[VHFcontesting] Regional holes?

[Patrick Thomas]

Hey all,

Looks like newbie topics have taken off in the 3 days it's taken me to finish refining my ideas but I hope you have stamina for a couple more. :)

Has anyone ever mapped (and published) the QSOs from VHF contests, to see where active or inactive spots are?

Part of the reason I ask is that I am in EN82 (near Detroit) and despite the large population, it seems like a real ghost town around here in VHF/UHF land.  I'm curious if it's just an issue with me or if that's really the case.

My location is not ideal but even so I regularly hit a repeater on FM about 40 miles away with only about 30 watts, cross-polarized, so I would think if there is any activity around here I would be seeing it... and I'm lucky to get anything more than the 10-12 known locals around here.  I do also get a few occasional DX stations a couple hundred miles out, so I don't think it's the station (barefoot FT-847 or TS-2000X into a 10-element 2M yagi or 15-element 70cm yagi, fed with LMR400) but who knows!

I've been hoping to get my roving issues solved by June to help a little and go do the midwest version of hilltopping (get up about 100 feet), but my circumstances don't allow me to get away for long distance roving, and even four-grid roving won't do any good if nobody else is listening.

I have been trying for over six months to drum up support with my local club (with moderate interest, so I'm hopeful!)... no response from the members of the local VHF/UHF club I've tried to talk to... not sure what else I can try.

I would love to hear from others in the area interested in getting together and trading ideas, or even those outside the area with ideas.  I also wonder if there would be interest (as someone else suggested, I think) in a CW/SSB "sprint" type contest every month.  Sadly, the "event nights" suggested in the ARRL Operating Manual seem to be pretty much ignored, again, at least around here.

Thanks for any thoughts!