[VHFcontesting] There is still hope on 6m

[Jay RM]

..guess it must be an east coast thing.

All summer, both during and outside the June contest, I could see 50.313
wall-to-wall with LOUD (I'm talking over S9) signals with not a single one
between 50.080 and 50.200.  I run an auxiliary SDR to monitor wideband
activity with sensitivity equal to my main receiver, so I'm NOT missing
anything.  If there's a SSB sig - I see the trace.

During the June contest, I made it a point to CQ on SSB 10 kHz off the
calling channel for WAY longer than I should have, working only an
occasional station.  This was when there were many signals on 313.  Most of
the time, I believe I could have run a higher rate on FT8 thn SSB - which
is pathetic.  Having top-5'ed several times from this QTH, I know what's
possible, and that wasn't it.

Now, I admit that conditions were not all that great in DM58 for the June
test.  Maybe everyone was looking east.  I'm certainly going to give it my
best shot THIS June.  I'll CQ on SSB when the band is open and S&P on
digital when it's not.  I really hope I can run guys on phone.  My patience
grows thin however. Another contest or two with sporadic E and nobody to
run on phone and I'll be following K5TR.

-W9RM

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


On Sun, Feb 7, 2021 at 2:43 PM wa2teo--- via VHFcontesting <
vhfcontesting at contesting.com> wrote:

>  FWIW over 90 percent of my 6m qsos in June 2020 were on CW/SSB. With all
> bands added in it was 6 or 7 percent on digital. With increasing use of
> digital that'll likely go up in the future but it at least shares what I
> experienced last June contest. I would say with marginal condx digital will
> make up a more significant percentage of qsos.
> I would also add that ft8 has brought in many new ops. If even some of
> them try Ssb/cw because they have become interested in vhf contesting that
> is an opportunity. The downside is what has been pointed out - it's become
> tougher to run bands when experienced vhfers with bands beyond 6 spend most
> of their time on digital.
> Jeff K1TEO
>     On Sunday, February 7, 2021, 02:51:51 PM EST, Wyatt Dirks <
> dirkswyatt10 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Most of this ft8 ruining vhf Contesting seems to be 6m based and once
> again
> I'll share that this is just not the case. In June 2020 I made nearly 1000
> ssb qsos on 6m.
>
> The biggest issue is getting people to run bands which is completely
> unrelated to 6m rate.
>
> I just wanted to share a document I put together mainly for me to remember
> the 2020 contest and my first attempt at limited multi op. Totals above 6m
> are bad but thats life outside the east coast and we didn't have eme
> capability.
>
> 73 wyatt
> Ac0ra
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