Band Mode QSOs Pts Grd
144 USB 2 2 2
Total Both 2 2 2
Score: 4
Single Op, Portable, 1 band.
Rig is an Icom IC-290A. Antenna is a "cheap yagi" sitting on a stepladder @
6 feet above ground level...
I'm certainly not bragging about my contest results here - 4 points is
nothing to brag about. But I started in on this contest without knowing for
certain that the IC-290A even worked on SSB, so I'm pretty happy about the 2
contacts I did get. I called CQ Contest for about 5.5 hours on Saturday;
heard a few more guys out there that I wasn't able to work, and learned a
lot for next June's contest.
Lesson 1: Don't operate from my QTH. I live in the glacial riverbed of the
Grand River, which has since the Ice Age shifted away to the north. This
means that just to my north is a ridge, and about 1/2 mile to my south is
another ridge. A 6 foot mast isn't going to let my signal out any direction
other than to the east northeast, and west southwest - which are where my 2
contacts were from.
Lesson 2: Work more bands. I'm picking up a 70cm SSB rig in a couple weeks
- a KLM Echo 70cm for $75 - so I'll be able to take that out on a rove in
the springtime. I'm sure it's not that awesome a rig, but it's cheap. And
until I've managed to save up for that lovely IC-7000, cheap is the order of
the day...
Lesson 3: Learn CW. I heard several signals in CW, but as I don't know
enough code to answer, I wasn't able to work them. :(
Lesson 4: Work longer. I didn't get started calling CQ on SSB until 3:00PM
local time because I was trying to play with my TH-D72 for APRS Day Out on
147.585 http://www.aprs.org/APRS-day-out.html for the first hour. I heard
no packets at all for that event; probably because we didn't have any rovers
in hearing distance in Michigan. I played radio until about 8:30PM local
time, when it was too dark outside to see what I was doing. I wasn't able
to play radio (for the most part) on Sunday because it was my company picnic
at Michigan's Adventure - and I wasn't going to put my life at risk by not
taking my 13 year old coaster loving daughter to that. I did set my HT to
beacon as a rover and listened to the 146.550MHz FM, but I didn't hear
anyone along my trip.
I worked N9UHF(EN52) and WZ8T(EN72). Both of these were booming in.
Plans for June: Get more radios. I may be able to sweet talk my wife into
letting me get that IC-7000 for Christmas. I'll be playing with the
Echo70cm a bit, maybe in the upcoming sprints. I can build another cheap
yagi for that in an afternoon. Get a portable mast/guying system. There
are some lovely dune parks just off to my west, and I can literally walk
from my QTH to the next grid east of me, where there is a nice park with a
good hilltop to setup a portable rig on. I figure I have decent hills to
work from for at least 3 grids in my county alone, and EN73 may have some
hilltops that are public as well, I just need to look.
I'm also interested in what you guys may offer as constructive criticism:
there isn't a whole lot of VHF activity other than the repeaters in West
Michigan, so I'm kinda stumbling along blind here...
Thanks!
Bryan (KD8LDX)
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