[VHFcontesting] W3SO 432 Fall Sprint 2004

[Ed Steeble]

W3SO for the 432 Fall Sprint was piloted by W3BTX. We had 55 QSOs in 25 Grids.

Soapbox: Here again was another lack luster sprint, with only the 
"faithful" few usual suspects showing up. W3SO stayed on for the entire 4 
hours, picking up the one, lone VE near the end of the contest. In fact he 
was the only VE heard during the entire 432 sprint although W3SO called CQ 
towards Canada most of the contest.

We even fired up the 2m rig and the band was quiet. Made a few 6m QSOs. 
So  the lower bands were dead and no help to us in getting people to move 
up to 432.

No rover QSOs. ND3F and W3IY were operating fixed.

There were no equipment crashed or blowups. Everything perked along at 
1.5KW so the problem we experienced during the September VHF contest has 
been solved  - knock on wood.  We are now using a battery in the MFJ voice 
keyer to avoid ground loops. Thanks to those who gave us signal reports and 
compliments on the signal.

The best DX was AA4ZZ in EM95 and W9GA in EN54.

For the team,
Ed
K3IXD