[VHFcontesting] KM4KMU January VHF UHF Contest FM (and SSB)

[nosigma at aol.com]

Chuck
Weather Underground dot com has proven to be pretty reliable.  I have used it for years planning offroad and camping trips in the area.  The trends are key this far out.  

As you might imagine accuracy goes up as we get closer.  There are reporting stations 6 miles west, 2000ft lower and another 15 mile east, 1500 ft lower.  So its usually spot on 5 days out.  I slso have a network of offroad buddies that I get updates from on mountain conditions.

 In this case the 1wk trend prior to the contest is increasing days of rain/snow and falling temps.  Starting 3 days before the contest temps drop and it rains or snows 2000ft lower. It's always at least 10deg colder up top.

This tells me a lot about trail/road conditions and  what I need to prep for, worst case.  Bringing the chains, extra recovery gear and extra to run the Jeep heater and two cans of silicon spray to keep the antenna clear of ice. 

73
John
KM4KMU

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
On Tuesday, January 8, 2019 Chuck Gress <chuckgress at hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi John, that is some weatherman you have to be able to predict rain and snow over two weeks out from now.
Get Outlook for iOS From: VHFcontesting <vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of John Young via VHFcontesting <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 10:11 PM
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: [VHFcontesting] KM4KMU January VHF UHF Contest FM (and SSB) My station will be back up on Reddish Knob FM08JL, 4,400 ft ASL for the January contest. I am competing in the FM only category but will be happy to work SSB for bands we cant work on FM.  I will be  starting QSO's on 146.520 FM or 146.535 if 520 is busy with non contesting traffic and will QSY from there.
I can work all bands except for 222 on SSB.  
My Station:6m        100W      5 element beam2m        100W      10 element beam, SSB mast mounted Pre Amp 1.25m   100W      10 element beam (FM only)70cm    100W      18 element beam, SSB mast mounted Pre-Amp
2m and 1.25m are reliable out to 160 miles for omni's and 235-250 miles for beams.  If your beam is horizontal, thats OK, My beams are at 45 degrees so we only loose 3dB. 
Easy grids to work me from on FMFM09  FM08  FM07 FM19  FM18Southern FN00SW FN10NE FM17Northern FM06NE EM97Eastern EM98SE EM99 & EN90
Challenging but doable Grids on FM, unless you have a beam (V or H pol)FN01 FM05 FM16 FM29 EM96  Central and Eastern FN10
It looks like it will be at or below freezing all weekend with rain and snow.  FUN!!!
Good Luck, Hope to hear you out there
73JohnKM4KMU
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