[Fourlanders] September VHF Contest Summary

[Bob Lear]

September 2015 VHF Contest Summary - W4NH

The FourLanders made it to the mountain-top campground for the contest 
this time.   We had pullers for the six trailers leaving here and got 
away at 9:30 on Friday morning.  A mostly uneventful trip up to Maggie 
Valley (Bill's fuel leak did cause some concern!) where we met up with 
Kim WG8S and Jim WE8W at the Subway in Maggie Valley.  Paul W4SKI made 
it up to the campground later and helped with set-up.  Set-up went well 
and as usual we got all the antennas in the air before dark and supper.  
Stations got set up in the trailer after that.  We did have some rain 
Saturday and Saturday night but we were set-up enough that it didn't 
affect us.  We also had some pretty cool weather this time, especially 
on Saturday and Sunday nights.  Everyone was wrapping up in blankets and 
sleeping bags to keep warm.

Here are our raw unedited results. I will submit to ARRL when I have a 
chance to go over the logs later.

BAND          QSO's           Grids
6m            182             40
2m              94             31
222             18             12
432             43             23

Totals          337            106        for 42,186 points.  This is a 
lower score than we made from EM84 in the June contest so I expect that 
we won't even break the top ten this contest.  Just never had any real 
propagation and we saw that the NE, midwest and FL folks had some 
openings.  Moon conditions were not good and we didn't try any EME at 
all this time.

Operators for the contest were:  6m band captain Johnny Kludt K4SQC, 2m 
band captain Dennis 'Kos' Kosmetatos N4NIA, 222 band captain Bob Lear 
W4ZST (setting up the NX9O 222 station), 432 band captain Ron Rogers 
WW8RR, Kim Hensley WG8S, Jim Rogers WE8W, Paul Yeager W4SKI, Jerry Long 
W5TDY,.  We were happy to have a couple of new faces join us for the 
contest, Norm Schklar WA4ZXV and Paul Kelly W4KLY from the GARS club 
came up Saturday night with a camper and stayed thru Monday morning and 
helped us take down.   They both operated some and made some Q's but 
there wasn't much to pick from with the meager propagation we had.  We 
were also visited Friday night by our friend Phillip N4HF from Ashville. 
Howard W4PH was busy at the WNC state fair with many ham clubs 
participating in showing off amateur radio at the fair.  We did work him 
on 6m too.  Jimmy Dean Blair K2JB was off in Wilmington NC operating 
from the battleship NC.  He was checking in by phone with us.  Also 
special thanks to Jack K5FSE and his wife Charlotte who were unable to 
make the trip this time but did bring me his W6PQL 2m amp earlier for 
Kos to use on the 2m station.  I don't think Johnny had to ask me any 
questions this time about setting up the 6m contest station which also 
used my 6m Commander amp and didn't have any problems during the 
contest.  Johnny was back to using his FT-2000 for the 6m station and it 
worked just great.  We were hoping a couple of more new ops and 
potential members would come visit for the contest, but their plans just 
didn't work out.  We made a new feedline for the 2m station using some 
of the LMR-600 that was donated to the club.  It worked well.  Ron had 
also found another latching relay to use on 2m to switch between the 
omnis and beams and that worked well after some initial SWR problems 
with the omnis that turned out to be inductance from the coiled up 
feedline from the relay to the antennas that was used.  Stretched out 
and problem solved.  We did have some recurring problems this time with 
internet connections.  Bill had gotten a new device with which to 
connect, but there were some sort of problems which required rebooting 
many times.  I don't think the new rules allowing spotting, etc. made 
much difference for us this contest since we never had any propagation 
and mostly just worked out to a couple of adjacent grids.  Maybe next time.

Friday night dinner was home made chili and cornbread.  I used Jimmy 
Deans recipe but cooked in a crock pot as I don't have Dutch ovens to 
use.  There were no leftovers so I think I did credit to his recipe.  
Saturday breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrowns.  Saturday 
and Sunday lunches were Ham/Turkey/Swiss/Provolone sandwiches and 
chips.  Saturday night dinner was another special treat.  Jerry W5TDY 
smoked a couple of briskets, a Boston Butt, a pot of his famous Charro 
Beans and some outstanding smoked sausage.  Jerry and his wife Sue came 
up just to deliver the dinner as his original plans to camp out were 
interrupted by a business trip calling.  We really appreciate him going 
out of his way to come up and feed us.  It was a meal worth being there 
for.  If you missed it then.................
I cooked pancakes and sausage for breakfast on Sunday and Sunday night 
we had Brats and Italian Sausage, grilled peppers and onions, macaroni 
and cheese and slaw.  Afterwards it looked pretty much like the 
Tasmanian Devil had gone through it because not much left!!  As usual 
for every meal with this group.  Monday morning was microwave Sausage, 
Egg and Cheese biscuits.

On the convoy home on Monday, we stopped again at the Zaxby's in 
Franklin NC, where Norm and Paul then went on to Gwinnett County. After 
dropping the trailers here at W4ZST, the guys helped me with unloading 
the heavy stuff: amps, radios, power supplies, cooler etc. and they set 
the tents out to dry as we pretty much always have to put them in the 
trailers dripping with morning dew.  All home safely and I've finished 
cleaning up kitchen stuff and replacing things where they belong in the 
shack.  All the trailers and towers were flawless as usual.  Again 
special thanks to Brian McCarthy NX9O for use of Great White, the 
generator trailer and the 222 station.  Just hoping things will work out 
so he can get back with us for future contests.

We did have a short club business meeting and will have a required 
yearly meeting during the January 2016 VHF contest.  We discussed a 
couple of items and also voted on purchasing a pair of M2 6m HO loop 
antennas that Johnny has and won't be using.  That will free mine up to 
stay in the air at my QTH and one less set of antennas to take up and 
down.  There will likely be an assessment to the membership to help 
purchase these antennas as the treasurer did not think we will have 
enough in the treasury.  To be announced.  I will also produce an 
inventory list of stuff that does actually belong to the club so it will 
be in writing and recorded.

Costs for the trip beside each individuals fuel to get there: Shared 
Full time camping, $44 per person.  Shared diesel fuel costs for the 
generator, $6 per person.  Cost for 8 meals for the full time crew was 
$33 per person.  Amounts are pro-rated for part time participants.  I 
don't think you could stay home and spend less for a fun weekend!!  
Thanks to all those who burn some extra fuel hauling the trailers up.  
That is a definite need for the club, manpower, truckpower and fuel for 
the trip.  Thanks to Johnny for hauling Great White and Kos for pulling 
the club 16' as yet un-named trailer.  I did secure a neat logo decal 
for Great White at a flea market on the way home from the Shelby hamfest 
and it is on the trailer and looks good.  I'll post a pic on the web 
page when I figure out how to do that

Thanks again to all who participated on the mountain, folks at home who 
supported us and the folks who worked us during the contest.  I think a 
good time was had by all.

Make plans for the January VHF contest which the Fourlanders will again 
do from the W4ZST QTH on January 30th and February 1st, 2016.

Hope to see everyone at the Stone Mountain/Lawrenceville hamfest on 
November 7th and 8th coming up soon.

73,  Bob W4ZST