[VHFcontesting] ARRL June VHF QP Participation Question

[Zack Widup]

I have been using a 6 element 2m beam on a 12 foot boom. Almost all of my
VHF contesting has been from hilltops with the beam(s) up about 20 feet
from the ground. The 2m beam does OK but I have been thinking of going to
something bigger, as I operate QRP and in this category any additional
benefits are going to be from the antenna.

Still, the 2m beam does OK. I've worked as far as 500 miles with 10 watts
with it when there was a big opening. Most of the activity for me is in the
Chicago area, 100-150 miles to the north, but I do make farther QSO's. My
222 MHz antenna is an 8 element on a 12 foot boom and my 432 antenna is a
15 element on a 12 foot boom.

I can't say much about the local activity in this past weekend's contest
because I was only active for 5 hours myself and most of that time I was
sitting waiting for the thunderstorms to pass through. I only worked three
stations. One was on all bands from 144 through 10368 MHz, one was on all
bands from 144 thru 3456 MHz, and one was on 144 thru 432 MHz.

I heard quite a few others but was unable to work them. That's one thing
you have to get used to in the QRP Portable category! :-)

73, Zack W9SZ


On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 6:28 AM, Terry <w8zn54 at verizon.net> wrote:

> Alex,
>
> Using either a 4 ele beam or a turnstile will be very disappointing on 2m.
> A rotatable dipole and a vertical on 6m will be even more disappointing. A
> Yaesu Ft-897 is a good modern rig and with just modest antennas, you could
> hear and work lots more. You need at absolute minimum a 3 ele 6m beam and a
> 5 ele is better. These would be roughly a 6 or 12 foot boom respectively.
> On 2m, an 8 foot boom is minimum but a 15 -17 foot boom is better.  Can you
> get the antennas up 30 feet or more in the air?
>
> To give you a measuring stick, from K8GP where I operated this past
> weekend in FM19bb, I worked rovers using 8 foot 2m beams 300 miles with the
> best dx being a rover in northern Indiana at over 400 miles!!! He was
> running a 150w amp. From where you are located, you should have been able
> to work several hundreds of QSO's.
>
> 73,
>
> Terry - W8ZN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com] On
> Behalf Of Alex
> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 10:59 PM
> To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL June VHF QP Participation Question
>
> Hi Terry,
>
>
>
> A brief description of the setup can be found at:
>
>
>
> http://3830scores.com/showrumor.php?arg=6haLzlfsmicc3
>
>
>
> The FT-897 certainly is nothing to write home about when it comes to
> VHF/UHF operation, but I couldn’t bring myself to try to find and unbox the
> IC-275H for the amount of activity I was hearing. Signals from stations (on
> 2m) at 175-200 miles were consistently very strong (S9+, whatever that
> means on an 897), even on a simple turnstile, which made me think that I
> should be hearing many more weaker stations.
>
>
>
> Now, I realize that there are a 101 things we can point out why I was not
> hearing more stations, but at this time I’m mostly curious to know what
> folks think what the contest participation seemed like this past weekend
> compared to other years.
>
>
>
> Thanks for describing your experience.
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> --Alex KR1ST, FN21
>
>
>
> From: w8zn54 at verizon.net [mailto:w8zn54 at verizon.net]
> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 9:44 PM
> To: alex at kr1st.com; vhfcontesting at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL June VHF QP Participation Question
>
>
>
> Alex,
>
>
>
> Before answering your question, it's only fair to see what you were
> running for equipment and what band you were listening on. If you were on
> 2m with a loop, then you probably didn't hear much. If you were on 6m,
> unfortunately, the propagation gods didn't smile on the northeast. Why not
> describe your station for the group.
>
>
>
> We are in northern Va. and while activity wasn't as good as it's been in
> the past, it wasn't that bad given conditions.
>
>
>
> 73,
>
>
>
> Terry Price
>
> W8ZN - ex K8ISK/WD8ISK
>
> 1.8 MHZ - 47 GHz - FM18dv
>
> Member of the K8GP Contest Group
>
> FM19bb
>
>
>
> On 06/15/15, Alex<alex at kr1st.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I worked the ARRL June VHF QP to gauge what the activity level is in order
> to determine if I want to bother investing in larger VHF/UHF antennas. I'm
> in NEPA and live very near the top of one of the highest mountains around
> here and should have a clear shot to many areas with high participation
> rates. However, I was rather disappointed by the number of stations I could
> hear and work.
>
>
>
> My question is, especially to those in the North-East, do you think that
> participation in this contest was especially low compared to other years,
> or was it about the same?
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> --Alex KR1ST, FN21
>
>
>
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