[Fourlanders] September Contest Summary Report

[Bob Lear]

Well, another season of contests has gone by.  We had fun in both June 
and September this year and had very good turnouts for both.  Be sure to 
put next years contests on your calendars now!!

Participating in the September contest were:  Jim W4KXY, Scott NN4W, Bob 
W4ZST, Ron WW8RR, Jim WE8W, Jeff W0ONR, Mac K4RBM and Kos N4NIA.  This 
core group went up together and stayed the entire time thru takedown. 
Bill KI4US also convoyed up with us and was there for set-up too. 
Thanks to all for making an easy set-up and take down for the contest. 
There were NO problems encountered.  We were also joined by a good 
number of other ops for various times of the contest.  Paul W4SKI, Kim 
WG8S, Tom K4TJD, Wey K8EAB, Gary N8CQ and son Josh, Tom KI4WOU and 
daughter Audrey, and Randal N4AC with his wife Laureen KI4FUE and sons 
Owen and Alan.  Wey and Randal, Laureen and the boys caught up with us 
for lunch on Friday at the Subway in Maggie Vally and were there for 
set-up.  Tom K4TJD and Wey K8EAB were first timers.  Tom did get in some 
operating time and Wey unfortunately left earlier than planned as he 
just couldn't sleep in his vehicle.  Hope both will come with us again 
in the future.  There were a number of visitors from the campground who 
came to check us out, as well as Jim the new campground manager who came 
up several times to look around.  Thanks to the campground folks for our 
no problem weekend.  We had as many as nine camping spaces this time. 
The campground bill came to $375 which worked out to $33 each for the 
full timers and less for the pro-rated time for those less than full time.

Propagation unfortunately did not smile on us for the weekend however. 
Looking at the grid maps, we saw that all four bands pretty much had the 
same footprint, indicating we only had ground wave propagation as borne 
out by our score of only 80,500, probably a record low for Mile Hi for 
the Fourlanders.  We had a good time nevertheless.  There were of course 
a few 6m contacts made further out, but no real openings.  No computer 
problems this time and only a minor keying relay problem with the 222 
stations, but a back-up transverter was put in place and we had no more 
problems on 222.  There were some WriteLog keying problems with the 2m 
station, but Scott used an external voice keyer to get around that.  He 
will investigate the problem and come up with a solution for the future. 
  We did have a good lesson in the effects of 'real' RF power too.  The 
new squalo antennas that Ron had made for 6m short skip succumbed to the 
1300W of 6m RF before the contest.  The aluminum tuning capacitor vane 
melted the PVC tee holding it and we also fused a section of the phasing 
lines.  Ron has figured out what to do to fix the antennas (brass) and 
we'll try them maybe in January or at least test them again with full 
power.  We are still working on solutions for the 6m short skip problem.

Food of course was plentiful and Jeff came through again.  We had 
Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes and Salad for Friday dinner.  Saturday started 
with Pancakes and Bacon, with Brats, Slaw and chips for lunch, followed 
by BBQ Pork, slaw and potato salad for dinner.  Sunday breakfast was 
French Toast and sausage, lunch was sandwiches, slaw and leftovers and 
Dinner was Baked Ham, sweet potatoes and 3 bean salad.  Monday mornings 
breakfast was scrambled eggs, hash browns and ham.  And of course, we 
had to stop to eat on the way home at Zaxbys in Franklin.  We were 
probably busier eating throughout the weekend than we were operating.
The cost of food for the eight meals for the full time participants was 
only $27 each.  I don't know how Jeff does it, but special thanks again 
to him for bringing and preparing all the food.

We purchased $190 of Diesel fuel for the generator and this worked out 
to $14 each for the contest participants.  Very special thanks to Brian 
NX9O for the use of his generator and the Great White operating trailer 
as he was unable to come with us for this contest.  We missed you Brian 
and we hope that work doesn't interfere with next years contests.  We 
also missed Kos' wife Sherry who didn't feel up to the trip at the last 
minute.  Their daughter and son-in-law Ryan were also hoping to come, 
but both ended up having to work on Saturday and missed coming to visit. 
  Kos is getting Ryan interested in Ham Radio and maybe they'll be able 
to make it next year.  We also missed Ivan K4VJM again, but he has now 
had the surgery on his knees and we expect him to recover back to normal 
this fall and be raring to go next year.  Special thanks to Mac K4RBM 
for pulling Great White with his Dodge/Cummins pickup.  None of the rest 
of us had enough HP or vehicle to pull it and we couldn't have done 
without Great White for the operating positions.

The weather cooperated with us most of the time on the mountain.  I 
don't think the hurricane helped with propagation and definitely 
hindered a lot of contest participation from Texas and Louisiana up 
through the middle of the country and across the midwest states too.  We 
had some rain Sunday night after dark that kept up until after the 
contest, but stopped soon enough after midnight that we didn't have any 
problems with mud when taking down Monday morning.  The gas panic didn't 
help the rover situation either as we noticed a much smaller than usual 
number of them for this contest.

Altogether a great time on the mountain.  I want to thank all the folks 
who came to operate and set-up and those who furnished stations.  Our 
group had dwindled for a couple of years and participation was down to 
just a die hard core group who wanted to keep going.  It was getting to 
be too much work for a small group though.  We have had an infusion of 
new members who have jumped in and become hard core which has made the 
contests a lot less work and a lot more fun.  We've had some good family 
participation too.  So thanks again to you all and please plan on next 
years contests too.  Where else can you stay out of trouble for three 
days for only $75 + gas to get there!!  And have so much to eat!!
With this kind of participation we'll get back to full multi for next 
years contests too.

By the way, we are also planning to do the January VHF sweepstakes this 
year, but of course not on the mountain.  We will try it at my new QTH 
north of Dahlonega.  Plenty of room to set up the antennas and such 
around my new steel shop building.  It should be a fun experience to do 
the January contest multi-op.  I haven't done it in a number of years 
myself so I'm looking forward to it.

If anyone posts contest pictures, please put a note out on the reflector 
to share them.  Thanks.

73, Bob W4ZST, FourLanders President