[VHFcontesting] W3SO FN00 Sept VHF Contest

[Ed Steeble]

QSOs 1438, Grids 301 = Claimed Score 550,228

OPERATORS:     W3BTX,WR3Z,K4VV,ND3A,W3TEF,W3SF,W3YOZ,KB3LGS
(FYI All are PVRC members)

SOAPBOX:       Murphy stuck in that the 222MHz computer would not boot so we
SOAPBOX:       resorted to logging 222 on an off-line computer. We probably 
missed
SOAPBOX:       making QSOs on all four bands with many stations since the
SOAPBOX:       222 operator watches the network for the stations needed, 
and on
SOAPBOX:       which band. On the plus side, after CQ WW VHF Contest Marty, 
W3YOZ, and
SOAPBOX:       the Altoona, PA team members upgraded the 2m antenna to a 
stacked, rotatable,
SOAPBOX:       15 el 2m beams and a rotatable 2m 17 el 2m beam.  We heard
SOAPBOX:       better and got good reports in the A-B comparisons before 
the contest.
SOAPBOX:       The station details are at <www.qrz.com/w3so>.
SOAPBOX:       The AU on 6m and 2m started about 2AM ET Saturday night and 
lasted
SOAPBOX:       until sunrise, then we had tropo and Es. Exciting Saturday 
night and Sunday.
SOAPBOX:       This time we had at least one QSO in each hour, and that was 
with
SOAPBOX:       only eight operators. All QSOs were either CW, SSB, or FM.
SOAPBOX:       We worked 30 different rover stations for 174 QSOs, about 
12% of our
SOAPBOX:       QSOs. Thank you rovers!
SOAPBOX:       This was our best score ever, beating our June 2004
SOAPBOX:       score by 145K.
SOAPBOX:       CU in the Fall Sprints and again in the January VHF contest.
ARRL-SECTION:  WPA

For the Wopsononock Mountaintop Operators,
Ed, K3IXD