[VHFcontesting] DTV transition & June Contest

[Michael Sapp]

Hi Folks: With both CH2 and CH13 going digital, those of us at W3KWH are looking forward to actually being able to hear weak signals out to the East Coast in the June contest. Channel 2 switched from its transistor amplifier to its tube amp for the final month (May) and the broadband noise (LOS 5 mi) on 6M went from S6 down to S1 at the club station when pointing East through North.  CH2 will vacate on June 12, removing the remaining 20db of crud on the 6M band.   Channel 13 has temporarily moved to its CH16 subcarrier which means the constant S6 white noise (8 mi LOS) is also gone from 60 through 120 deg azimuth on 222MHz.  So we are looking forward to actually being able to compete on 6M and 222 versus hearing like EA3JE on 160/80M.  PBS CH13 is going back to its 216MHz allocation in August, but we are hoping the digital RFI will be less than the analog audio and video carriers---or that funding drys up and they expire.  No rules whining from us, we are just glad to enjoy what ever VHF propagation becomes available. 73  Mike wa3tts