[Fourlanders] W4NH June 2024 VHF Contest Summary

[Paul Yeager]

Well darn!

I need to pay closer attention to my email!

Glad y'all had a good time.

Maybe I'll make it in September.

73 de W4SKI

On Fri, Jun 14, 2024, 3:06 PM Bob Lear <w4zst at windstream.net> wrote:

> Once again we have done the June VHF contest at the W4ZST station QTH.
> Operators for the contest were Kim WG8S, Bill KI4US, Jerry W5TDY, Ron
> WW8RR, Kos N4SDK, Sherman W4ATL, Robert KQ4CLM and Bob W4ZST.     Robert
> was a visitor until he wanted to get on the air with us.  Robert is from
> Sautee-Nacoochee.  We had visitors: Mike KC4RI from Brookhaven, Ashton
> KJ4AMA from Cleveland, Don KD4APP from Blairsville, Scott KQ4NBC from
> Chamblee, and Ryan W4RLW from Clarksville.  We did meet at Roosters for
> lunch on Saturday as usual and there were eight of us were there carrying
> on the tradition.  The visitors were here for Saturday afternoon and
> dinner.  Jim W4KXY and Brad KM4QHI had signed up to operate but didn't come
> because of illness.  We had enough operators.
>
> Bill stayed 4 nights, Kim two, Kos and Ron one night.  Sherman brought
> his camper and set up at the end of the building and stayed 3 nights  Jerry
> commuted.   He even put up his G5RV antenna and operated HF early in the
> mornings.  Bill did software updates and computer work on Thursday and
> Friday and got all the stations on the air and tested and on the computer
> network.
>
> Jerry's meals were great as usual.  Saturday night dinner was his
> excellent Brisket, Texas Beans, Cole Slaw and both Kielbasa and Andouille
> smoked sausage snacks.  He made us Eggs, Bacon, toast and Pancakes for
> Sunday morning.  Sunday lunch and dinner we had leftovers and Brisket
> Quesadillas.  There were even some leftovers to share to take home on
> Monday.  Thanks again as usual Jerry for feeding us so fine.  The brisket
> was fantastic.
>
>
>
>
> The contest was very slow on Saturday.  We were worried that we would post
> a record low score.  Conditions and activity much better on Sunday and we
> made it to  430 Q's and 100k points.  Might keep us in top 5.  BTW, we were
> 5th nationwide for the January contest as the scores just came out last
> week.
>
> The moon was up during the daytime as it was only two days after new
> moon.  We probably should have tried some on Saturday when things were so
> slow but didn't.  Bill got 432 on the moon Sunday and 5 Q's for grid
> mults.  I didn't see much activity on 2m so didn't fire that station up for
> EME.
>
> Other highlights were 6m Q's with Japan, England, Ecuador and Spain.  Just
> short openings to those directions though.  Many Q's all around the country
> including to pacific NW states.  Sherman had a very nice CW run going on
> Sunday and worked about 54 Q's in an hour.  That sure helped the final
> score too.  In the wee hours of Sunday morning Ron worked 35 MS contacts
> on 6m for some good multiplier numbers.  There were two MS contacts made on
> 2m.  Thanks to Bill and Ron for those.  I couldn't stay up for that this
> time.
>
> I had finally gotten the 1296 station working again and made three 1296
> terrestrial Q's this time, with a best distance of 218 miles.  Tried with
> W4DEX on 903 and I could hear him but he didn't hear my 8 watts back.  Need
> to get an amp back on there for sure.  Sherman has found one after the
> contest and will get it to me sometime.  Also interesting highlights were
> 444 miles on 2m, 460 miles on 222 to Iowa and 350 miles on 432.
>
> Very few equipment problems this contest but we swapped out the FT DX 3000
> on 6m for an IC7300 and still noticed problems like we had experienced
> before.  We replaced the 6m power supply and that appeared to be the
> problem.  It was an old one and I shouldn't have trusted it!!  My bad for
> sure.
>
> Field Day is coming up and hope everyone participates somewhere and enjoys
> that.
> We will be here for the September contest as usual, Sept 14 & 15.  Be sure
> to put that on your calendars.
>
> 73, Bob W4ZST
>
>
>
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> Sent to: pyeager56 at gmail.com
>
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