[3830] ARRL June VHF W9RM Single Op HP

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                    ARRL June VHF QSO Party

Call: W9RM
Operator(s): W9RM
Station: W9RM

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: DM58
Operating Time (hrs): 25.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  925   205
    2:   39    28
  222:           
  432:    5     5
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  969   238  Total Score = 231,812

Club: 

Comments:

This was my second VHF season (and third VHF contest) at my soon-to-be new home
in western CO.  I used the same field-day style setup as in 2012 with the
addition of a borrowed 432 antenna on a very temporary mount.  On the west
slope, 6M is THE band for VHF contests.  The majority of potential contacts on
2M and above are 250+ miles away and behind one of several mountain chains.

Conditions started flat on 6M with only a few scatter stations heard in the
first two hours, but it soon broke open and, as is typical, started a pattern
of multiple direction openings that lasted through late Saturday evening and
continuing again Sunday morning.  I'm a firm believer in "you can't have
too many 6M antennas" and this weekend proved it.  I was stuck with a
single small antenna when I could have used three and occasionally four - all
in different directions.  In this case, small was good, as the poorer
front/back and sidelobe rejection helped with the various simultaneous
openings.

There was no real double-hop sporadic E noticed during the test, with the
exception of a few FL multipliers, a handful of 1400 mile Carolina stations
(which may or may not have been 2xEs) and one very loud HI8.  No east coast or
mid Atlantic QSO's were made but there were a large number of W8's right at the
limit of single hop, which suggested a band barely open.  The highlight of the
contest was a screaming opening to SOCAL W6 which K0DU, the other DM58 6M op,
said was one of the better he has heard.  The PAC NW openings we had last year
also repeated, but not for the duration seen in 2012.  I had revised my QSO
goal up to 1200 after Saturdays openings, but it was not to be, as 6M went to
bed, apparently across the entire USA, for the last 5-6 hours of the contest,
leaving just a small scattering of QSO's over that time period.

My 2M meteor scatter attempt started out poorly.  A strong wind right at sunset
had skewed the big boom antenna 45 degrees without me knowing it and my error of
not checking periodically (like I did last year) ruined all but one of my
pre-rest break sked attempts.  The sole success was with K2DRH and we later
joked that the 45 degree offset probably helped with a noise issue he has on a
direct heading to DM58.  After I started questioning the lack of success,
checking and correcting the offset rewarded me with a 100% completion rate
after my rest period, including one QSO out over 1200 miles (quite a good haul
with the antenna at 23 feet above ground).  Meteor scatter is a real savior in
low population density locations and a mode I really love to work !

Bottom line was a score improved from last year that bagged 8th place overall
in SOHP.  With the lack of sporadic E on the east coast, I think the final
results will be a battle of 'Large 6M QSO totals' in the west and southwest
versus 'Look how many bands I can work you on !' in the east.  Jeff - I'm
looking in your direction <hehehe>


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