CQ Worldwide VHF Contest - 2022
Call: NV4B/R
Operator(s): NV4B
Station: NV4B/R
Class: Rover LP
QTH: MS
Operating Time (hrs): 23
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 224 131
2: 47 37
-------------------
Total: 271 168 Total Score = 53,424
Club:
Comments:
For this contest, I dusted off the Cushcraft 4-element 6m LFA for an improvement
over the MFJ 3-element Yagi I normally rove with when space and weight are more
of a concern with more bands. I had last used it in the 2020 CQWW VHF Contest,
but I found I didn't have the proper boom-to-mast plates to hold the boom level.
I acquired the correct ones and replaced some hardware and had it ready to go
for the contest. I also put the 6m antenna on a separate 12' mast made of 4'
military surplus aluminum mast sections, allowing me to aim 6m and 2m
independently -- a big plus.
I started from Woodall Mountain in EM54, where 6m was open from the start, first
short to the east, then moving north to the northeast U.S., where I was able to
run an SSB pileup briefly. Although Europe did not come through during this
opening, I did work EA8DBM.
Late afternoon, an opening developed to the southwest, where I worked several
XEs, a TG, and heard a YS. By 0000Z, the band was dying down somewhat, so I
used that as an opportunity to tear down and head north to EM55.
I parked on my usual EM55va hilltop and primarily made a handful of 2m QSOs
before moving on to EM65aa, where the band once again opened to the northeast.
My roadside EM65aa stop is normally brief, but I stayed almost an hour and
worked quite a few stations on 6m on the mobile antenna. I then returned to
EM64, making several mostly-local QSOs before arriving home for a 2-hour nap
before heading back out. I ended up with a personal best 16k points or so for
day 1.
I had planned to leave at 0600Z to drive to Pendleton Bend, AR in rare grid EM43
so that I would arrive around sunrise, but I decided for safety's sake a third
hour of sleep was warranted, so I left around 0715Z, making three QSOs in motion
through EM44 on the way. I arrived in EM43 at approximately 1230Z and was QRV a
few minutes before 1300Z. I had good luck on MSK144 for awhile, but I probably
missed out on quite a few MSK opportunities by being an hour later than planned.
There was a bit of enhancement on 2m at the same time; XE2OR was my best 2m DX
of the contest at 683 miles.
6m was open to the west almost all day on Sunday, and I even managed a small
handful of double-hop QSOs to the West Coast. It got to the point where I just
about ran out of stations to work as the band never opened to any other part of
the country on Sunday. The Midwest never made a single appearance all weekend.
All told, I was very pleased with this contest. 2m activity seemed way down
with lots of usual suspects missing, but 6m conditions were much better this
year compared to last year, and my score doubles my previous best in CQ VHF. I
checked for analog activity whenever I saw strong signals on digital, but it was
only during the opening to the northeast that I was able to make an appreciable
number of analog QSOs, and even then, rates were way off compared to previous
years. I'll repeat my observation from other contests that more stations should
move from digital to analog when conditions permit -- everyone's scores would
improve. And, among those on digital, there would be lots of opportunities for
QSOs on MSK144 even during dead-band conditions, but people don't seem to use it
outside of the overnight and early morning hours. There are rocks at other
times -- as a matter of fact, I twice decoded a distant station on 2m MSK144
just before the contest ended. I did not attempt any Q65 this contest, but it
similarly may have been a better alternative to FT8 at times.
I had no major technical issues this time, only software issues with N1MM
Logger+ and WSJT-X, although there were no showstoppers.
Band/mode breakdown:
Band Mode QSOs
50 CW 8
50 FT8 176
50 MSK1 9
50 USB 31
144 FM 4
144 FT8 43
Equipment:
6m: ICOM IC-7100 at 100W, Cushcraft LFA-6M4EL at 12' (stopped), MFJ-1728
quarterwave whip (in motion)
2m: ICOM IC-9700 at 100W, Diamond A144S10 at 25' (stopped), Efactor dual-band
horizontal loop (in motion)
QSOs by state (includes dupes):
MS 120
AR 103
TN 45
AL 7
QSOs by grid:
EM43 99
EM44 3
EM54 117
EM55 17
EM64 7
EM65 28
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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