On Wed, 22 May 2002, John Geiger wrote:
> Look at the activity level differences in those
> contests. On HF, unless it is a single band contest,
> or I am a single band entry, I can get on and make
> plenty of QSOs any time of day or night on at least a
> couple of bands. Not so on VHF! At least in the
> Midwest, you can sit and listen for a couple of hours
> between QSOs, especially when conditions are flat-like
> they generally are for the Jan VHF contest. Skeds
> help to break up the monotony some. I have had a few
> successful Meteor scatter skeds on 6 meters during VHF
> contests, which gave me new grids. As has been stated
> before, meteor scatter or EME can be very difficult on
> a random basis, unless there is a meteor shower going
> on-and no major showers correspond with VHF contests.
>
I have a hard time making skeds for VHF contests because most of my VHF
contesting is from hilltops and usually not for the entire duration of the
contest, so I don't know exactly when I will arrive and get set up. I
have to work the contest in around other things in my life sometimes.
I do enjoy going up the bands, though, once I work someone on 6 or 2. But
here in east central Illinois, I listen to a lot of noise (Maybe it
should be "Illinoise"? :-) The two factors, propagation and someone
pointing his beam my way, don't always coincide.
I'd have nothing against skeds but they aren't a sure-fire guarantee of a
QSO. Usually I leave it at "I'll look for you once in a while when I'm up
on the hill."
73, Zack W9SZ
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