[VHFcontesting] Not the best results for K4GUN/R

[Steve Clifford]

This wasn't the greatest contest for me in terms of score.  I had to work on
Saturday but did manage to get to the truck for an hour during "lunch".
Economic realities prevented me from taking a long trip so I just worked the
local 6 grids near my QTH.  The strange thing to me was that I had about the
same limitations in January, but still managed a better score.  I thought 6
meter openings would make up for limited drive time.  It didn't.

Speaking of 6 meters... that turned into a real frustration.  On Saturday
(from the parking lot at work), it was going pretty well into TX and FL.
Unfortunately, I had to get back to work.  That night, it was still decent,
but not jumping like it had been.  Stations would fade in and out so rapidly
that I couldn't make contacts with as many as I could hear.  I managed a few
Q's from FM17 and 07.

Sunday, I drove to Hogback Overlook on Skyline Drive with brief stops in
FM09 and 19 on the way.  Hogback was a big disappointment.  There was no E
skip and local activity was WAY down.  I was at the same spot in January and
worked pile-ups with locals.

There were a few highlights.  We heard the VP9 station in FM72 while
driving.  We pulled over and extended the 6 meter moxon and finally got
him.  We also stumbled into a 4 way QSO with 3 other rovers.  The distance
between each of us was considerable, but we all make all the contacts on my
4 bands except I couldn't hear the most distant two on 432.  It was a neat
bit of camaraderie between rovers.

Finally, the last hour was spent in my truck parked in the yard next to the
house.  My wife (K4LIG) and I made one finaly effort but this time, with gin
an tonic in hand.  In the last 5 minutes, we found KO4YC in FM17.  He was
the only FM17 station I found and we worked him on all 4 bands, finishing
the log with 4 mults.  That's always fun!

In all, it was a disappointment as far as score.  Activity wasn't great and
our route was short.  Still though, we had a great time and made memories.

73
Steve
K4GUN/R