[3830] ARRL Sep VHF N4RNR Single Op Port QRP

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                    ARRL September VHF Contest

Call: N4RNR
Operator(s): N4RNR
Station: N4RNR

Class: Single Op Port QRP
QTH: EM73cl
Operating Time (hrs): 4:06

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  28     14
    2:   8      3
  222:           
  432:           
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  36     17  Total Score = 612

Club: 

Comments:

This was my first attempt at VHF contesting (or any real VHF work for that
matter, besides the local repeater).  Overall, I had a great time, am proud to
have achieved my measly score, and learned a lot, both in building my portable
station and in operating in the contest.  A special thanks to all who assisted
me in getting ready (especially those who have documented their exploits in VHF
contesting on the Interweb) and to all of those I was lucky enough to have
contacted during the contest.  What follows is the story of how I got there and
how it turned out.

There has been a lot of publicity, of late, trying to get more hams active in
VHF contesting.  I took the bait and decided to put together a station for the
September contest.

The Location:  First, there’s not much VHF activity around my home QTH
(EM71hd), so my plan was to operate Single Operator Portable from Cheaha
Mountain (EM73cl), the highest point in Alabama at 2,407 ft.  This should
easily put me in range of the higher population centers of Atlanta, Birmingham,
and Montgomery.

The Station:  Plan was to use my Icom 7000, turned down to 10 watts, as well as
a 5el beam for 6m, 12el on 2m, and 27el on 432.  This should be enough antenna,
along with the use of LMR600 to overcome my 10-watt SOP power limitation.

The Build:  Assembling my first VHF station, even for just three bands, turned
out to be a lot more work and require a lot more time than I thought.  In fact,
I ended up pulling an all-nighter trying to get ready, and finished up at about
3:30am (local) the day of the contest.  And hour more to load up and take a
quick shower, before heading off on my 4.5 drive to Cheaha Mountain.

The Contest:  After fighting off the “Z” monster the entire trip up, I
arrived and got set up just in time for the start of the contest.  With
antennas pointed out West, I tuned the 2m band �" Nothing.  Rotated to
the Northwest �" Nothing.  Rotated to the North �" Nothing. 
Rotated to the Northeast �" Bingo.  First contact (EM74) went into the
logbook at 18:18 UTC.  I stepped down to 6m for my second band, then back up to
432 �" but only found silence.  I quickly worked two more stations with
the same result.  It appears that in my haste to put my station together, the
middle of the night solder job on my 432 coax connector was not up to par. 
Thus, this was only going to be a two-band attempt.

I made 7 contacts the first hour, six in each of the second and third, 13 in
the fourth, and 3 more in the first five minutes of the fifth hour.  6m opened
up to the Northeast at 2132 UTC and lasted until 2206 UTC.  With 6m shut back
down and not hearing any new local traffic, it was time to call it a day.  I
was already past the point of exhaustion, and still had to tear down my station
and drive back home.

The most important think I learned is the VHF contesting is FUN!  I’ll be
back in January with more bands and will hopefully have all of the kinks worked
out of my portable station.  Until then, 73 de N4RNR.


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