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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