[Mich VHF UHF Society] June VHF Contest disappointment

[David Pruett]

MIVUSers:

The June VHF Contest turned out to be a disappointment at K8CC.  While I 
managed to get my six bands (50 - 1296) hooked up and working prior to 
the contest, conditions (particularly above six meters) seemed poor, and 
perhaps were some of the worst I've ever experienced on a VHF contest 
weekend.  I recognize that the June contest tends to be this way when 6M 
is good so that people tend to stay there rather than moving up, but I 
didn't hear many people calling CQ on 2M and up, and making contacts 
beyond MI/OH/IN on those bands was difficult.

I've been off weak signal VHF/UHF for a couple of years. This weekend, I 
worked a number of people whose calls seemed unfamiliar to my VHF/UHF 
experience (which was good), but I also missed a number of the 
"regulars" who I remember usually working (which was not good).

I began operating when the contest started at 2:00PM local Saturday.  I 
had to take at break around 5:00 for a family event, but was back on 
around 9:30.  Apparently, there was an opening to Texas on 6M while I 
was gone.  When I got back, 6M was open to Connecticut and the 
surrounding states and I had fun running W1s for a while.  I kept 
operating until 1:00 AM after working VE3ZV in EN92 on 50 - 432.  I 
planned to get back on Sunday and operate all day, but I discovered that 
due to a software problem, my entire log from the first day was not 
stored properly on my logging computer.  All the QSOs I worked the first 
day were gone.

This killed my enthusiasm for operating the second day.  I could have 
gotten back on and worked more people, but then I couldn't submit my log 
for the contest as everyone I worked the first day would lose credit for 
those QSOs missing from my logwith additional penalties.

So my first day numbers were 97 QSOs and roughly 40 grids, which would 
have been a contest score of 5,000 points.  I was happy to make at least 
one QSO on each band that I was equipped for, including my first-ever 
1296 MHz QSOs.  But it was disappointing that my only 1296 QSOs were 
with stations in my own grid.  I put in a lot of work in the previous 
weeks to get my 1296 station together (30W DEMI transverter, 45L looper 
up 65', LDF-5 feedline).  I made unsuccessful attempts to work K9EA in 
EN71 and VE3ZV in EN92, both of whom I worked on the other lower bands. 
Being new to the band, would someone with 1296 experience share their 
opinion as to what should be workable with a station like mine?

I hope others in the club had fun this weekend.

73, Dave/K8CC