Congrats Les - welcome to the club!
I'm doing an article for the SWOT bulletin on a 2m EME trailer that isn't
all that hard to put together for those of us in townhouses and HOA
restricted areas. I'll let you know when they post it.
Don, NL7CO / EM04
2m VUCC # 597
204 confirmed grids
-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf
Of Les Rayburn
Sent: 09 October, 2014 11:43
To: vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu; VHF Contesting Reflector
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Chasing VUCC [ THIS ONE'S FOR GENE!]
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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