[3830] ARRL 10G+ VA3TO 10G Only

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                    ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest - 2022

Call: VA3TO
Operator(s): VA3TO
Station: VA3TO

Class: 10G Only HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  Number of Calls  Tot Dist(km)
-------------------------------------
  10G:        54            55843
  24G:                           
  47G:                           
  75G:                           
 123G:                           
 134G:                           
 241G:                           
Light:                           
-------------------------------------
Total:        54            55843  Total Score = 61,243

Club: Ontario VHF Association

Team: 

Comments:

Another great 10 GHz & Up Contest behind us ! 
For the past several years I have been improving my score and this year was no
different despite being unable to fully commit in August. I had to abandon my
plans to rove Lake Erie with VA3ELE and VE3SST at the last minute in order to
stay close to home as my wife had a health setback. To my great surprise I ended
up surpassing last year's score by about 14,000 points.

I spent Saturday in August at my favorite portable site on the train overpass in
FN03cn, about 20 minutes from home. I worked the Lake Erie ops and a handful of
locals in the morning then in the afternoon some rainscatter opportunities
yielded a handful of really nice DX contacts. I worked K2YAZ to the Northwest in
FN74a then K1RZ/ AF1T/ W1MKY/ K3WHC in FN41ee on Block Island to the east. These
latter contacts represent my best DX for the contest at about 721km and also a
new VUCC credit from my home grid (#49). Then, shortly afterwards I worked W1GHZ
& W1AIM in FN44ig @ 685km for Grid #50 ! 
After dinner I went back to FN03cn and worked W8BYA to the southwest off some
more rain @ 541km and W3IP to the south @ 525km, then finished off working some
of the rovers before calling it a night.

On Sunday morning I decided to go to a different grid to allow me to work some
of the same stations over again. I set up on the Niagara escarpment at the west
end of Lake Ontario in FN03de. I started off working some locals, the Rochester
crowd and VA3ELE & VE3SST along the North shore of Lake Ontario.  More rain
cells developed and I was able to work N1JEZ, W1FKF, KA1NKD and W1EX in FN44ig
at 687km for a nice multi-op DX cluster of points.  I also worked W1GHZ again,
this time he was in FN34uk. I made some more close in contacts then I had to run
home for a bit.

Later on Sunday I went to FN03cq to work a bunch of the regular crowd. More
pop-up cells to the east offered two more DX contacts with W1GHZ and W1AIM in
FN34om at 566km.  I worked a few more locals and rovers then packed it in for
the weekend.



In September Me and Peter VA3ELE drove 9 hours on Friday to Mont Megantic in the
Eastern townships of Quebec with hopes of snagging some new callsigns in the
East. We were counting on making the majority of the weekend Q's on Saturday
because the forecast for Sunday was calling for lots of rain along our path
home.

We had a slow start on Saturday morning atop Mont Megantic FN45kk (elevation
3650'). The temperature was a chilly 6°C (42°F) so we put on whatever layers
of clothing we had but never thought to bring a hat or gloves. Conditions were
initially poor but it picked up through the morning. We worked W1GHZ on Block
Island in FN41ee then AF1T & W1MKY on Martha's vineyard in FN41ni. Also a
good haul to W2FU/ K2TER/ WA2TMC in FN23nd. We worked a few others then moved on
to Mont Hereford (FN45eb), then a farmers field just west of Coaticook, Qc
(FN45bc) and finally Salaberry-du-Valleyfield (FN25wf) where we worked a couple
of stations then stayed at an AirBnb for the night.

On Sunday morning we worked a few more stations from FN25wf including AF1T &
W1MKY in FN41qk and W1GHZ in FN41ee plus a few others until it started to rain,
then packed up and proceeded west. The WX radar was showing breaks in the rain
so we drove while it rained heavy then stopped to operate when there was a
break. We continued this pattern until the rain passed later in the afternoon.
We snagged K1CA, AA1I, N1DPM, & K1OR in FN42wb for another good multi-op
rack up of points, then W1GHZ again in FN41ee from our second stop in FN25SD. We
managed to work W1GHZ in FN41ee a couple of more times as well as K1TEO in
FN31JH. 
We made 9 stops in total on Sunday, our last in FN14if in the final few minutes
before midnight. My final QSO was with VE3KH at 11:58pm (EST). Despite the rain,
Sunday turned out to be a lot more productive than Saturday.

A big thank you Rene VE2UG who roved to many grids for us on Saturday and
operated from his home station on Sunday for several more Q's as we roved west.
A special mention to the home stations that we were able to work reliably on
Saturday and Sunday like VE3KH, N2JMH, N2WK and K0SM. Also to rovers W2FU,
K2TER, WA2TMC and K2CS. We really appreciate their ability to get on quickly to
work us so we could keep on rolling. All of those points add up !
And of course, thanks to my partner Peter, VA3ELE for coordinating and his
youthful enthusiasm and nasty jokes.... always a laugh to be had 🙂


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