[VHFcontesting] Beating the East Coast monopoly stations

[Marshall Williams]

Hi Mike, Greg and everyone else on the reflector......

Well guys, I seem to get into QST all OK.  I have yet to win an ARRL VHF 
contest(I have two seconds in Jan), although I have won the UHF contest 
and the CQ VHF contest.  So it is possible to get into the magazines and 
not live in the populated "Golden Corridor".....sarcasm dripping here......

In fact, I live about 22 miles past the boon docks in very rural East 
Texas.  There is NO population density here....there is a lot of pine 
tree density, but I have never been able to get the trees to pass the 
Tech test......SIGH...

I was once told by a real VHF "big boy" that I could beat the East Coast 
guys, but that it would take a lot of work.......Here is my estimate.....

1.  Build a serious, first-class VHF/UHF Multi-multi contest station.  
Estimated cost $250,000.  Done.
2.  Build many, many 6 band rovers.....real rovers, capable of working 
200+ miles on 6M thru 1296--not 1W rovers capable of only working 100ft 
across a grid corner.  Estimated cost here is $10,000 each, not counting 
the vehicle.  I have three 8-band rovers(6M thru 3456), two 6-band 
rovers(6M thru 1296) and three or four small rovers(6M, 2M, and 432).  
That is not nearly enough to post a 2+M score.  How many 6 band rovers 
would be required????  Well our rovers run a standard 12 grid pattern, 
so IF we were able to work them on every band in every grid(which we 
can't), we would get 144 QSO points from each rover.  Since we usually 
get 250+ multipliers, each rover would give us 36,000 points.  NOW, IF 
we could just field 50 of these 6-band rovers, we should get somewhere 
around 1.8M points.  If you throw in all the fixed station contacts, 
meteor scatter, etc. we would have a 2+M score similar to W2SZ.  NO 
PROBLEM!!!!!  Except that this would cost about $500,000 in rover 
equipment......Steve at DEMI would be estatic!!!!!  It would also 
require 50 dedicated rover ops.
3.  Cultivate many, many good operators to come operate the Multi-multi 
station.  I have tried this and I do have some very good ops, but I 
never have enough so that everyone can operate AND get plenty of rest.  
We need to be able to put new, rested ops in play every 3-4 hours.  So 
far, we don't have this.  We also need enough operators to cover the 
night-time hours from 9:30PM to 7AM on Sunday morning.  These ops need 
to be very good on digital meteor scatter and digital EME.  Usually, we 
have to do this with only 2 guys.......2 very tired guys by Sunday at 
7AM.  ASIDE:  If any serious VHF ops want to come over here and operate, 
you are welcome.  Please contact me off the reflector.
4.  Cultivate many, many good rover ops and get them out running the 
bands and the grids.  I have done this too and I have have some very 
good rover ops.  I am always working on gettin new guys out 
roving....usually starting them with just an IC706 type radio and simple 
mag mount antennas for 6M, 2M, and 432.  A few of them are already 
asking for 222 gear(what a deal!!).  Finding 50 ops that will go out 
with a 6-band rover and work hard for the entire weekend is sort of 
problematical(read that as "It Ain't Going to Happen!!), as I live in 
the land of very low population. 

Still, all this is possible(although VERY unlikely) if I / we wanted to 
work hard enough to make it happen.  With enough money and enough 
dedicated people, the East Coast monopoly stations could be "frozen out" 
in June and Sept as well as in Jan......in January, Mother Nature takes 
care of it for me.....HI.  The problem is that no one wants to spend the 
time and money required. 

FLAME ALERT!!!!   To those of you that just can't wait to flame me on 
this, please understand that while all this is possible, it won't 
happen.  While everything above is truthful, a good part of it was 
written "tongue in cheek". 

We are just going to rock along over here doing the best that we can.  I 
do try to improve the station every year and I do try very hard to 
increase the rover activity, especially among new hams.  I am all about 
activity, and I try to promote activity whenever I can.  I have found 
that VHF contesting is a very good way to promote activity among the 
newer hams in our midst.  They get a chance to go out and actually DO 
something. 

I will leave you with this thought.....in an effort to help us keep 
nipping at the heels of the "east coast monopoly" stations, try to make 
sure that you work us in June and Sept.  If you are in the 600-1200mile 
range, we should be able to work you using digital meteor scatter on 6M 
and maybe on 2M.  If you would just put up a single large yagi or two 
medium yagis, we can work you via digital EME.  You get a "rare" grid 
and we get one too....what a deal!!   All contacts gratefully 
appreciated.......73 Marshall K5QE

Mike (KA5CVH) Urich wrote:

>On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 06:47, Greg Chartrand <w7my at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>The east coast good ole boys don't like having a west coast station in QST so I expect the rules will change and kill the grid circling lunacy. Yes its stupid but the only way the west coast can be acknowledged in QST, for some folks that's what makes the effort worth while.
>>    
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>
>Mike wrote
>
>Its not just the East Coast ... its the Gulf Coast too!
>  
>