[Fourlanders] W4NH 2015 September VHF contest summary report

[Bob Lear]

Well another September VHF contest is under the Fourlanders belts at 
Mile High Campground, EM85jm, near Maggie Valley in North Carolina.

We had14 operators and two visitors. Operators were Johnny K4SQC, 6m 
band captain; Kos N4NIA, 2m band captain; Bob W4ZST, 222 band captain; 
Ron WW8RR, 432 band captain . We also had Bill KI4US and Kim WG8S .  
Dean K2JB and Howard W4PH brought their small roving trailer for the FM 
station and antennas.  Other operators were Jim W4KXY, Jerry W5TDY, Jim 
WE8W, Paul W4SKI, Jack K5FSE and Ryan KK4OSG.  We had a  good crew for 
the contest. Dean's friend Vern from Ohio came to observe and camp out 
with us.  This may have been the biggest convoy of trailers that we've 
had with 9 going up the hill from Maggie Valley after we stopped for 
lunch.  Kos got there with the 6m/cook trailer before supper and two 
more camper trailers joined us making a total of 11 trailers up on the 
mountain!  We always need trailer pullers when we make this trip.

Another very special visitor:  Brian NX9O got a chance to come up and 
visit with us on Sunday.  It was good to see him as he hasn't been able 
to make it to the contests lately.  Brian is a long time Fourlander and 
a crucial member of the organization as we use his 20' trailer, Great 
White, where we set up three of the stations which include his great 222 
station (that he let's me bring) and his mobile 15 kW diesel generator 
that runs the whole operation.

Unreviewed results are 60,147 points.  The only lower Sept scores were 
last year at MileHigh when we scored 42k and back in 2011 when we did 
Sept at the ZST QTH we reported 17k.  So this isn't out lowest for 
September but is well below average.  We'll have to see what the 
propagation was around the country to see where (or whether) we land in 
the Top 10 for this contest.

Band    Q's    Grids

6m    145    44

2m    158    38

222    39    21

432    54    20

Tots   396    123

A little excitement  this time as Bill suffered a flat tire right after 
he got the 2m tower trailer situated on top of the mountain, we broke 
the tower raising cable on the 6m tower trailer when trying to set it up 
and Ryan broke a cable in his pop-up camper and had to rig some 
temporary supports.  Paul, Ryan and Bill made a trip to Waynesville to 
get replacements and we took care of business when they got back.  On 
the way home, further problems were a generator trailer tire going flat  
just as we got back into GA at a fuel stop and finally Johnny blew a 
heater hose 2 miles from ZST QTH on the way home.  We patched it up, 
took it down the road to my mechanic and they put him back together for 
a safe trip home.

We had the usual stations:  Six meters used Johnny's FT-2000 and my 
Commander amp and the stacked pair of 5 element beams and M2 HO loop 
omni's; Kos' 2m station with his K3, DEMI 2m transverter and Jack's 
W6PQL amp and the stacked pair of 9 element beams along with the 144 
"beam omni's";  222 was Brian's NX9O station with his FT-1000MP, DEMI 
222 transverter and Lunar Link amp with the pair of 16 element beams; 
and 432 was Ron's station with his IC-910, HB K2RIW amp and a 
four-square of K2RIW 432 beams with Az-EL  along with the 432 "omni 
beams".  No EME Q's this contest.  Apparently conditions were terrible 
for the moon.

We did have some problems  during the contest, Kos experienced RFI on 
his 2m station from both 6m and the 2m FM station.  Strange things 
happened that we'd not experienced before.  The only other problem was 
anomalous grid/plate current readings on the 6m commander amp.  This was 
not detectable by stations we worked but seems to have been bothering 
the 432 station.  Both things will be investigated further.  The 
internet connection that Bill and Ron kludged up worked OK and 3G most 
of the time.  I think we did have some computer and WriteLog problems at 
the beginning of the contest and we did lose the server monitor later.  
Replaced with the 222 panadator monitor.   Thanks to Jack for use of his 
'Jet Pack' for our internet use.  Also thanks to Jack for use of his 
W6PQL 2m amp.  The  cell phone extender helped out sometimes but not all 
the time.

Some good food went under those belts too.  Dean cooked his famous 'Cow 
Pie' Chili and cornbread in Dutch Ovens for our Friday night dinner, 
Jerry cooked strip steaks, baked potatoes, salad and bread for Saturday 
night and Bob cooked Brats/Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions, Macaroni 
and Cheese and Slaw for Sunday night dinner.  Full time (8meals) food 
cost turned out to be $27 each and the full time share for 3 nights 
camping and diesel fuel was $38.  The usual breakfasts and lunches.  
There weren't many leftovers!

Ryan took pictures during the contest posted at 
https://www.flickr.com/gp/29542348@N06/Mp8h2s

This was Ryan's first trip to the mountain with us and we sure hope he 
enjoyed it.  He seemed to be having a good time making Q's in the FM 
trailer where all four bands FM were on the air.  Ryan has been doing 
the new FM only category with great success in North GA and we were 
happy to have him along with us this time. Thanks to Dean and Howard for 
bringing their rover trailer and FM radios and antennas.  This is our 
first real attempt to make FM Q's during the contest and we'll see how 
it comes out and I'll do an analysis of the FM contribution later.

Kim posted the videos that he took with his quadcopter at 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5gecvzxp9q6qgcd/AADH2n6lak8lxrHJk81mNfFRa?dl=0

Reservations have been made for both contests next year and we'll do the 
January VHF contest at the W4ZST QTH as usual so put all those contest 
dates on your calendars and plan to come and operate.

73 and thanks to all who participated and supported the Fourlanders, Bob 
W4ZST