[VHFcontesting] Chasing VUCC [ THIS ONE'S FOR GENE!]

[Les Rayburn]

Today's mail brought a simple QSL card from Greg Green, VA3ZDX in 
Ontario, Canada confirming EN93 on 2 Meter sideband. The card was of the 
normal size, with typical graphics. Attractive, but in itself, nothing 
more or less remarkable then any of the other 1,000 or so in my modest 
collection.

It's ordinary appearance belies it's significance to me. Greg had sent 
me an e-mail about a week ago when he mailed the card, letting me know 
that it was on it's way. He'd sent another one two years ago, but 
somewhere along the way it had been swallowed up and lost.

For the past six days, I had asked my wife several times per day if the 
mail had come yet. And then waited for her to sort the bills, catalogs, 
and other items---hoping that there would be something for me. Not since 
the days of box tops, and novelty catalogs had I anticipated the arrival 
of the day's mail so keenly.

Today, I had been distracted and missed the carriers arrival. A few 
hours later, I happened to ask my wife if anything had come for me. Abby 
just smiled and said, "Yes, I left in on the arm of the chair in the 
living room. Didn't you see it?"

I rushed into the main room. My hands trembled as I held the card--and I 
could barely stop them from shaking as I tore it open. My total of 
confirmed grids had hovered at 99 for over a month--so I knew this was 
the "one". Not willing to believe my own eyes, I entered the 
confirmation into my logging program, and asked it to generate a 
detailed report of all confirmed grids on 2 Meters. I sent that file to 
my printer, and scanned the paper for the total results---sure enough, 
the software confirmed that my total now stood at 100 grids.

THE FIRST STEP OF A LONG JOURNEY

This journey began in March of 2007. Back surgery had forced my wife and 
I to abandon our three story home where we raised two children, and 
buried a dear pet dog, Sissy. That was the home with the marks on the 
wall, where we had charted the progress of our children's 
growth--watched them go off to high school dances, and posed for 
graduation pictures. That home also provided ample room for my 
passionate interest in 160 Meters and even low frequency "Lowfer" work 
on 160-190 KHz.

We found out new single story home that meet our requirements. Brick 
house, single story, hardwood floors, etc. We wanted something low 
maintenance to fit into our hectic lives, and didn't want to be burdened 
with a fixer-upper. In this area, if you want new construction, you 
either live in an HOA neighborhood or a long, long way from town. I knew 
that the new home would mean no outdoor antennas, but decided that my 
wife's comfort outweighed my hobbies.

The new home did have a large attic space, and a quick check with an HT 
confirmed that the shingles had little effect on RF inside. I reasoned 
that I could easily mount some J-Poles inside, and possibly a small beam 
to get into distant repeaters. At the time, I was serving as Section 
Emergency Coordinator for Alabama, and EMCOMM was my chief concern. The 
privacy fence around the back offered the possibility of a hidden loop 
NVIS antenna for HF--so I figured that was good enough.

The first year in the house passed quickly, and I didn't miss low 
frequency work too much. I had tried that loop antenna on 160 Meters, 
but it refused to load up well--and DX seemed impossible. It performed 
a  bit better on 75 Meters. At least well enough to get into the state 
wide ARES nets. I thought maybe I'd try my hand at 20 Meters and I still 
had an FT-857D with a Tarheel in the truck--that offered some ham work 
during my daily commute. I told myself that I didn't miss the other stuff--

A CHANCE DISCOVERY

Over the years, I'd always been interested in weak signal VHF/UHF work, 
but never found time to get serious about it. I'd been a fairly serious 
TV DX'er in my old home, logging stations from as far away as Colorado, 
New Mexico, Mexico, and Canada. So when each issue of QST arrived, I 
usually read the "World Above 50 MHz" column with some interest. Reading 
through some back issues one day, I re-read a column from Gene 
Zimmerman, W3ZZ called "Chasing VUCC' that was all about earning VUCC. I 
had some time off from work for the Christmas break--so I read that 
article two or three times back to back.

My interest stirred, I wandered out to the garage and up into the attic. 
I looked at the small 3 element beam that was mounted vertically. It 
worked well, allowing me to access repeaters up to 100 miles away at 
time. I wondered how it might perform if I flipped it to horizontal? I 
quickly changed out the u-bolts and went down to the ham shack to try it 
out. My Icom 746 offered 2 Meter SSB capability, though I had never made 
a single contact. I dialed in 144.200 and gave a quick CQ after 
listening to noise for ten minutes. Nothing.

I rotated the small beam to the North, towards Birmingham...figuring 
there would be more people monitoring in that area. Another CQ, and an 
answer...

JANUARY 2008--THE FIRST CONTACT AND A VHF ELMER

A couple of weeks later brought the ARRL VHF January Contest. I figured 
this would be a great place to work some grids, and make some real 
progress on VUCC. I figured I could work 15-20 grids easily during a 
busy contest. I'd have that award in no time!

Instead, I managed just seven QSO's, and listened to literally 20 hours 
of noise. I worked three grids, and got so bored at one point that I 
assembled an old 6 Meter GP antenna that I had in the attic, just so I 
could "hand out another band" to the locals. I knew that the 
polarization was wrong, but it worked well enough to give out 6 Meter 
contacts to two stations in EM63.

One bright spot was that I met Jimmy Long, W4ZRZ during that contest. I 
was amazed, because he stopped in the middle of the contest to have a 
twenty minute QSO with me, offering advice, encouragement, and an offer 
to loan me equipment to get started on other bands! Wow! You'd never get 
a station to stop in the middle of an HF contest, not even on the 
"Gentleman's Band"! I had a VHF elmer, and a new friend.

SIX YEARS LATER

It's taken six years, but honestly, they've been the most enjoyable 
years in the hobby. My list of VHF elmers has grown past Jimmy Long to 
include dozens of others; J.D., Marshall, Jack Bruce, Bill, Neil, etc. I 
can't say enough how grateful I am to all of them--and to those on these 
e-mail lists too.

I've added bands, and listened to a lot more noise...but enjoyed every 
second of it.

The end of the journey is both satisfying and bittersweet. I plan to 
continue chasing new grids on 2 Meters, hopefully using a portable EME 
station that I want to set up in the driveway at night, when my 
neighbors are asleep. But I'll also focus more now on 222 and 432 VUCC. 
Gene's article predicted that most would complete those awards long 
before they managed 100 grids on 2 Meters, but he didn't count on attic 
mounted antennas, I guess.

Gene, W3ZZ and I didn't always agree on things, but I hope that he knows 
he inspired someone with his words that day. I'll be forever grateful 
for what he brought into my life. This one's for you, Gene.



-- 
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73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf

6M VUCC #1712
AMSAT #38965
Grid Bandits #222
Southeastern VHF Society
Central States VHF Society Life Member
Six Club #2484

Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light