Today's mail brought a simple QSL card from Greg Green, VA3ZDX in
Ontario, Canada confirming EN93 on 2 Meter sideband. The card was of the
normal size, with typical graphics. Attractive, but in itself, nothing
more or less remarkable then any of the other 1,000 or so in my modest
collection.
It's ordinary appearance belies it's significance to me. Greg had sent
me an e-mail about a week ago when he mailed the card, letting me know
that it was on it's way. He'd sent another one two years ago, but
somewhere along the way it had been swallowed up and lost.
For the past six days, I had asked my wife several times per day if the
mail had come yet. And then waited for her to sort the bills, catalogs,
and other items---hoping that there would be something for me. Not since
the days of box tops, and novelty catalogs had I anticipated the arrival
of the day's mail so keenly.
Today, I had been distracted and missed the carriers arrival. A few
hours later, I happened to ask my wife if anything had come for me. Abby
just smiled and said, "Yes, I left in on the arm of the chair in the
living room. Didn't you see it?"
I rushed into the main room. My hands trembled as I held the card--and I
could barely stop them from shaking as I tore it open. My total of
confirmed grids had hovered at 99 for over a month--so I knew this was
the "one". Not willing to believe my own eyes, I entered the
confirmation into my logging program, and asked it to generate a
detailed report of all confirmed grids on 2 Meters. I sent that file to
my printer, and scanned the paper for the total results---sure enough,
the software confirmed that my total now stood at 100 grids.
THE FIRST STEP OF A LONG JOURNEY
This journey began in March of 2007. Back surgery had forced my wife and
I to abandon our three story home where we raised two children, and
buried a dear pet dog, Sissy. That was the home with the marks on the
wall, where we had charted the progress of our children's
growth--watched them go off to high school dances, and posed for
graduation pictures. That home also provided ample room for my
passionate interest in 160 Meters and even low frequency "Lowfer" work
on 160-190 KHz.
We found out new single story home that meet our requirements. Brick
house, single story, hardwood floors, etc. We wanted something low
maintenance to fit into our hectic lives, and didn't want to be burdened
with a fixer-upper. In this area, if you want new construction, you
either live in an HOA neighborhood or a long, long way from town. I knew
that the new home would mean no outdoor antennas, but decided that my
wife's comfort outweighed my hobbies.
The new home did have a large attic space, and a quick check with an HT
confirmed that the shingles had little effect on RF inside. I reasoned
that I could easily mount some J-Poles inside, and possibly a small beam
to get into distant repeaters. At the time, I was serving as Section
Emergency Coordinator for Alabama, and EMCOMM was my chief concern. The
privacy fence around the back offered the possibility of a hidden loop
NVIS antenna for HF--so I figured that was good enough.
The first year in the house passed quickly, and I didn't miss low
frequency work too much. I had tried that loop antenna on 160 Meters,
but it refused to load up well--and DX seemed impossible. It performed
a bit better on 75 Meters. At least well enough to get into the state
wide ARES nets. I thought maybe I'd try my hand at 20 Meters and I still
had an FT-857D with a Tarheel in the truck--that offered some ham work
during my daily commute. I told myself that I didn't miss the other stuff--
A CHANCE DISCOVERY
Over the years, I'd always been interested in weak signal VHF/UHF work,
but never found time to get serious about it. I'd been a fairly serious
TV DX'er in my old home, logging stations from as far away as Colorado,
New Mexico, Mexico, and Canada. So when each issue of QST arrived, I
usually read the "World Above 50 MHz" column with some interest. Reading
through some back issues one day, I re-read a column from Gene
Zimmerman, W3ZZ called "Chasing VUCC' that was all about earning VUCC. I
had some time off from work for the Christmas break--so I read that
article two or three times back to back.
My interest stirred, I wandered out to the garage and up into the attic.
I looked at the small 3 element beam that was mounted vertically. It
worked well, allowing me to access repeaters up to 100 miles away at
time. I wondered how it might perform if I flipped it to horizontal? I
quickly changed out the u-bolts and went down to the ham shack to try it
out. My Icom 746 offered 2 Meter SSB capability, though I had never made
a single contact. I dialed in 144.200 and gave a quick CQ after
listening to noise for ten minutes. Nothing.
I rotated the small beam to the North, towards Birmingham...figuring
there would be more people monitoring in that area. Another CQ, and an
answer...
JANUARY 2008--THE FIRST CONTACT AND A VHF ELMER
A couple of weeks later brought the ARRL VHF January Contest. I figured
this would be a great place to work some grids, and make some real
progress on VUCC. I figured I could work 15-20 grids easily during a
busy contest. I'd have that award in no time!
Instead, I managed just seven QSO's, and listened to literally 20 hours
of noise. I worked three grids, and got so bored at one point that I
assembled an old 6 Meter GP antenna that I had in the attic, just so I
could "hand out another band" to the locals. I knew that the
polarization was wrong, but it worked well enough to give out 6 Meter
contacts to two stations in EM63.
One bright spot was that I met Jimmy Long, W4ZRZ during that contest. I
was amazed, because he stopped in the middle of the contest to have a
twenty minute QSO with me, offering advice, encouragement, and an offer
to loan me equipment to get started on other bands! Wow! You'd never get
a station to stop in the middle of an HF contest, not even on the
"Gentleman's Band"! I had a VHF elmer, and a new friend.
SIX YEARS LATER
It's taken six years, but honestly, they've been the most enjoyable
years in the hobby. My list of VHF elmers has grown past Jimmy Long to
include dozens of others; J.D., Marshall, Jack Bruce, Bill, Neil, etc. I
can't say enough how grateful I am to all of them--and to those on these
e-mail lists too.
I've added bands, and listened to a lot more noise...but enjoyed every
second of it.
The end of the journey is both satisfying and bittersweet. I plan to
continue chasing new grids on 2 Meters, hopefully using a portable EME
station that I want to set up in the driveway at night, when my
neighbors are asleep. But I'll also focus more now on 222 and 432 VUCC.
Gene's article predicted that most would complete those awards long
before they managed 100 grids on 2 Meters, but he didn't count on attic
mounted antennas, I guess.
Gene, W3ZZ and I didn't always agree on things, but I hope that he knows
he inspired someone with his words that day. I'll be forever grateful
for what he brought into my life. This one's for you, Gene.
--
--
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf
6M VUCC #1712
AMSAT #38965
Grid Bandits #222
Southeastern VHF Society
Central States VHF Society Life Member
Six Club #2484
Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light
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