Well there's always a first time and this may be it for folks complaining about being bored.  Just the worst propagation I've experienced in the 20 years I've been doing it.  It also appeared that there was a lack of activity with many of the usual stations apparently not on.  It could also have been the severe weather around the Southeast and of course the Falcons game drew some attention away from the contest.  At any rate, we have set a club low score and number of Q's for at least the past 20 years I've been involved with the Fourlanders.  We also had the smallest number of our own operators participating this time.  Let's not let that be a habit or let this one score set us back for future contests.

Score Summary:  12,348 points raw unscrutinized results.

Eight of the operators got together for Saturday lunch at Rooster's and then returned to the shack to kick off the contest, although kick off was not an encouraging word to use this time.  We had Hickory Prime BBQ Pork, Jerry's great Pinto beans and sausage,  cole slaw, jalapeno poppers ala Jerry and Mexican cornbread for a great Saturday night dinner.  Pancakes and Sausage for breakfast and Turkey/Ham/Cheese sandwiches and chips for lunch Sunday.  We skipped dinner on Sunday as most folks started going home as early as 3PM leaving Ron and I here with the dead bands and highest winds and heaviest rain of the weekend and we even gave up and shut down at 8PM, forgoing the final hours of the contest.  I don't think we missed anything by doing that.  Around 7PM there was very strong propagation into Texas on 6m and I made a couple of Q's but there were just no stations on taking part in the opening.  I did work our good friend and longtime Fourlander Dick K5AND in Austin.

We had very strong rain static on 6m and 2m during the heavy rains which we have not been experiencing much since we made the grounded hairpin feeds for those bands antennas.  Not sure what was the real cause but the noise levels were too high to make weak-signal Q's when it was happening. 

Everyone who operated Johnny's new 6m station with the FLex 6500 seemed to like it.  We ended up using the laptop and large 24" second monitor for the panadaptor rather than using the Maestro for control of the Flex radio  I really liked it and also used it for the Monday night 6m net.  I don't think we got a really good feel for it though because of the poor conditions and small number of Q's.  It looks like it's a 'keeper' though.  Kos's new station with the Yaesu FT-991 worked well but again hard to judge from the limited number of Q's.  No problems with it at least.  Thanks again to Jack K4FSE for the use of his W6PQL solid state 2m amp for the contest even though he couldn't be here due to a prior commitment.  Thanks also to Brian NX9O for use of his excellent 222 station for the contest when he couldn't make it either.  Ron had his usual station and antennas for 432.  My personal thanks to Bill for working on getting my Arduino boards up and running and also for installing the microcell here.  It was a challenge to get logged in and complete the installation! 

We conducted the required annual FourLanders meeting on Sunday during a lull in activity (like we had a problem finding that!).  The current officers agreed and were re-elected, there being no other nominations or volunteers.  We had the treasurers report and voted favorably on club purchase of the 'BlackHawk' tower trailer which has been held by W4ZST for years.  Discussions were also held on new contesting computers as we see that we are being forced by both MS and software writers to upgrade to Win7 and eventually Win10, as programs are now offering less backward compatibility than they had been doing in the past.  Ron is tasked with identifying and purchasing as needed.  We also had a discussion about interference among our own stations when we are set up in the limited space at the mountaintop campground.  Several suggestions were presented and considered for placement of trailers and antenna towers there.  We also discussed the results of our FM foray during the September contest and had several suggestions for continuing with some FM capability in future contests.  Dues were collected from all active members here for the contest.

BTW, we are still looking for a new cook and of course new operators interested in VHF weak-signal operating and contesting.

Thanks again to all our operators, visitors and stations who worked us during the contest.  I will review the logs and submit them before the deadline as usual.

Be sure to put the June contest dates, June 9-12, on your calendars.  We have out reservations at the campground and will need to have a good turnout of operators and trailer pullers for the contest.  Thanks.

73, Bob W4ZST