[SCCC] N6GP Sept VHF Limited Rover LP

[Tim Goeppinger]

                   ARRL September VHF Contest - 2020

Call: N6GP/R
Operator(s): N6GP
Station: N6GP/R

Class: Limited Rover LP
QTH: LAX
Operating Time (hrs): 8.8

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:   61     8
    2:   89    12
  222:   34     7
  432:   66     9
  903:
  1.2:
  2.3:
  3.4:
  5.7:
  10G:
  24G:
-------------------
Total:  250    41  Total Score = 14,227

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Special SCCC Comments:
Thank you for the great level of participation again this time!  Southern Calif is now a hotbed of VHF Contest
activity, and is producing scores that are comptetive nationally.  Was great to work Tony K4XSS on 2 bands for
DM02 (San Clemente Is)!  Was awesome to see our new rover Mike KX6A on his first rove producing a big score.
 He is going to be a force to be reckoned with!  Nice job!  Again, I really appreciate the time and effort everyone put into this event.
Here the stations that I give superstar status to for all their QSOs!  Amazing!
        Name      Call        #QSOs
        Ray      AD6AF         15
        Ryan     N7OW/R        14
        Jim      K6FGV         11
        Bruce    KG6IYN        10
        Lynn     KG6DNY         8
        Marty    N6VI           8
        Mike     K6HF           8
        John     K6MI           7 (4 mults)
        Ducky    KW6ACK         7
    And the many others out there!  Thank you! -Tim

 Comments:

The fires in So Calif caused all the National Forests to be closed, so that
messed up my plans to go to Keller Peak for DM14.

Started the contest at Signal Hill for DM03.  I arrived way early, and had the
most leisurely setup time ever.  Watched F-18s take off from Long Beach airport
in the smoky haze.  Had a good start there, but nothing out of the area on 6m.
KG6IYN got dozens of ARES people active in SDG.  Thanks Bruce!  Stayed 1.5 hours
and headed to my new DM04 in my old stomping grounds of Hastings Ranch
Pasadena.
That place worked out well.  A little hard to breathe, and there were ashes
falling.  I pray that this neighborhood survives the fire later this week.
I then headed to a new spot I have in Diamond Bar which is a marginal spot for
DM14.  Located by Pantera Elementary School up on a hill, it has a good shot
to DM04. I was shocked when I worked DM12.  Maybe a reflection off the
mountains?  About sundown I drove 1 mile to Diamond Bar Center for DM13.  Met up
with Ryan N7OW/R and his awesome rover truck.  I had invited him over from
Arizona to pick up a bunch of QSOs and mults in Socal saturday.  Was great to
meet Ryan and we had a fast food dinner when the contest died down.
I had a solid 120 QSOs after the first day, and I knew Sunday was my
"Driving for Multipliers" day.  I made a snap decision to go to Jack
in the Box Grapevine
to give out the DM04 multiplier, and receive many mults up north in return. Got
all 4 bands with K6MI (DM06) and Mike K6MYC (DM07), plus others like KW6S CM96
and WA6OSX way up near Sacramento.   I went up the 5 about 10 miles to the
Chevron on Hwy 166 for DM05.  It was on the valley floor, and didn't work any
new mults from there.
I high tailed it home to Signal Peak in Newport beach for the last 1.5 hours of
the contest, and found a lot of stations to work.  Saw rookie rover and friend
Mike KX6A with his fantastic setup. In the last 5 minutes of the contest I
worked Rita KM6LY (N6WIN's Mom!) for DM14 on 220 for my last mult to sweep the 5
common SoCal grids.

I didn't make any major strategy mistakes this time, and I executed my plan fairly
well.  DM14 was lacking in QSOs because the hilltop sites weren't available.
Except toward the end, I stayed away from FT8 for local QSOs.  Used it in
Grapevine for the distant shots on 6 and 2m.  The pandemic is still a boon to
VHF contesting, and the activity is way up. FM is where the action is on 2 and
440.  This is a personal best for Sept VHF in QSOs and score.
Only improvements I would make would be to store FM and SSB channels for 2 and
440 into my radio for fast switching.  Also need to figure out how to keep the
COM port numbers from changing every time I boot my laptop.

QSOs by grid:

  DM03  69
  DM04  69
  DM05  7
  DM13  82
  DM14  23

Rig: IC-7000 100W
  220 Wouxun 5W
  6m Moxon
  2m 440 Diamond X30
  2m 4 element yagi
  440 7 element yagi
  220 5 element yagi, 5/8 wave mag mount