On 6/6/2012 10:14 AM, wb4sq at yahoo.com wrote:
> John,
>
> Looking forward to the ARRL VHF contest this weekend. Will only be on 6M and
> part time at best with warnings to the xyl about needing contest time. Any
> help with what to expect or helpful tips? I'll be running 200 watts into a
> home brew 5 element quad @ 30 ft.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jun 6, 2012, at 10:10 AM, John Laney<k4bai at att.net> wrote:
>
>> Greetings from the mountains of Western North Carolina.
>>
>> Last Week's Claimed Scores:
>>
>> 1. NCCC RTTY Sprint Practice, 6/1/12
>> W4OC 26 23 598 0.5 SC SECC SO2R
>>
>> 2. NCCC NS Sprint Ladder, 6/1/12
>> N4OGW 57 42 2,394 SOLP 0.5 AL ACG SO2R
>> K4BAI 48 39 1,872 SOLP 0.5 GA SECC
>> W4OC 48 35 1,680 SOLP 0.5 SC SECC SO2R
>> W4NZ 43 38 1,634 SOLP 0.5 TN TCG SO2R
>>
>> 3. Alabama QSO Party
>> Call CW Q Ph Q CW M Ph M Score Category Time St
>> Club Misc
>> AD8J/M 883 98 45 29 158,440 SOMob+DrvMixHP 12 AL SECC
>> N4ZZ/M 1543 0 47 0 145,042 MOMob CW LP 12 AL TCG
>> Ops: N4ZZ, KI4HVY, AD4EB
>> KN4Y/M 684 0 45 0 116,964 SOMob+DrvCW LP 12 AL
>> Sportsman's Paradisc ARC 15 co'S
>> N4KG 381 201 43 42 81,855 SOMix HP 9 AL ACG
>> KX4X 0 1069 0 58 62,002 SO SSB HP __ AL ACG
>> KY5R 0 1066 0 56 59,696 SO SSB HP 10.5 AL ACG
>> KC4HW 221 3 44 0 53,212 SO CW LP 7 AL ACG
>> K4SAV 476 0 53 0 50,456 SO CW HP 11 AL ACG
>> WX4MM 0 503 0 52 47,533 SO SSB LP 10 AL ACG
>> K4ZGB/M 560 0 41 0 45,920 SOMob CW LP 12 AL ACG
>> 15 Co's
>> K4ACG 157 246 37 44 45,360 SOMix LP 9.5 AL ACG
>> By WA1FCN
>> K4HAL 300 65 43 18 40,565 SOMix HP 7 AL ACG
>> KM4JA 273 61 42 24 40,062 SOMix LP 11 AL ACG
>> W4HOD 305 7 50 7 35,169 M/S Mix HP 10 AL ACG
>> Ops: AA4YL, K4IQJ, K9MUG, KA4PKB
>> NV4B 194 97 41 31 34,920 SO Mix LP 5.36 AL ACG
>> W4NBS 230 61 41 24 33,865 SOMix LP 6.5 AL ACG
>> N4PN 140 51 53 28 26,811 SOMix HP 11 GA SECC
>> KR4F 266 0 47 0 25,004 SO CW LP 6.75 AL ACG
>> N4NM 243 0 49 0 24,157 SO CW HP 4:30 AL ACG
>> N4KH 185 40 40 15 22,550 SOMix LP _ AL ACG
>> K3IE 192 13 41 11 20,644 SOMix LP 5 AL ACG
>> N4UC 239 0 40 0 19,120 SO CW LP 7.5 AL ACG
>> WQ5L/4 188 1 38 0 14,212 SO CW LP 6 AL
>> W4UCZ 103 0 48 0 9,888 SO CW LP 10 GA SECC
>> KJ4LTA 0 192 0 43 8,256 SOSSB LP 7 AL ACG
>> KD8IGK 0 139 0 41 5,658 SOSSB LP 6:12 AL ACG
>> K1GU 50 0 19 0 4,350 SO CW LP 2.4 TN TCG
>> KU8E 48 15 25 12 4,107 SOMix LP 2:45 GA SECC
>> W4NZ 62 0 31 0 3,844 SO CW HP _ TN TCG
>> K4AB 0 100 0 36 3,600 SOSSB HP 0:37 AL ACG
>> KN4QD 54 14 25 12 2,868 SOMix LP 3 SC SECC
>> NJ8J 46 19 25 13 2,470 SOMix LP 6.5 GA SECC
>> WX4MAP 34 0 17 0 1,156 SO CW LP 0:32 AL RCRC
>> K4AMA 22 2 16 2 828 SOMix LP 2 SC SECC
>> N4GG 18 0 14 0 504 SO CW HP _ GA SECC
>>
>> This Week's Contests:
>>
>> 1. NCCC RTTY Practice. 0130-0159Z Friday (Thurs nihgt local). 100W
>> maximum power. One kHz QSY rule. Exchange: both calls, #, name, SPC.
>> Bands at least 20, 40, 80. Watch for annoncement.
>>
>> 2. NCCC NS Sprint Ladder. 0230-0259Z Fridya (Thurs night local). 20,
>> 40, 80, 160M CW. 100W maximum power. One kHz QSY rule. Exchange:
>> both calls, #, name, SPC. There are still some slow speed exchanges in
>> SNS 0200-0220Z on 20, 40 and 80M even though the announcements have stopped.
>>
>> 3. DRCG Long Distance Contest, RTTY. 0000-0759Z Sat; 1600-2359Z Sat;
>> 0800-1600Z Sun. 80-10M RTTY. Exchange: RST + CQ Zone + 4 digit time
>> UTC. Work each station once per band.
>>
>> 4. Portugal Day Contest. 24 hours of Saturday UTC. 80-10M CW, SSB.
>> Exchange: RS(T) + Serial # or CT District. Work everyone.
>>
>> 5. VK Shire Contest. 06Z Sat to 06Z Sun. 80-10M CW, SSB. Exchange:
>> RS(T) + VK Shire or CQ Zone.
>>
>> 6. Asia=Pacific Sprint SSB. 11-13Z Sat. 10, 15M SSB. Exchange: RST
>> + Serial #. QSY rule. Work only A-P area stations.
>>
>> 7. GACW WWSA CW DX Contest. 15Z Sat to 15Z Sun. 80-10M CW.
>> Exchange: RST + CQ Zone. Work everyone, but 0 points for same country
>> QSOs.
>>
>> 8. REF DDFM 6M Contest. 16Z Sat to 16Z Sun. 6M CW, SSB, FM.
>> Exchange: RS(T) + serial # + 4 character grid square.
>>
>> 9. ARRL June VHF QSO Party. 18Z Sat to 0259Z Mon. 6M and up all
>> modes. Exchange: 4 character grid square.
>>
>> 10. Straight Key Century Club Weekend Sprintathon. 24 hours of Sunday
>> UTC. 160-6M CW. Use mechanical key. Exchange: RST + Name + SPC +
>> SKCC# or "none." Look around 050 kHz on most bands.
>>
>> 11. CWOps CWT Mini Tests. Three separate one-hour mini tests.
>> Wednesday. 13Z, 19Z and 03Z (Thursday UTC). Exchange: Name + CWOps #
>> or SPC, 160-10M CW. Look around 028 kHz on each band.
>>
>> Hope everyone has a nice week and a lot of QSOs.
>>
>> 73, John, K4BAI.
>> _______________________________________________
>> SECC mailing list
>> SECC at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/secc
Hi Gary; You should do very well up to 200 miles or so. You will need
to be pointed in the direction of your target stations. When the band
opens, it will be indeed a "magic" band. Most of the time, the
propagation is direct, but you may find some, particularly to the
Caribbean can be worked backscatter with the beam in the opposite
direction. Work a few and then try running yourself. It may take a few
tries until you get a clear frequency. On phone, you may find a good
running frequency above 50.1 mHz. On CW, you will find most activity
between 50.080 and 50.100, but some stations, particularly DX stations,
may be on CW above 50.1 mHz. Rovers sometimes also work CW in the phone
band. Best not to try to work anything but DX between 50.1 and 50.125.
If the band is just opening and you are called on 50.125 kHz, work just
a few and then announce that you will be moving up to a certain
frequency and leave the calling frequency clear. When the band appears
dead, you can monitor the frequencies from 50.0 to 50.080 for beacons.
However, during a contest, they will be of less help since activity will
normally be heard from contest stations whenever beacons from the same
area can be heard.
You can work each station only once, regardless of mode. So, no sense
in calling someone you have worked on the other mode, since that would
be a "dupe" and you may loose time while the other station ignores you.
If we get a typical Es opening, it may start to the northeast and swing
around to the north, northwest, and then the west. But, there is no
guarantee that it will happen that way. Sometimes, we will get Es only
to South FL and/or the Caribbean. Other times, we will get Es only to
south TX, or to the Denver area, or to Ohio. Sometimes, this is
referred to as "spotlight" propagation.
When stations stop calling you, tune the bands for the strong stations
you haven't already worked and then try to opposite mode.
A DVK and a memory keyer (or computer keying CW with "repeat" feature
on) will be very helpful. Any of these need the "repeat" feature when
the band is dead. When the band appears to be dead, I CQ with my beam
to the nearest population area (Atlanta) and gradually swing it around
to the West and South then back to the East.
Keep trying to make something happen!
Don't be surprised if the band is open long after sundown. Sometimes,
our best openings are after sundown. I haven't had much luck in our
mornings recently.
Some of this may be helpful to others who don't have vast experience on
6M, so I will reply to the repeater. Perhaps others can contribute
tips. How about tips on working DX during the June VHF QSO Party on six
meters, Mike, K4PI? Or Ron, W4WA?
If you have higher bands available, have them warmed up because you will
be asked to QSY to other bands, particularly when Es is not open on six M.
Good luck to all. I hope to work you all this weekend on 6M only,
also. 73, John, K4BAI.
|