[VHFcontesting] Is FT8 Really the Problem with VHF Contests?

David Olean k1whs at metrocast.net
Tue Sep 13 15:51:43 EDT 2022


Hello Zack,

It was heartening to read your response to the activity conundrum. You 
were the only one who mentioned building anything!! I got started in ham 
radio as a school kid with no money. In fact, the HS physics teacher 
gave me my ham test! I did not have many Elmers to show me the way. It 
was just my brother and me, K1RCK, and a subscription to QST. At the 
time, Sam Harris, W1FZJ was the "World Above" editor.  He did not suffer 
fools lightly.  He was constantly pushing VHF hams to not just take up 
space, but to push the boundaries as best as you could. Every column 
contained a detailed discussion of some facet of the current technology 
as it applied to VHF.  He was rather brutal in describing how to build a 
decent VHF station. Why else would a high school kid spend his hard 
earned money on a 65 ft long chunk of RG-17/U coax? Sam Harris told me 
that if my feedline on any band was over 1 dB, to "fix it!"  That 
implied that something was broken if the loss was over a single decibel.

I became a homebrew fanatic in short order. I could build any VHF rig up 
and end up with a much better performing system than if I had plopped 
down hard cash for the latest shiny new amateur radio rig offering!  I 
had no choice. I was a poor HS kid but I listened to everything that Sam 
Harris said in his VHF columns.  One of my axioms developed over the 
years, was to devote 90% of available funds to the antenna system and 
the last 10% on the radio. I think that is still a good split even today.

The first radio that I ever bought brand new in a real store was in 
about 1990. I got a Yaesu FT-290 25 watt radio. It was OK, but nowhere 
near as good as my homebrew  or second hand junker radio that I fixed 
up!!  The FT-290 was convenient to use.

Times are different today, but just about every ham alive  will be 
better off if he or she builds up something...anything, as a homebrew 
project. I just bought my first commercial amplifier two years ago. At 
last count, I have built or converted 35 different amplifiers. They all 
worked after a fashion and I learned from each one. This past July, I 
was at the Central States VHF Conference and my door prize number was 
picked rather far down the list. It was almost down  to the "Nuts and 
Volts" subscriptions, MFJ Coffee mugs,  and Trim cap "tweakers" 
territory.  When I got to the prize table, I saw an RCA 7213 ceramic 
tetrode  sitting there all lonesome and dejected looking.   My eyes lit 
up! This thing will put out 1500 watts on 432 and not bat an eyelash!! I 
brought it home. This winter, I will build up a 432 amplifier just to 
see how it works. So far I have ZERO dollars into the project. Yes tubes 
are old school, but you make do with what you have!

I think N1DPM was on to something. Newer hams need a good mentor to show 
what is possible. I read Sam Harris' VHF columns and he had a way of 
getting you to see the light. There was heavy lifting involved, so a 
mentor is needed to keep the new guy going in a straight line. I try to 
preach what is possible on VHF with simple gear. There is so much more 
to VHF than a Baofeng and a rubber quacker antenna.

Dave K1WHS


On 9/13/2022 2:25 PM, Zack Widup wrote:
> When you REALLY get hooked on it, you want more and more bands. I started
> out by building a 2m transverter in 1990. Then added 50 MHz. Then added
> 432. Then added 222. All homebrew transverters and antennas. I eventually
> ended up with ALL bands from 50 MHz through 76 GHz, all built by myself,
> and the VK's 122 GHz module.
>
> A couple years ago I got an FT-857D and FT-897D. Since I primarily operate
> QRP Portable in contests, these rigs were fine for me. I still use my same
> 222 transverter with one of the above rigs as the IF rig. I use an FT-817ND
> as the IF for all the bands 902 and above. Up until the IC-705 came out,
> the FT817 was the IF rig of choice for many microwave ops.
>
> I have found that building transverters isn't all that expensive. It is,
> however, time-consuming and requires a certain minimum of test equipment,
> like an accurate frequency counter and power meter. I got an HP435B power
> meter and an EIP545 frequency counter (0-18 GHz) for not much money at
> hamfests. And when you get to 47 GHz and above, a machine shop is nice to
> have access to.
>
> I currently don't have a way to operate FT8 when I'm portable. I'm glad
> they created the "Analog Only" category for ARRL contests.
>
> 73, Zack W9SZ
>
> On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 10:59 AM Josef 'Jeff' Sipek <jeffpc at josefsipek.net>
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 03:33:24 -0400, Doug Bates wrote:
>> ...
>>> Yes phone VHF contesting may have been more fun before FT8 came along
>> I think another way to put it, is that correlation does not imply
>> causation.
>>
>>
>> Anyway, I thought I'd chime in with a new ham perspective.  I got my
>> license
>> two years ago which means that I got to build a "shack" from scratch
>> relatively recently.  When I started surveying the market to figure out
>> what
>> transceivers existed that'd get me on air, it became painfully clear that
>> there is essentially no "cheap" way to get SSB 2m and up with double-digit
>> watts.
>>
>> I definitely wanted 100W HF, and while I liked the idea of VHF/UHF SSB, I
>> wasn't sure if I'd use it enough.  Aside from some diehard VHF/UHF hams,
>> nobody seemed to care about VHF/UHF other than for FM.
>>
>> At the time, the two obvious transceiver options were the FT-991A and the
>> IC-7300.  Translating that into practical terms:
>>
>>   1. IC-7300: HF+6 only, very popular choice, transverters get expensive
>>      quickly, IC-9700 is even more expensive
>>   2. FT-991A: $100 more than IC-7300 for 2m and 70cm all-mode capability of
>>      "ok" quality (the 2m/70cm frontend is somewhat "bolted on")
>>
>> So, I had to decide between a very popular radio that seemed to get just
>> about everything right but had no VHF/UHF and a radio that few talked about
>> but had a reasonable VHF/UHF capability for $100 more - without having no
>> idea what I was going to like.  (After agonizing over the decision for a
>> while, I ended up going with the Yaesu and it has served me well during
>> both
>> HF and VHF contests - both at home and as /R - as well as POTA/SOTA/WWFF.)
>>
>> I'd argue that the vast majority of new hams will either (1) stick to FM
>> repeaters and never venture beyond, or (2) not consider *any of this* and
>> get the very popular IC-7300 unknowingly cutting themselves off from other
>> modes on VHF/UHF (without additional investment).
>>
>> So, I think I primarily blame the lack of readily available hardware for
>> the
>> underutilization of VHF/UHF.  I don't know what things were like before,
>> but
>> I get the impression that there were more choices when it came to VHF/UHF
>> SSB.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents,
>>
>> Jeff (AC1JR)
>> _______________________________________________
>> VHFcontesting mailing list
>> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>>
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting


More information about the VHFcontesting mailing list