[3830] ARRL June VHF W5ZN Single Op HP

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                    ARRL June VHF Contest - 2021

Call: W5ZN
Operator(s): W5ZN
Station: W5ZN

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: AR
Operating Time (hrs): 28

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  409   163
    2:  153    98
  222:   22    15
  432:   32    16
  903:   15    11
  1.2:   15    11
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  646   314  Total Score = 238,640

Club: Zilla Contest Group

Comments:

Another ARRL June VHF Contest, the granddaddy of ‘em all, has come and gone.
It was a good run at W5ZN this past weekend operating in the Single Op – High
Power category. This was my 26th year participating in the contest and its
evolution over that time has, well, evolved!

I love the digital modes that have become available, namely JT65, MSK144, FT8
and others now appearing like Q65. With that said, the use of FT8 in a contest
is not time efficient. When FT8 was first introduced the VHF community screamed
about the length of time it takes to complete a QSO so K1JT and the development
team went to work and provided FT4, a more time efficient, contest oriented digi
mode, for us to use but ALAS!!!!!! We all went on our way and stopped
complaining about FT8’s lack of time efficiency and just started complaining
about FT8 in general and ignored FT4. So why won’t the masses use FT4?? I went
to the FT4 6-meter frequency six times during the contest when the FT8 band
opened and I only saw, and worked, one station! I know some others that had
better luck with FT4 however I would love to see it adopted as the contest
standard instead of FT8. So, let’s try to resolve this going forward in order
to more efficiently facilitate Q’s for those who want to remain on digi during
the contest. As shown below in my band/mode breakout FT8 was the bulk of my
6-meter Q’s simply because that is where the activity was. There has been
“talk” on the VHF reflectors about splitting out the digi modes and having a
separate contest for only SSB/CW and one for only digi. The data so far does not
support any conclusion regarding this topic and I have no position as this point
in time.

There is also confusion on the operating procedure for the digi modes, whether
to send “RR73” -vs- “RRR” for some modes and what constitutes a
completed contact. This is evidenced by some seasoned ops (including me) but is
quite obvious among the ops who are new to the mode and just on to make a few
Q’s, oblivious as to the correct procedure and contest exchange.

I use N1MM for my contest logging program. I like the interface where a
completed Q log info will import automatically from WSJT-x into N1MM. There’s
just one issue! You don’t know if the station is a dupe or not and if you’re
logging directly into the WSJT-x log it doesn’t tell you if it is a dupe. You
just have to work through this. The only indication you receive is after N1MM
does the import and you see a “0” for the score point!

OK, enough ranting. Here are some real comments. I LOVE ROVERS! Last year the
gang was shut down with Covid and unfortunately this year a number of issues
arose. The NC5AX/R crew has disbanded as Mason has been transferred to NJ, W5VY
had some issues with his rover setup that could not be resolved by contest time
and K2EZ experienced vehicle issues. Nonetheless AG4V/R and K5ND/R provided
valiant duty in nasty hot weather. THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No equipment issues at W5ZN during this contest. All bands worked very well with
one minor error on 222 MHz caused by the Chief Operator (me) at the start that
was quickly resolved. Equipment used during this contest was:

50 MHz – 2xElecraft K3 and Flex PGXL amplifier, 6M9KHW@ 120 ft and 7x7x7
6M7JHV’s at 27’, 52’ and 77’.

144 MHz EME – Elecraft K3 & DEMI xvtr, Lunar Link amp, 4x17B2’s
144 MHz terrestrial - Icom IC-9700, Lunar Link amp, 2M18XXX @ 145 ft

222 MHz – Elecraft K3 & DEMI xvtr, Lunar Link amp, 2xFO16 @ 95 ft

432 MHz – Elecraft K3 & DEMI xvtr, Lunar Link amp, 4xFO25 @ 95 ft

902 MHz – Elecraft K3 & DEMI xvtr, DS Loop Yagi @ 95 ft

1296 MHz – Elecraft K3 & DEMI xvtr, DS Loop Yagi @ 95 ft

Band/Mode breakdown as follows:

Band          QSOs    Grd
  50  CW       37       7 
  50  FT4       1       0 
  50  FT8     308     134
  50  MSK      22      15 
  50  USB      41       7  
 144  CW        1       1  
 144  FM       28       1  
 144  FT8      52      38 
 144  JT65     55      49
 144  MSK       4       4
 144  PSK       2       2 
 144  USB      11       3 
 222  FT8       4       4 
 222  USB      18      11
 420  FM       11       1 
 420  FT8       5       5 
 420  USB      16      10 
 902  CW        8            5
 902  USB       7           6 
1240  CW       10          6 
1240  USB       5           5 

 Total             646      314

Thanks to everyone for the QSO’s and grids, thanks to all the rovers for
daring the elements. GL to all and see you in September!

73 Joel W5ZN


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