[Fourlanders] June Contest Summary - Fourlanders W4NH

[Bob Lear]

2017 June VHF contest Summary - Fourlanders W4NH

The W4NH Fourlanders operated from MileHigh Campground between Cherokee 
and Maggie Valley NC for the contest June 10th and 11th. The grid 
locator is EM85jm.  We had 10 operators, 7 trailers and were on 6m, 2m, 
222 and 432 bands for the contest.  We got there and started setting up 
Friday afternoon about 2:30 PM and quickly got all the antennas in the 
air with no problems.  We had supper (Brats, Mac&Cheese and slaw) and 
then set up the stations in the trailers.  Most stations were on the air 
just after dark.  A highlight was Kos N4NIA our 2m band captain working 
North Dakota on Meteor Scatter using the new WSJT MSK-144 mode, and 
worked the station again during the contest.  Kos has a new Beko Solid 
State 2m amp on the air for the first time at this contest.  It is very 
nice looking and worked flawlessly.  Never to be without problems, 
several stations weren't on the air at the beginning of the contest at 
2PM on Saturday, various Murphy problems with sound cards, computers, 
radios, etc.  All eventually got on and started making contacts.

Conditions were very good for this contest.  Six meters especially was 
open for long periods and nice pileups, both CW and SSB.  We had to use 
our back-up 6m radio as we just couldn't get the new Flex 6500 working 
properly, even though band captain Johnny K4SQC had it working 100% both 
at his home and the W4ZST shack earlier.  We also had a 6m amp failure 
and put a backup amp in for it.  It later also had a High-Voltage arc 
which took out a sound card but the amp kept working.  The other bands 
were in pretty good shape but when Six is open most of the single op 
stations stay there and don't get on the higher bands.  We have 
experienced that many times over the years.

Worth mentioning also is Jerry W5TDY who brought a portable smoker and 
cooked briskets all day long on Saturday for our evening meal. That 
alone would have been worth the trip!  Our call phonetics of “Never 
Hungry” are very suiting for the club.  He topped it off with Texas 
style beans, smoked sausage and Potato Salad.  Sunday nights dinner was 
hamburgers, chips and all the fixin's, again done by Jerry.  W4ZST 
cooked the breakfasts and put out sandwiches and chips for lunch each 
day.   My thanks to Jerry for helping out with the grilling and for 
doing the two dinners.

The good conditions resulted in 202,658 points, which is a good June 
score for us.  We will have to wait and see where we place nationwide as 
the openings were country-wide most of the time.
659 Q's, 122 grids on 6m
116 Q's, 46 grids on 2m
36 Q's, 22 grids on 222
50 Q's, 24 grids on 432.

The operators were Johnny K4SQC and 6m band captain, Kos N4NIA and 2m 
band captain, Bob W4ZST and 222 band captain, Ron WW8RR and 432 band 
captain, Jim W4KXY, Jim WE8W, Bill KI4US, Kim WG8S, Jerry W5TDY and 
Sherman W4ATL.  Sherman and Jim WE8W made quite a few Q's on 6m CW 
during the contest.

We had several visitors from the campground and also visited by two 
fairly new hams from Hendersonville NC who were told about us by our 
friend Phil N4HF.  They were Adam Reed KM4UKP and his dad George 
KN4CBU.  We also were visited by Tom McElroy W4SDR and his two harmonics 
Audrey KM4BUN and Jack KM4ZIA.  Tom flew his quad copter and gave us 
some nice shots of our setup area from high overhead. Really makes it 
obvious as to how little space we have to place our antennas.  Tom and 
the kids spent Saturday night in the campground with us .  Those two are 
really growing up and I hope soon they'll be able to take this outfit over!!

Special thanks as usual to Brian McCarthy for the use of the Great White 
operating trailer, the diesel generator and his fine 222 contest 
station.  Thanks to the band captains for bringing their stations to use 
for the contest.  Johnny was disappointed that we couldn't get the Flex 
6500 working with the computers to use for the contest.  We used the 
FT-2000 as the 6m backup radio.  The W4ZST Commander 6m amp appeared to 
have a problem again and was replaced by Ron's back up amp.  When I got 
the amp home, it is working fine, just as Johnny's Flex worked fine at 
home before and after the contest.  Murphy!!

Paul W4SKI was also supposed to contest with us but had made plans that 
he couldn't change.  We are still looking for more operators and a new 
cook to give W4ZST a break and get back on the real microwave bands and 
not stuck in the kitchen with the cooking microwave.

Costs for the contest were $51 each for the camping and diesel fuel 
costs and $33 for the full time (8) meals, about the usual for us. That 
and whatever it costs us to drive up pulling trailers makes for a long 
weekend spending less than we probably would have at home anyway.

Thanks to all who participated and visited with us.  Put the September 
9th and 10th contest dates on your calendar for the next one.  We have 
our reservations already made at the campground and I think for next 
year too.

73, Bob W4ZST