[VHFcontesting] Regional holes?

[Keith Morehouse]

EN82 is a virtual urban metropolis of VHF activity compared to most
locations west of the Mississippi - you know, fly-over country ?

Be thankful :)

W9RM DM58

Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO

On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 3:41 PM, Patrick Thomas <p-thomas at mindspring.com>
wrote:

> 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!
>
>
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