[VHFcontesting] FM Contesting This Weekend

[nosigma at aol.com]

Jim,
Here in Va (and out a couple hundred miles) 146.520 is the place to call CQ if you are running FM.  In the North East a lot of folks use 146.550 so when I worked in Central PA last January I called CQ on both, though 520 was far more productive.
On 520 contesting use is secondary as a courtesy.  So if someone who is not contesting calls CQ but is not looking for a particular call sign I will answer them, try to work them, then move over to either 52.525, 223.5 or 146.535 (commonly used here in Va) while they call CQ again.  Hopefully if they make a contact they will QSY for a rag chew and not sit on 520.  If they are calling a specific station I leave them alone and QSY. Once I see them clear of 520 on the bandscope I will go back to 520, listen for a bit then call CQ again. 
If you are working SSB with FM as tertiary spending a lot of time calling CQ on 520 may not be beneficial unless you are in a multi-op station and can afford the operator.  Its a great hour when I run 10-15 Q's per hour on FM (ignoring QSY's from contest and rover stations). 5 per hour and even 1 per hour is not uncommon (if you stay up too late). 
Sadly I doubt you will be North enough for a Q if you are in Ga without some awesome propagation.
Good Luck73JohnKM4KMU

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Worsham <wa4kxy at bellsouth.net>
To: vhf <vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu>; vhfcontesting <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Sep 5, 2018 11:35 pm
Subject: [VHFcontesting] FM Contesting This Weekend

Going to try to work some FM contacts on 2M during the contest this weekend.
It used to be that you couldn't use 146.52 for contesting and everyone
around here seemed to use 146.55.  Now that 146.52 can be used during the
contest is everyone using that or is everyone still on 146.55.  It has been
a while since I ran 2M FM during a contest so I am a bit out of date on what
is the norm.  Thanks.

 

73

Jim, W4KXY

 

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