[Fourlanders] FW: [Sawnee Radio] VHF FM contest results

[Ron Rogers]

Here's a fine example of the fun and accomplishment harvested by one of our
local VHF enthusiasts (KK4OSG, Ryan) when he again entered the ARRL June VHF
contest running in just the "FM Only" class.

 

Ron

WW8RR

  _____  

From: sawneeradio at googlegroups.com [mailto:sawneeradio at googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Ryan Kovacs
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2016 10:08 PM
To: Sawnee Amateur Radio Association
Subject: [Sawnee Radio] VHF FM contest results

 

Another June VHF contest came and went. I decided that this would be my last
year doing it from Blood Mountain at 4460' because it is too far to hike. I
am looking to team up next year with some friends and find a more
comfortable location we can drive to.

I had several goals to accomplish for this year: Make more contacts,
especially on 6m; to spend the entire contest on the mountain; reduce my
pack weight to less than 50Lbs from about 70Lbs last year; and get a better
antenna for 6m.

I did all of these things except I ended up packing up right after lunch on
Sunday due to the pop-up thunder storms. Something about being the highest
thing in the area with a metal pole 25 feet in the air next to me didn't
make me feel all that comfortable.

The first 3 hours of the contest I kept pretty busy working people and
switching between bands to work each contact on the 4 bands I could for FM
(6m, 2m, 220Mhz, 440Mhz). After that it started to slow down a bit and I was
able to take a break for dinner. Dinner was a pouch of soup warmed up on
nearby rocks and rice. After dinner the QSO rate slowed down to about 10 per
hour. Just before bed I made contact with the contest group of AA4ZZ in
Boone, NC - EM96, a new grid for me on 2m so I was happy to get that extra
multiplier before bed.

Last year when I woke up Sunday morning there was some great tropo ducting
down to the South on 2m and I was able to work into Florida. This year I did
not have anything when I checked the aprs maps. I did seem to have some
enhancement but not anything stellar. Then Bryan, W3CP told me around 8am to
look east. Slowly some enhancement started to show up. Before long I was
working contacts much further east of me into the Myrtle Beach area. That
ended up lasting about an hour or so then dissipated. About that time I was
turning my beam by hand up toward the NE and heard someone announce a 5 call
sign and said Boston on 6FM. I thought did I hear that right? KD5JR answered
my call and confirmed he was NW of Boston just as clear as if I was talking
to my friend across town. Wow.

We talked for a minute or two then I decided to see who else was out there.
In the next 45 minutes I worked stations in FN42, FN33, FN31 and FN24. All
about 900 mile contacts on 6 meter FM! This was also my first time I have
talked that far on 6m FM so it was a real high note to end the morning on.

Overall I was very pleased with how long my batteries lasted, the
performance of the antennas and the radios. I put a lot of planning into the
trip and it was easier this time to make the hike up the mountain with less
weight.

Here are my abbreviated results

 Total Contacts = 179

 Total Points = 7,326

 

Total Contacts by Band and Mode

 Band    CW   Phone  Dig   Total     %

 ----        --   -----     ---   -----     ---

    6         0      34       0      34      19

    2         0     102      0     102     57

 1.25       0       9       0       9         5

   70        0      34      0      34      19

               --   -----     ---   -----     ---

 Total      0     179       0     179     100

Total Contacts by Grid:

 Grid        Total     %

 ---------   -----   ---

 EM74           68    38

 EM84           49    27

 EM73           22    12

 EM75           11     6

 EM85            8     4

 EM83            6     3

 EM93            2     1

 FM04            2     1

 FN42            2     1

 EM65            1     1

 EM76            1     1

 EM82            1     1

 EM94            1     1

 EM95            1     1

 EM96            1     1

 FN24            1     1

 FN31            1     1

 FN33            1     1

 Total = 18

If you are interested in photos of this year, you can find them here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskBUvfFD

 

Ryan

KK4OSG

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