[Fourlanders] W4NH January Contest Report

[Bob Lear]

Summary report for the Fourlanders W4NH contest operation in January 
ARRL VHF Sweepstakes at the W4ZST station QTH.
We had nine operators for the contest: Kim WG8S, Bill KI4US, Sherman 
W4ATL, Ron WW8RR, Kos N4SDK, Brad KM4QHI, Brian NX9O, Bob W4ZST and 
David W4HER.    We had seven visitors: Robert KQ4CLM and Ashton KJ4AMA 
from Cleveland, Mike KC4RI and Duane KQ4ZPM from Dawsonville, Sherman's 
wife Mary K4MRY and Ed WA4YIH and Amy KE4IKF Woodrick from Gainesville.  
Robert stayed one night in his camper.  Sherman and Mary in their 
camper.  We did meet at Roosters for lunch on Saturday as usual and we 
had a great group of eleven there carrying on the tradition.  Some 
visitors were here for Saturday afternoon and dinner.   Some visited Sunday.

Brian stayed 4 nights, Bill and Sherman three, Kim 2 nights, Robert, Kos 
and Ron one night.  David and Brad commuted. Bill did software updates 
and computer work on Friday and got all the stations on the air and 
tested and on the computer network.  Brian was here working on his 
truck-portable 902/1296/2304 EME station to get it set up for 1296 EME 
for the contest.   Brian had some problems getting proper moon tracking 
on Saturday night as we had heavy fog remaining from the afternoon 
rain.  He finally got it straightened out and made 8 Q's on 1296 for 
some good points and grids.  We did look at 432 EME but there was just 
no activity.  I was apparently tired and brain weary as I failed to even 
check for activity on 2m and 222 EME.
I had rebuilt the microwave station and used a new i.f. radio.  I was 
pleased that all three bands were apparently working well. Unfortunately 
there is little activity here in the SE region.  No Q's on 902 this time 
but 4 on 1296 and 2 on 2304.  Thanks to Ed and Amy and their Icom 905!


Our Master cook Jerry W5TDY was off on a trip to California and missed 
the contest.  This required some reset here.  I jokingly said that we 
should just cancel the contest because of that.  I ended up being the 
cook as I had done many times on the mountain portable.  I made two 
large crock pots of Brunswick stew for our Saturday night meal.  My wife 
Judy was home for a change and was good enough to make her great 
cornbread for us that night.  Some leftovers but they didn't survive the 
weekend.  I made scrambled Eggs, Sausage and Biscuits for Sunday 
morning.  Sunday lunch was furnished by Robert.  We had brats, buns, 
beans and some grilled veggies. Special thanks to Robert.  Sunday 
evening Bill went out to pick up a couple of Pizzas for the remaining 
operators and we really did enjoy that.  In the Fourlanders tradition we 
were 'Never Hungry' and probably ate too much too.  Of course, the snack 
area counter in the shack was filled to capacity as usual and 
disappeared over the weekend!

Here is the N1MM score summary.  Our contest entry has already been 
reviewed sent in to ARRL and accepted.  Things started off pretty slow 
on Saturday but things picked up on Sunday and this 43K is our third 
highest January score for the past 17 years doing the January contest 
here so maybe we will show up pretty good in the standings.  We have had 
national second and third place multi-op finishes here before so we'll 
see how we do this time.



Six and Two are the dominant bands as usual but we always like to have 
all the bands on and hope to make contacts on them.
The contest was mostly digital again.  Little activity on CW and SSB 
even though the analog entry category was still available.

Ron had come for the night shift for the wee hours of Sunday morning for 
MS contacts on 6m for some multipliers.

Only one major equipment problems this contest.  We had an arc in the 
432 station Saturday night after Bill was not seeing good signals.  
Replace HV side fuse in amp PS and amp was OK but that didn't fix the RX 
problem.  After much troubleshooting and bypassing the preamp and then 
taking all the relays out of the preamp/relay box outside we finally 
found a couple of N connectors in line that had suffered the usual 
indignity here of losing all evidence of connecting pins!  Replaced 
those and 432 was back just fine.  Was chilly ourside and did all that 
by flashlight. Unfortunately no 432 EME activity.  More connectors to 
add to the the W4ZST "Wall of Flame" collection of gutless N connectors.

We ran the FT DX 3000 on 6m with the Beko and stacked 5 el beams. The 
usual 2m station: Flex 1500, DEMI  transverter, LL amp and 2 x 12 
stacked beams.  Same for 222 but 2 x 15 beams and 432 with 2 x 25 el 
beams.  902 had 2 x 33 el loop yagis and 1296 is 2x 45 el loopers and 
2304 is a 76 el blowtorch loop yagi.  Flex 1500 i.f. on 1296 and an 817 
2m i.f. for 902 and 2304.  45W on 902, 150W on 1296 and 18W on 2304.

Thanks to all our operators, visitors and stations we worked. Note the 
next contest is June 14-16 and September contest Sept 13-15. Put those 
on your calendars. Another contest that I think we should do this year 
is the CQWW VHF this summer.  They will have separate weekends for 
CW/SSB and digital so maybe we'll get to talk to our friends some.  
SSB/CW weekend is July 5-6 and Digital is July 19-20.  I think we could 
have some fun with those this year too.

73, Bob W4ZST
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