[VHFcontesting] Sprint

[Dave Olean]

Hi Buddy,
Using the calling frequency is always some sort of a problem and it never fails that somebody will get upset. The farther away from any activity center you get, the advantages of using the calling frequency get bigger.  In the NYC area, it would be nuts to run on the calling frequency as QRM gets really bad in a hurry, but all those guys in the outlying areas are there so the use is so very tempting to use .200 from NYC for example. This time, I moved 5 khz down from 144.200 and stayed there almost all night. I think it worked pretty well. In the past I have been 20 kHz away and seemed to have more trouble working larger #s of stations.
    I think a good method would be for stations away from activity centers to alternate between the calling frequency and some fixed frequency nearby. Don't forget to announce the frequency when you work someone on the calling frequency. Spreading out is a good thing, but hard to do when signals are very weak or fleeting. I found QSB peaks to be very pronounced last night. Some stations were there for 20 seconds and then gone for good! I think much Sprint activity is now being coordinated on the chat pages. That could help in finding some distant and weak stations. My shack is so remote, I have no internet. My tuning knob gets a lot of use.
    I found a few new stations on the air which is very encouraging. I was surprised at the activity. I wish I could have stayed on longer, but the rain was  starting by 9:30, and I could not wait and negotiate the hill and snow and mud in a driving rain.


Dave K1WHS

-----Original Message----- 
From: beamar 
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 7:32 AM 
To: FLWSS ; vhfcontesting at contesting.com 
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Sprint 

13 QSO 11 Grids. I was on from a little after seven until a little 
before 10. Best DX was K4RW @ 344 miles. Nothing to compare with you 
guys in the North East. One guy yelled at me for calling CQ on the 
call frequency. I must be really out of it - I thought that what the 
call frequency was for. Worked two new stations that really didn't 
seem to know what a contest was all about. One of them went on to make 
some more contacts. Promising!

Buddy WB4OMG
EL 98
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting