[VHFcontesting] The Thrill of Victory...and the Agony of Defeat

[Les Rayburn]

Last night's mad scramble to return home, and finish upgrades to the station prior to the June contest provided no shortage of drama. As the late Jim McCay so aptly put it, it was both thrill and agony. 

We returned home from a shoot in Ft. Worth, Texas and immediately started work on the station. I installed the new Icom 756 ProIII, and got it working with the computer interfaces, etc. I then started trying to make my fist contact on WSJT using the Icom 910H on 2 meters. No luck yet, but I think the system is working properly. I worked some DX on 6 meters, while working on antennas in the shack. 

I noticed that the skip on 6 meters kept getting shorter, and on a hunch, I tuned the 910H to 144.200mhz. The band was quite, but the noise level started to rise as I listened. Then suddenly I heard a station calling very loudly.... "CQ, CQ, CQ This is Kilo Zero Kilo Echo in Delta Mike Seven Nine!" I almost fell out of my chair! In a near panic, I shouted my callsign and grid square into the microphone. With a great deal of surprise, I heard him come right back to me. 

We signed, and I scanned up and down the band listening for more signals. I checked the 144 reflector, and saw no activity...so I quickly spotted K0KE. Then I heard K0GU working a station that I couldn't hear. While I waited for their QSO to finish, I started speed dialing nearby VHF'ers. Put calls into Jack, WA5UUD, Jim Long, W4ZRZ, Bill in Auburn, and some folks in Tennessee. 

I called K0GU, and I heard him try to return my call, but then the band dropped. I switched to CW and called him again...still no luck. I listened to Jim Long, W4ZRZ and Jack, WA5UUD work a couple of stations that I wasn't hearing...and then the band dropped again. 

Later, I worked KB5AAB in nearby EM51. This was still a new one for me, so I was excited by this one too. Then I heard some stations in North Carolina working some folks in Tennessee. I couldn't get to them with the phones ringing, dogs barking, and other chaos in my home. But it was great to hear so many signals on the band. Watching the reflectors it appeared that the cloud drifted North of us. Several stations in Tennessee continued to work e-skip for at least two hours. Wow! 

My joy soon turned to sadness though. Working on virtually no sleep at the end of a 10 hour drive, I made a mistake during a test with my 222 system, and managed to smoke the finals on the Yaesu FT-736R. Ouch! Now I'm left with only FM for the contest, which really hurts. 

So a few questions for the group:

A. Who would you recommend sending the Yaesu FT-736R off to for repairs? 
B. Anyone have a 222 transverter that they'd like to sell? 
C. Can I still work anyone with 100 watts into a horizontal Yagi on 222, running FM only? 

Watching the activity last night, it seemed clear to me that a lot more folks could be worked if the band had more activity. As stations scrambled to their radios looking for the e-skip opening, a lot of nice tropo contacts were also worked. We just need more folks on the air. 

Hope to work a lot of new grids this weekend during the contest, and maybe bag my first ever WSJT QSO as well. Despite the failure on 222, I'm still having a blast. 2-Meter e-skip into Colorado has to be one of the highlights of my amateur experience. 

See you during the contest! 

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
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Les Rayburn, director
High Noon Film
100 Centerview Drive Suite 111
Birmingham, AL 35216-3748 
205.824.8930
205.824.8960 fax
205.253.4867 cell