[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] WZ1V ARRL January VHF SS
David Olean
k1whs at metrocast.net
Mon Jan 20 15:21:49 EST 2025
Hi GB Ron
I did not have much time to spend on the contest. By not having a major
radio effort, and people showing up, my social director scheduled a few
events over the January weekend, so Saturday was taken up with
grandkids. Sunday evening was dinner out and bluegrass music at a golf
club nearby. The band was "Chicken Shack" see:
https://www.facebook.com/ChickenshackBluegrass/
I always get a seat up front so I don't have to overly strain my arm
while throwing past sell date vegetables toward the stage. Actually, the
band is quite good, with several instrument virtuosos in the line up.
anyway, after the grandkids left on Saturday, I spent a much time
napping, and then looking for KA6U and his 222 MHz EME DXpedition in the
middle of the night. That did not turn out well as he was kicked off the
first location by local gendarmes, and then developed a cold and had to
QRT at stops 2 and 3. I did get an hour in on 1296 EME Saturday night,
and then a few hours starting at noon on Sunday only on 222 MHz. That
time was rather frustrating as I had no 144 stuff so I could make
contacts and run the bands. On 222 MHz, I was greeted by fleeting voices
on 222.100 or 222.105. Someone would show up, then send a grid and then
say which band was next!! Unless they were very close by, I could not
attract their attention. I resorted to camping out on a chat page, while
calling CQ on 222.110. Neither methods were very productive. It was
actually quite boring.
I had hoped to have a 144 system running for January, but the second and
brand new Rohn 45 tower that just went up in late summer, is now also
laying horizontal in the trees as the rock anchor failed and pulled out
of the bedrock hole that I had drilled. After a few hours of very few
contacts on 222, I had enough and went home for some lunch. At 3PM I got
a phone call from Jeff W2FU. I was repairing the storm door on the house
at the time, but quickly dropped that plan and went back up the hill and
worked Jeff plus a few others on 222. By then it was 4 PM and I had to
get ready for the Chicken Shack Bluegrass band!! I am not sure of my
score, as I left the logfile up there, and now we have a bunch of snow
and high winds, which makes getting the log somewhat difficult. I did
make seven contacts on 1296 in one hour. One of those contacts was W1FKF
in FN43, so I worked my own grid!! On 222 MHz I worked very few but
nabbed almost everyone I tried with except N8LRG. The rig was working
well. VE3ZV in EN92 was great copy at S6 or S7 on SSB! I probably worked
20 stations at most. Very disappointing.
One of these days I will get my stuff in order.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 1/20/2025 2:42 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> ARRL January VHF Contest 2025
>
> Call: WZ1V
> Operator(s): WZ1V
> Station: WZ1V
> Class: Single Op-Analog HP
> QTH: CT
> Operating Time (hrs): 18
> Summary: Compare Scores
> Band QSOs Mults
> 6: 102 26
> 2: 95 25
> 222: 54 18
> 432: 58 18
> 902:
> 1.2: 23 11
> 2.3:
> 3.4:
> 5.7:
> 10G:
> 24G:
> Total: 332 98 Total Score 50,274
>
> Club: North East Weak Signal Group
>
> Comments:
> Weather dampened activity and depressed conditions.
> Sunday night especially poor with snow and some ice.
> No Es observed on SSB-CW the entire weekend.
> Did not see any increased activity 2 - 5 on Sunday,
> the new "activity hours" were activity-less up here.
> Surprisingly, score was down only 5 percent from last year.
> Nice to work out to FN12 and up to FN34 on 1296.
> Out of my total Q's, 87 percent SSB, the rest CW, and 2 FM.
>
> Congrats to Jeff W2FU making all those microwave band QSO's,
> without FT8 and operating remote nonetheless.
>
> I only have one microwave band, 1296, to compare but looked back
> over the past few years and see no noticeable decrease in activity.
> If anything, activity is up a bit on 432, especially on 222.
> So much for all the email static claiming FT8 and ARRL rules
> have killed analog and upper band activity. At least not around here.
> If half the people complaining there's no activity because
> they give up after a few hours would spend more time on the air
> putting in an earnest effort, we'd all be ahead of the game.
> If we're to move forward, we can't dwell on the past - it's gone.
>
> Also just because I enjoy operating mostly SSB and CW
> doesn't imply I think less of those who prefer FT8 and MSK.
> Everyone should be able to enjoy what they like to do
> without being chastised by people who don't even try.
> Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
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