[VHFcontesting] CQ WW VHF 6 m condx

[Zack Widup]

Wow, I thought the 6 meter opening on Saturday evening made it up that 
far.  I started hearing and working East coast stations on 6 at 2300Z 
Saturday and the opening continued till 0130 or so.  At that time the band 
shifted and I was working DM69-DM79 stations in Colorado on 6.  At 0230Z 
there was another opening to the east coast and I was working both 
directions simultaneously, with the east coast stations off the back of 
the beam. 6 meters finally died here at about 0300Z.

It was nothing like the tremendous opening we had last year but it wasn't 
too shabby!

I thought I heard the eastern stations working as far north as EN55 during 
the main opening.

I was also QRP. All in all, 51 QSO's in 28 grids on 6 and 13 QSO's in 6 
grids on 2 meters, for 2618 points.  I only had 7 hours of operating time. 
Wish I could've managed more.

Looking forward to the next one!

73, Zack W9SZ

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007, Ellen Rugowski wrote:

> Oh well Eric,
>
> I must have been in a bit of a semi-dead zone myself.  Condx. were spotty
> here on the very northeasternmost corner of EN-52.   It was better than the
> June contest was on 6m, but I didn't feel like staying glued to the radio,
> so I'd listen every 10-15 minutes or so, and then tune for 5 minutes or so.
> I lost 6m capability with the sale of my FT-897D, 2 1/2 weeks ago, to help
> pay for car repairs. But I was able to get my hands on a FT-620B for peanuts
> at a local swapfest 2 weeks ago. It only has 10W output but the receiver is
> pretty good.
>
> I lost time on Saturday, due to the need to finish rewiring the mic that was
> given to me with my FT-620B.  I also had to run errands (I had to deliver
> two older kittens to their new home on Saturday afternoon for a local animla
> shleter I volouteer at).  No long openings.  They were very short (maybe
> 5-10 minutes at the most), and very specific geographically (in other words
> I heard the same 2 stations or so for the entire opening). Some signals were
> strong, most weren't.  I only made 8 QSOs. Part of it was antenna related,
> but it seemed like Joe, N9UX (who some of you may have worked during his
> rover ops on other contests) who lives in the neighborhood, was working them
> at a higher rate than me, but it was not on the level of an order of
> magnitude higher than me, considering that he uses a TS-2000, and a 6m yagi.
> I did have a highlight late this morning - I worked the west coast: K7CW
> (CN82 [Pacific Coast of Oregon] on CW [once I learned how to turn down the
> sidetone level, which was ridiculously loud]); and W7CE (CN87 [Pacific Coast
> of Washington] on SSB).  I also worked W5WVO (DM65 , in New Mexico) last
> night.  It just seemed really spotty for me. Most of the time, I would hear
> nothing, and occasionally a very weak one down in the noise.  I submitted my
> log in the QRP class, just to say that I submitted a log.
>
> 73,
> Ellen - AF9J
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Smith" <kb7dqh at donobi.net>
> To: <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 8:13 PM
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] CQ WW VHF 6 m condx
>
>
>> Well, glad to hear the rest of the country had decent DX on
>> 6...  Out here in the PNW, there were some brief, weak
>> openings into EN and FN,  which kept those of us serious
>> about working it scrambling when it would appear.
>>  Otherwise, local participation was up over previous years.
>>
>>
>> This was the first time in a long time I simply parked on a
>> rock and worked it... started late, but still managed 106
>> QSO's on both bands...  The FT 450 performed marvelously on
>> 6...
>>
>> Eric
>> KB7DQH