[VHFcontesting] How many people are affected by the new rule change?

[Nate Duehr]

On May 27, 2009, at 6:57 PM, James Duffey wrote:

> If I look at the Classic Rover scores, which has larger numbers of
> participants, and hence better statistics, it looks like there are
> more QSOs made in the contest on 222 MHz than on 1296 MHz. You have to
> go all the way down to the 15th place finisher before you find someone
> with more QSOs on 1296 MHz than 222 MHz. So on the face of it, it
> seems like choosing 1296 over 222 MHz may be a poor strategy.  This
> makes sense, as it is a lot cheaper to generate power on 222 MHz than
> 1296 MHz.


Duffey, this may be a "regional" thing... but looking back at my 2006  
and 2007 logs, I have FAR more contacts on 1.2 GHz around here than on  
222.  The fixed stations have 1296 here instead of 222.  It shows up  
in the Sprints too, from what I hear.  222 night is utterly dead.

No idea why, but I know it's easier to bounce 1296 off of Mt. Evans  
and Pikes Peak and the rest of the Front Range from Eastern Colorado  
than it is to bounce 222 off of them.  Might be a function of terrain  
and how the terrain gets "utilized"... but that's maybe a reach with  
no backing.  Bouncing off of the 14'ers is a very common practice for  
extending range out here, as you know... Denver to Cheyenne with  
modest power and antennas on 2m is "difficult" for many stations, but  
the old-timers point out that if both stations point at Pikes... done  
deal.  Works every time.

I don't think I've ever worked another rover with 222 other than Eric,  
KR0VER (with his awesome Rover callsign! - Hi Eric, I know you're  
reading along!)... certainly not any others with anything more than a  
vertical 1/4 wave and an FM rig.

Last year there was a "part-time" rover who popped up near Longmont  
that all the multi-ops attempted to work who was using something that  
was VERY deaf on 223.5 FM.  We all blew huge power at him with  
directional antennas, and could copy him fine, but he needed five or  
six calls to respond at all to any of the fixed stations, including  
all the usual "big guns" with bigger power than us at W0KVA.  Took a  
while... but we all got him eventually... we had to bounce between him  
and Eric who was madly dashing to his last couple of grid squares on  
Sunday... kept things entertaining at the multi-op.

--
Nate Duehr, WY0X
nate at natetech.com