[VHFcontesting] "Secrets" of VHF contesting

[James Duffey]

Jay - You wrote:

 "Should this say "Veteran VHF contester and QST's The World Above 50 MHz 
 column editor Gene Zimmerman W3ZZ shares the secrets of successful VHF Contesting FROM THE 
 EAST COAST" ???'

 "<grin>"

Seriously, I hope Gene includes useful tips in his talk for maximizing one's scores from areas with low VHF density, and not just tailor his talk to the Potomac Valley folk. The lack of active VHF ops within normal working distance is clearly the biggest impediment to higher VHF contesting activity out here in NM, and I suspect in most of the country west of the 100th parallel. If there is no Es, it is easy to work out the active contesters on all bands in an hour or two. Then what do you do? Maybe Gene can give us some tips.

Using WSJT, MS, and EME is one way to get the multipliers up, and I hope that Gene includes how best to effectively use these modes in a contest. Speaking of which, I usually don't have much activity out here on Sprint nights, so I am going to try some WSJT experiments. Is anyone else up for giving this a try, perhaps to practice useful techniques for the June Contest?

I partially solved the lack of activity problem by becoming a rover and taking my station to where the activity is, but that is clearly not an option for everyone, and if there aren't any good openings one has spent a lot of gas money on a few QSOs. When I roved down the west coast of Kansas in September, I had problems working stations in the higher population areas in the eastern part of the state not turning their beams west as they thought there would be no activity there. One thing that helps is knowing where the rovers are and using APRS on the net helps there, but only the multi stations can use APRS on the net, and they usually have a pretty good idea of where the rovers are anyway. 

The PVRC webinars that I have listened to have been good, I suspect that this one will be no different.  Duffey
--
James Duffey KK6MC
DM65tc
Cedar Crest NM