could work.  The other goal was
to get another taste of SO2R by operating 2 meters while CQing on 6
meters.

Unfortunately, the 2 meter band was full of bleeps, buzzes and weird
noises that sound like commercial RTTY stations.  Sometime I'll have
to kill power to the house and see if the noises go away.  The trouble
with killing the power is that it takes about 10 minutes to visit all
the UPS's and turn them off.  So, there were only a couple of
occasions when I worked someone on 2 meters or 220 MHz that wasn't
the result of working them on 6 meters first.

I did work a little DX: C6, CO, HI, KP4, VP5, VP9, XE, and YN.  PJ2,
YS, and ZF got away.  Florida and the Caribbean were very present
Saturday, and almost non-existent Sunday.  On Saturday, I heard
PJ2/K8LEE a couple of times, but not real well and I couldn't get
through.  I heard the YS station, but he seemed to be ragchewing
rather than running, so I didn't wait.  I heard the ZF on CW, but he
faded before I could get him.  On Sunday, I heard the ZF briefly on
phone, and he promptly faded, and never came back.

New England and the Maritimes seemed to be missing in action.  Worked
some double-hop to the West Coast both days, although Saturday was
better.  I was surprised at how late the band stayed open Saturday.
It was still open but almost empty when I went to bed around 0330Z.
Was everyone else tired too?  Or does the band "get long" so that
only a few stations who happen to be the right distance away can still
be heard?  Florida was missing Sunday, although the Caribbean was
present weakly.  KF4VTT/VP9 was very loud Sunday evening on CW, which
prompted me to beam east to try for New England.  I did work a couple
of FN grids as a result, but only a couple.

So, before the CQ VHF contest, I need to fix the 6 meter beam, and
maybe get a better 2 meter beam, instead of the half KLM that I
presently use.

Equipment: K3, FT-736.  50 MHz: Cushcraft 3 el yagi at 70 feet. 144
MHz: first 7 elements of old 11 element KLM yagi at 25 feet.  220 MHz:
all 11 elements of old 11 element KLM yagi at 32 feet.


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