All the hot weather and high pressure for weeks suddenly went away for the contest weekend and yielded to low pressure and much rain around the metro area.  Fortunately we didn't have it too bad here at the W4ZST QTH hosting the June contest.  Had some rain but nothing that really bothered us or caused us to shut down.  Lightning storm headed our way veered off the the east and we didn't have to worry about it.  But the low pressure didn't give us the nice band openings that had been happening for the several weeks before the contest. 

Just got the latest QST and we placed Second Nationwide in Multi-Op for the January contest.  First in the SE Division.  Best showing ever from EM84.

We experienced the same heavily weighted digital activity again this contest and because of the heavy activity on 6m the upper bands suffered low activity.  One of the major problems for multi-op stations like us and also for single-op multi-band stations is that there is no way to pass folks to other bands now like we have always been able to do on phone or CW.  We will have to see how FT8 may now force changes in the contests because of this.  It is really limiting activity on the upper bands.  We had 12 operators here for the contest at the W4ZST shack in Dahlonega, EM84ao, four visitors and nine sleeping overnight on Saturday.

Johnny K4SQC was the 6m band captain and the station was his M2 6m SS 1kW amp and ZST's IC-7300 with the stacked pair of 5 element beams at 35/50'.  We also have the stacked pair of M2 HO loop omni's that can be selected using the Bip/Bop Box.  We used the ZST AMD Ryzen 7 computer for the station and were running two monitors, one for the N1MM logging program and the other for a panadaptor display from the 7300 through N1MM.  Also of course the new WSJT-x v2.0 software for the digital modes.  Kim WG8S, Sherman W4ATL, Paul W4SKI and Bob K4VBM mostly ran the 6m station and made 351 Q's and 107 grids on FT8, 43 Q's and 8 Grids on phone and only one MSK144.

Our regular 2m band captain Kos N4NIA was unable to make the contest this time.  Johnny and I set up the 2m EME station to also be terrestrial.  We were using a Flex 1500, DEMI 2m transverter and M2 - 1K2 amp.  We had the two K1FO 12 element yagis still up since January and the 2m omni-beams and the two XP EME beams.   No  2m EME QSO's were made even though we were seeing and decoding signals.  I had accidentally left the transmit on the terrestrial antennas when we were trying EME and by the time I found that, we had lost the EU window and didn't end up making any.   2m results were 11Q/5G on FT8, 21Q/9G on SSB.

Brian NX9O was able to be here for the contest.  The 7 phone Q's to 4 grids left him pretty bored most of the time.  Brian changed his station this time using a Flex 1500, DEMI transverter, Lunar LInk Amp and a pair of M2 cross pole 30 element beams with a mast mounted preamp.    No takers for EME or FT8 this contest.

Ron WW8RR had his station on 432 with an IC-910H, HB K2RIW kW amp and four K2RIW antennas with Az-El.   We also have the 432 omni-beams up.  We had the antennas with Left/Right polarization this time to see if that helped with EME.  Only 2 EME Q's though so no definitive result there and with 1 Q on CW and 13 phone Q's to 6 grids and 3Q/3G using FT8, we don't think the polarization hurt there but will try it again in September, hoping there will be more activity to help decide if the L/R polarization is better.  This was the first time we've made FT8 Q's on 432.  

W4ZST had the station for 1296 set up this time and unfortunately made no Q's.   I had Johnny's IC-910 and a new Beko 1296 amp to a pair of 45 element loop yagis at 30 feet or so.  All shiny and pretty and no place to go!  A couple of our regular contacts for 1296 were unable to get on this time.

We did encounter a number of problems with the N1MM and WSJT-x software packages.  Some maybe our fault and some not.  The packages are getting more complicated and are also becoming more integrated.  We had strange things happen and many things that were solved by rebooting software, computers and radios.  We do need to keep up with these softwares and keep using them at home to be more used to operating them and keeping problems to a minimum.

Our score of 70,810 is the highest score we have posted from operating in EM84, January, June or August.  May come out pretty good in the final standings.   Some parts of the country were affected by the severe weather and heavy rain.  We'll just have to wait and see.   Our other operators for the contest were Jerry W5TDY, Jim W4KXY, Bill KI4US and Rich KX4KD.

Our visitors were Brad KM4QHI, Craig KN4DLS, Carter KN4DLY and Andrew, who had just discovered Ham Radio that day visiting some portable operators on the mountain above us who had visited here before and told him about us and he came to visit here too.  We probably overwhelmed him with our jargon.  We hope to see him again and keep him interested in Ham Radio.

We did repair the roof vent on Great White and placed RV style tire covers to protect all our trailer tires from the Sun since the last contest as planned and approved.  No other club business was undertaken but Jim did collect some dues.

Last but not least, Jerry smoked some fine briskets for our Saturday night dinner along with pinto beans, potato salad, slaw, smoked sausage and his famous jalapeno poppers.  Special thanks to Jerry for the great cooking and for volunteering to be our regular cook, letting me go back to being a needed band captain.  I had pancakes, sausage and coffee for everyone for Sunday breakfast and we had ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches and chips for lunch on Sunday.  About ten of us met for lunch at Roosters on Saturday and came back to get all the radios on the air for the contest.

Make note on your calendars that we will do the September VHF contest at MileHigh Campground on Sept 13, 14, 15 and 16.  Jim also managed to make reservations and a deposit for both contest weekends next year.

Thanks again to all our operators, visitors, friends and the folks we made contact with on the bands for the contest.

73, Bob W4ZST for the W4NH Fourlanders