K9ZF/R 2009 June VHF QSO Party report, or Murphy strikes again
Saturday morning found me trying to get the Rover outfitting completed.
I never got the time to complete everything before, so I had to finish
it all on Saturday morning. Trying to finish up at the last minute
always increases the chances for problems, and this time it came in spades.
I planned to be in EM67 at 18:00z to start the contest. I ended up
getting there around 20:00z, 2 hours late as it took a long time to get
everything cabled up and tested. The first problem came up as I got to
my first site. I had found a good site on a hill top that overlooked
the Ohio River near Ft. Knox, KY. The trouble is, this site is located
in Otter Creek Park that the city of Louisville, KY, decided to close
due to the bad economy... So, I get to my first grid two hours late and
there is a big locked gate across the entrance! I spend the next half
hour searching for a good spot to operate from. I finally settled on an
access road to a small cemetery, and get started.
6 is open, and stations from FL are booming in. The opening seems to
have a pretty small foot print, lots of EL86, EL96, but not much else.
After a few minutes of getting trampled in the pile ups, and getting
lots of unanswered CQ's, I realize that I had left the 6m output power
left at 15 watts! I turn it back up to the full 100, and finally start
getting through a few of the pile ups. But I still seem to be having
trouble, as each contact seems to be a real struggle, and CQ'ing nets
zero contacts... After awhile I seem to have worked all of the stations
calling on 6, so I try 2m to see if I can pick up so locals. I tune
through 2, and hear nothing... Nada... So I stop on .200 and call CQ.
As soon as I start calling I see that I have an infinite SWR! Now
what?? I look through the cables and connections and don't find any
problems, but 2m is inoperable until I can locate the problem. So I go
back to 6m, work a few more stations, and decide to move on. The
elevation at this site isn't great, and I think I'm just having a lot
of trouble getting out of the hole....
On to EM77. About 10 miles down the road I find an empty parking lot
and setup camp. 2m is still out, so I work another 10 or 15 stations
on 6. Who was the huge station on 50.098 CW? I listened several times,
but his 35+ WPM was so fast I couldn't even pick out a call sign. All I
could copy was his CQ's and an occasional 5NN as he work someone. After
awhile I gave up on him, and moved on.
I got to EM68 still running about 2 hours behind my schedule. 6 is
still open, but seems to be fading fast. I work a dozen or so contacts
and then discover my SWR on 2m has disappeared! I pick up K9LQZ and a
few more on 2m, and finally find a station to run my three bands with,
N8XA portable. [working from memory, sorry if I busted your call!]
Anyway, this was my first, and only, contact on 432. After a couple
hours here, and lots of CQ's on 6 & 2, I decide to call it a night. I
had intended to hit EM78, but decided to wait and hit EM78 first thing
in the morning after a nights sleep.
Upon arriving home for the night, I discover my 6m Par Moxon has
suffered a nasty hit from a tree limb. One of the small aluminum struts
has broken. And 2m is acting up again, so I am effectively off the air...
I can repair the Moxon. And 2m is likely a bad connector on the feed
line. But I have had enough for one contest and throw in the towel.
So, after tons of work, 200 miles, and 3 grids activated, I have 39
QSO's. Probably 30 from 6m E-Skip...
yuck.... Sure hope I kept Murphy busy for everyone else! Here is
hoping for a better CQ VHF in July!
And, hope to catch everyone on Field day. I will be with the Clark
County, IN, group; W9WWI.
73
Dan
--
Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Clark County Indiana. EM78el
K9ZF /R no budget Rover ***QRP-l #1269 Check out the Rover Resource Page at:
<http://www.qsl.net/n9rla> List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books
Ask me how to join the Indiana Ham Mailing list!
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