[Fourlanders] September Contest Report

[Bob Lear]

Well, I think we are glad we didn't go to NC because the disappointment 
would have been even higher.  How can you have a contest with NO 
propagation??  We experienced it this weekend.  We set a record, but 
unfortunately it was probably for the lowest score the Fourlanders have 
ever posted.

Nevertheless, we had a good time here and enjoyed Jeff's great food 
along with plenty of BS and radio discussion time.  Jeff had Brats and 
German Potato Salad for lunch on Saturday, BBQ, Potato Salad and Slaw 
for Saturday night, Sunday breakfast of Pancakes and Sausage, lunch of 
Sloppy Joes, slaw and chips and to top it all off, Chicken Divan and 
Rice for Sunday evening dinner.  Thanks again Jeff for the excellent 
meals and the extra pounds we are all now carrying!!  About six of us 
met at Roosters Friday evening for happy hour and dinner before coming 
to the station to finish set-up on Friday evening.  W4ZST cooked 
breakfast on Saturday and Monday mornings for the overnighters.  We had 
a full house on Saturday night with 10 total staying over.  Thanks to 
Tom for bringing his camper and Jim for bringing his cot as we were 
overbooked on beds for this contest.

Contest Operators (actually dozers!) were:  Bob W4ZST, Scott NN4W, Brian 
NX9O, Ron WW8RR, Jim WE8W, Bill KI4US, Tom K4TJD, Ivan K4VJM, Kim WG8S 
and Kos N4NIA.  We were visited by Buck KC4GCK, Joe KJ4JBG and Brian 
K1XY from Dahlonega and Jack K5SFE, Charlotte KJ4EDM, Tom W4SDR and 
Audrey all from Cumming.

We actually had no technical problems during the contest and only a 
minor repair had to be made before we got started on Saturday.

Hard to identify any real highlights.  I'm not sure how we fared on the 
2m EME attempts or the final score, but it was not encouraging.  The 
strange lack of propagation must have had something to do with the 
recent solar flares, but it was different in that we didn't even get the 
usual groundwave distances.  Not sure if there was an overall lack of 
participation either, but we did miss working a number of folks nearby 
for some reason, either conditions or they weren't on.  Brian will send 
an updated score and maybe a comment or two on the FSK441 6m results and 
the 2m EME attempts when he submits the logs.  Only one 1296 microwave 
contact was made and none of the usual stations appeared to be on for 
the contest.

We can now put this one behind us and plan for the January Sweepstakes 
contest and hope for better results.

73, Bob