Hi Dave,
Dave , it sure is good to hear from you, your big signal from Lebanon Me is
greatly missed. It was so exciting to get on 10ghz and know my station
was working good if I was able to hear your big signal from over 200 miles.
You are an inspiration to all of us over the years and would love to
hear your that big mountain top station. I know it is a trek from your home
below but maybe remote it. For those who do not know Dave, please look K1WHS
up. Geez does this sound like Dave have moved on to higher grounds, nope he
is still out there doing his thing. I too wish something could be changed
with digi vs SSB/CW during the ARRL contests. It sure has become quiet with
SSB.
As far as Ron WZ1V goes , not sure we can help him. I just wish my score
was as good as his hihi.
73'
Steve K1IIG
HF-10ghz
Hi Chet & Ron
The January VHF Contest is made for trouble. That is probably the reason
it has been so popular over the years. That being said, I stopped getting
on VHF in 2017 after 55 years of fun and bliss on 144 MHz. There were
several reasons. Being retired, I found fly fishing to be a fantastic way
to spend the day. I have been crawling all over the NH White Mountains
looking for brook trout, Rainbows, and Salmon. I made the trek down to
N3NGE this year and helped out in the January contest. We had an awful
time with the weather. Saturday afternoon, it was sleeting, then turned to
freezing rain. The antennas iced up. QSO rates plummeted and we were down
to 5 or 6 per hour combined for all bands. The antenna patterns were
reversed on each band. The power off the reflector was 6 or 8 dB better
than what was available off the front of the antenna. On 222 & 432, I
started running by aiming the reflector at the station we needed. It did
not help much. Things only improved the following morning where the temps
went above 32 and the Sun worked on the ice to make most of it fall off.
We were fortunate that the ice finally did fall off!!
I had been bummed out by the influx of the digi modes into VHF contesting
and DXing in general. Our plan was to not work anyone on FT8 so that we
could run the bands later on. I guess it worked as we had no trouble
making CW and SSB contacts with plenty of stations. I found the bands
were not as desolate as I had imagined them to be, and resolved to re
activate my dilapidated station up on that ridge of solid rock up in
Maine. I am even rebuilding my 222 station. One of my yagis managed to
snap in half due to high winds a few years ago. It is not repairable by
myself as the H frame needs to be lowered as the broken boom is up on top
on the left. I'll need some extra muscle to fix it.
Anyway, my take on the January contest was that it was great and I had way
too much fun working weak signals with iced up antennas. I am dusting off
my VHF gear in hopes of getting active again (in between fishin' time)
And Ron, ..... The Pack Rats are still talking about you. I saw several
"Ron" Voodoo dolls with pins stuck in them while I was in PA.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 1/23/2020 2:10 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
Hi Chet: Spot on -
anyone's who's still VHF contesting as long as we have
are gluttons for punishment - bring on the pain we love it !
Lot's of good contacts made despite challenging condx.
-73 Ron WZ1V
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chet S" <chetsubaccount@snet.net>
To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2020 08:59:41 -0500
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Did anyone else have fun in the January
VHF/UHF contest?
Hi John,
I believe you are misinterpreting the reports from the contest. These
may be bragging reports, not disgusted tirades. The January contest
presents challenges and problems for many, but hams like to persevere,
engineers like to solve problems, and all like to talk about it
afterward.
Think of it like sailors or fishermen having a few beers in the cozy pub
after a big storm. Do they talk about how beautiful the storm clouds and
sky were, or do they tell tales of how tough a time it was getting
through it. Still had a kind of fun, maybe a man thing.
73,
Chet, N8RA
-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting
<vhfcontesting-bounces+chetsubaccount=snet.net@contesting.com> On Behalf
Of John Young via VHFcontesting
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 10:58 PM
To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Did anyone else have fun in the January VHF/UHF
contest?
So I have been reading the 3830 and ARRL Soapbox posts. The vast
majority of posts include a lot of commentary on poor turnout, poor
conditions, dead bands and weather difficulties. Some even question if
its worth taking part in these contests. My experience and those of
several others who worked FM in Northern VA or MD was very much the
opposite. There was great activity from 2pm until 10pm Saturday and it
wasn't what I would call slow (no 30 minute breaks between Q's) all the
way up to 1 am. Even when I got back on the air at 0330 Sunday there
was activity to be had. I didn't work through to the bitter end (or
should I say bitterly cold end) but from the private emails it appears
it never got boring. Its not like we had great weather here by any
stretch.
What made it so much fun?
Turn out and constant activity. Working hard to get a weak contact.Rag
chewing with truckers all night to add points as they cross grids.Making
scheds with FM and multi-band rovers along with big fixed stations at
"long range".Passing contacts between stations to build each others
scores.Making a Q with people who never imagined a 100 mile Q was
possible on FM simplexHaving a paraplegic 15yr old build a tape measure
yagi so he can make a QSO with you (2017).People dusting off rigs they
have not used in years or going mobile to a nearby hill top to give you
another contact or multi.
A big part of what generated the activity was a coupe guys sending out a
lot of emails to get people up on the air in our area. That has over
time generated a lot of turn out, both casual operators, new fixed site
contesters as well as regional FM or FM/SSB rovers.
Was having fun this January just an FM thing? All our contacts are
regional, propagation is not a big factor. There are no digital modes,
clickety Q, clickety Q.Its just you, a microphone, a radio, a cable and
an antenna. Pretty basic stuff.
Did anyone else have a good time?Post something if you did. All that
reading is pretty depressing right now.
73JohnKM4KMU
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