[VHFcontesting] Conditions in 144 Sprint and ARRL Sept contest.

[Carrington, Walter]

ARRL Sept. VHF Contest:  2 meters only:  81 Qs,  31 grids.  9 or 10 new grids!
144 Sprint:  15 Qs,  9 grids.
Ashburnham, MA  FN42bq
Rig:  ICOM 746PRO,  100 watts on 2m,  17B2 at 12' off the ground (but the ground is 1300' ASL).

I'd like to thank numerous stronger stations who had the patience to dig my signal out of the noise.  Conditions were good to excellent for most of both contests from here.

ARRL contest:  I heard W4IY booming in before the contest,  so decided instead of spending the first few hours of the contest putting an antenna for a second band,  I'd just chase grids on 2m.  Conditions remained excellent for most of the contest.  Worded EN80, EN81, EN82, EN83, EN71 (over 700 miles!).  This is pretty good for the setup I have now.  Stations in the EN80s were booming in at 5x7-5x8 for many hours of the contest,  but didn't hear many of them.  So K8ROX might be at 5x8 for several hours,  but few other EN80 stations.  Oddly enough the next day K8RO (EN82) was booming in for quite a while.

144 Sprint:  W3SO (FN00) and VE3AX (FN02) were booming in,  much stronger than in the ARRL contest.  But I heard nothing further away,  which seemed odd considering how strong they were. 

I think it's time to get my tower permit and hook up my amplifier.
--Walter Carrington,  K1CMF