[VHFcontesting] VE3/KC8QVO EN39 Post-trip update

[steve d]

I just got home from EN39. What a drive! 20 hours there and 20.5 hours  back. I didn' have any problems getting through Canadian or US customs,  and no problems operating in Ontario (I didnt expect any - I havent the  previous 4-5 years, but as always - things can change). 
  
  I got on the air on 6m with a dipole the first night we were there. I  had to get something set up HI. This prooved to be quite an antenna,  however. I worked my 1 and only pileup on this one. 
  
  It took me all day Saturday to set the beams up and get the mast  situated. I had to really use my head to figure it out. I spent half  the time walking around the rock trying to find where to guy it. I  couldn't bang steaks into the rock.. I only had a few trees to pick  from, and none of them provided the correct angles on the lines. 
  
  I was supposed to go to a party saturday but I opted out of it because  I knew how much work I had with the antennas -  A LOT. Luckily  everything went together with few snags. My tram system worked pretty  well. 
  
  Sunday morning I got the beams raised and ran those (6m only, though -  no contacts on 144 or 432) from Sunday afternoon through Thursday  morning. 
  
  Saturday 7/14 was the best day - 6 opened up pretty good. EM's in the  morning and then the band got better - turned to  FN's and EM's .  Wednesday 7/18 was another great opening - this time CN's. The other  days were scattered tropo and localized Es openings. I didnt get any  contacts on Tuesday the 17th at all. 
  
  I set my screwdriver antenna up for HF at first. I tried to get on 40  meters but the band had S9 noise across the whole thing. The noise  didnt let up much until 20 and above. I cant quite figure it out. I  still had noise on 6 and 2 but it wasnt enough to move the meter any. 6  was actually VERY quiet, even though I had noticeable noise in there. 
  
  Thanks to all the stations I worked (about 3 pages in my log)! If I  worked you please send me a QSL card to confirm our QSO with an SASE  for a special card in return - I am going to make one out of some  pictures I took while I was there. 
  
  I will post back here a link to my photobucket site once I get my pictures loaded on there. 
  
  73's,
  Steve, KC8QVO
   
  
       
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