[VHFcontesting] CQ frequency advice?

[N1BUG]

I'm been giving a lot of thought to ways I might increase QSOs in
future contests and especially find people to run higher bands with.
>From this far north I will never be a competitor. I do this for fun
and a big part of that fun is making QSOs on bands above 2 meters.

Since my return to VHF three years ago, I have had zero luck calling
CQ on 2 meters. I can easily work stations to 450 or 500 miles doing
search and pounce when I catch them pointed this way, but my CQs go
unanswered. One obvious problem is that I am so far from the
population centers I can only hear most stations when they are
looking this way. That means I cannot tell what frequencies might be
clear enough in or near those population centers for people to hear me.

My thinking is that for future contests I would announce a CQ
frequency and times in advance, for example "This contest I will
call CQ on 144.xxx for the first 15 minutes of every hour". My
question is, can those of you in the more populated areas offer any
advice on choosing a frequency? Am I better off staying fairly close
to 144.200 or moving up out of the usual range? I think I have a
better chance of avoiding QRM if I move further up, but then
stations tuning the band probably won't find me. I'm not sure how
many of the people I keep missing read these forums and would see a
pre-contest announcement. I know many of them don't use the internet
chat sites. If I stay lower in the band perhaps I have a better
chance of people finding me while tuning but higher risk of not
being heard at all due to QRM. Any thoughts or suggestions would be
appreciated.

How many of you would make a point of looking for me if you knew
when and where to find me?

I'm carrying on with renewed resolve and looking forward to several
station improvements over the winter.

73,
Paul N1BUG FN55MF
6, 2, 222 QRO
432 moderate power and building
903, 1296, 10G hopeful