[3830] ARRL Jan VHF K7HKR Single Op LP

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                    ARRL January VHF Contest

Call: K7HKR
Operator(s): K7HKR
Station: K7HKR

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  26     23
    2:   0      0
  222:   0      0
  432:   0      0
  903:   0      0
  1.2:   0      0
  2.3:   0      0
  3.4:   0      0
  5.7:   0      0
  10G:   0      0
  24G:   0      0
-------------------
Total:  26     23  Total Score = 598

Club: 

Comments:

80-90 watts and a 3el 6-meter beam at 6 meters from AZ

Not much was happening at the start, but after 0UT, Es opened up to several
areas, including Mexico.  All of those QSOs were FT8, but conditions did briefly
get good enough that I could hear some big guns on SSB (who I had worked on FT8
already).  Some people complain about the maximum 1 QSO per minute rate of FT8,
but 20 QSOs (19 via Es) in 2 hours was my second-best showing in 5 VHF contests!
 Since everybody is monitoring the entire FT8 band at once, even calling CQ was
worthwhile with my modest station.  This was my first-ever digital contesting
and it went pretty smoothly.

Sunday morning, I made my first ever Ms QSO using MSK144, but Es never opened up
all day and I just made another 4 QSOs with adjacent grids.  I’m sure glad
Saturday wasn’t like that or I would have given up!  Six out of 26 QSOs being
within my own or adjacent grids is still too high of a percentage on 6 meters,
but I would have only picked up 2 of them without FT8.

I understand why some people don’t like FT8, but without it, a late January
VHF contest would pretty much be a joke from my QTH barring an unusual
SSB-quality Es outbreak.  I find it hard to believe that September will be
fruitful even digitally, but even without that, I now have 3 worthwhile annual
VHF contests.


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