[3830] ARRL Jan VHF K3RW SO FM LP

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                    ARRL January VHF Contest - 2020

Call: K3RW
Operator(s): K3RW
Station: K3RW

Class: SO FM LP
QTH: CN85ro
Operating Time (hrs): 9

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:   1     1
    2:  46     2
  222:   3     1
  432:  19     1
  903:          
  1.2:          
  2.3:          
  3.4:          
  5.7:          
  10G:          
  24G:          
-------------------
Total:  69     5  Total Score = 425

Club: Pacific Northwest VHF Society

Comments:

Operated cumulative 9 hours due to family commitments.

Without a working rotor I operated 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm FM all on handheld yagis
(223 on a HT) from a second floor bedroom.  Far from ideal!  I intended to mount
3 collinears but the icy steep roof was too treacherous to access.  I planned to
operate in the mountains 4000ft above my QTH, but snow made it too treacherous
to access.

I gave scant thought to operating in the Eastern WA section (EWA) instead of WWA
(my section).  WWA heavily favors Seattle with a grid corner to the north, and
the OR section favors Portland vs the entire rest of the state for FM operation.
 However family commitments kept me at home QTH.  I'd only have to drive about
90 miles to enter the EWA section, but the majority of the population is in
Spokane or the Pasco/Kennewick/Richland area.

My 6m vertical would not tune under 2.6:1 just about no matter what, and then
got above 3:1 and kept getting worse.  I managed one QSO on 6m and opted to save
the rig finals rather than keep risking it.  But 6m FM is typically very quiet
so I was surprised to work anyone.  Had I had 6m FM actually working I might
have worked up to 10-12 operators, though doubtful any outside my grid.

2m FM very busy on .52 and almost nowhere else.  This always causes aggravation
with locals and travelers who frequently use this as the calling frequency.  I
worked 2 grids on 2m.

I heard an operator giving out an unusual (and incorrect) grid for his location.
 It was inadvertent, but later we discovered it was due to a coordinate mistake
on the QRZ profile page that gave his calculated grid as the geographic center
of the United States.  Unfortunately he had been giving the wrong grid as the
exchange for many QSOs until I pointed out the error.  This may impact some
local scores here particularly in CN85/95/86, and perhaps mine, depending on
what grid he submits in his log compared to what he gave out vs what was
correct.

6m FM actually had decent activity on it for a change. I managed one QSO but I
could not get my vertical working right and did not expect any activity.

QRM appeared on 70cm (446) several times with no apparent explanation.  But it
was strong enough that ops within 20 miles noticed it.

I tried to work 927FM as a checklog for a few guys who needed the points, but my
location is poor and I was unsuccessful.  Same likely would have been true for
1296 and above.

I only worked one /rover since I was Single Op-FM only, and I apparently just
missed another /rover at one point.  But if there were other rovers in the
Pacific NW, they either didn't work FM, or I didn't hear them, or they just
didn't come into the Portland OR Metro area.  Several perennial rovers were
operating in different classes and weather was a problem the week before.


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