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Pop Quiz - What does does the following sound like ?
300 + pounds of coax and heliax or almost 1000 feet of cable if all strung together end-to-end...
Vertical Omni's for 50, 146, 222, 432, 902, 927, 1296
Yagi's and or Loopers for 50, 144, 222, 432, 902, 927, 1295, 2304, and 3456 ..
Four foot dish for 10 Gig
Ten radios for "single band" operations and driving transverters
High power amplifiers for 50 thru 2304 (see my note later on this )
Two laptop computers for logging and digital mode operations
And four rotors to steer the directional antennas ....
If you guessed a "modest" to nice home station setup you'd be wrong :-)
I didn't mention packing and prep time of about six hours, driving time of three hours (to and from the hill), about sixteen hours of set up time before the contest and getting on the air, the actual contest itself and then about eight hours of tear down and packing for home, followed by unpacking of about two hours .... and oh, by the way, all done solo without any assistants or assistance.
All of this can only mean one thing - it's time for the June 2009 ARRL VHF QSO Party !!!
This was without question my longest contest to set up for to date, and a new high water mark with four rotors spinning the aluminum. It was also my goal to work on beating my score from two years ago (having missed all ARRL events last year due to work related obligations).
So, with 1800 Zulu approaching Saturday morning, I was listening and realizing that six meters was open and I wasn't close to being done with setup, although I had started Friday afternoon. I worked little traffic or other stations until later in the afternoon, with just the locals and rovers ad-hoc until everything was set up mid-Saturday afternoon... Antennas, rotors, switchboxes, radios, microphones, computers, rigblasters, footswitches, transverters and amplifiers ....
By the time I was on, six was winding down here in southern California. My last actions before sitting down for the next several hours to start working through the bands was to "dial down" all of the radios intended to drive the high power amplifiers to between 10 to 20 watts. Then it was off to the back of the vehicle to flip the switches on for the amplifiers I had set up in the trunk area of the Nissan.
I'll mention that the Nissan was parked as it usually is, with the tailgate facing the west, toward the setting sun ..
Back in to the front seat and then calling "CQ" begins in earnest ...
Six meters is still open, but now to San Francisco and points north in California, along with Oregon and Washington. I'm working stations, but the opening doesn't appear to be very good - although I'm hearing stations fine and with decent signal strength readings, I'm doing a lot more calling and repeating of my call than I'm typically used to. I'm working a fairly good number of stations, but the trend of lots more of me repeating my call and location prevails throughout the weekend ... Logging is fast and hectic - and I'm sure i probably got a few calls, locations and bands jumbled over the weekend. As best as I can recall this was my highest number of stations worked in any contest shy of Field Day.
As Saturday winds from daylight in to evening, six meters starts slipping away and more time and effort is spent on two meters and above. Everything works except for 3456 - I had something go awry and while I could receive fine, I couldn't get the transverter to key or go into transmit. 2304 was ad-hoc, I had an issue with the amplifier before the contest and while I hoped I would have time on the hill to work on it or figure out what was wrong Friday evening, that never worked out. Overnight weather each evening was 100% fog, 30 to 70 MPH blowing winds and while not cold, it wasn't practical to be working outside of the vehicle or with the doors open or ajar. So for the few I could and did work on 2304, it was two watts in to the 6' Looper ..
I had a blast, thoroughly enjoyed every minute of operating time (it's funny how working a contest completely erases all grief or doubts about why you go crazy and spend all of the time before and after these things!) and ended up with lots of memorable contacts (and even a few visitors on the hill Sunday morning) - including KC0ZXX in EN02, AK7AT, K7MAC, W7ID, WT7B and KF7CQ in DN13 (likely the whole ham population on six meters there, hi-hi) that poppped out of the proverbial woodwork while a strong run in to Texas and Louisiana was occuring and then ..... most notably and importantly, catching KR0VER/R, Eric in DN80 ...
I had sent Eric an email before the contest to see if he was planning to be on for the part or all of the contest. He replied back that he was indeed planning to be on over the weekend, roving in Colorado.
Eric and I met here in San Diego and shared a few hilltops during contests before he changed his QTH to Colorado a few years ago. Since then we've remained in contact, in email and on the contest reflectors. We have had successful contacts on six meters during previous June ARRL Contests, with me on the hilltop and even running low power portable in the bleachers of my old High School a couple of years ago and Eric burning 4 and 5 dollar a gallon fuel while Roving the mountain ranges in and around Colorado.
An excerpt of an email I had sent him and his reply after the contest logs were already turned in follows :
(From KG6IYN to KR0VER/R) At 08:05 PM PST 7/14/2009, KG6IYN wrote: > "So, I forgot to tell you I had you logged on 6 meters in DN80 - there was so much QRM I'm hoping that was right, otherwise it's a busted Q ...."
(From Eric, KR0VER/R to KG6IYN)
" Muhahahahah.. No..
DN80 was/is right! I think it was DN80AA to be exactly exact, but DN80 was the exchange. Normally I work a large pile of UHF+ there, but due to the HUGE thunderstorms all the local multiops were shut down. Nothing to do there, except work six, and then "Get the Heck Out" because those thunderstorms were headed my way. Nobody was on, I was slightly afraid I'd activated a grid only to work nobody, and then, out of the fog of DX, there you were! bahahaha. I was hopping up and down. Not only was it DX in the middle of a dry spot, but it was KG6IYN.. Nutzo. Six seconds after I worked you, it closed back down and I never heard you again. Magic! On a crappy loop, with ~160W. :) "
(End of message)
Bottom line here and for many other VHF affictionaidos - You just Gotta Love Six Meters !!!!
Oh, and back to the comments I made about the amplifiers a few times in this soapbox - during teardown and disconnecting all of the gear for the return trip home I discovered that while I had plugged in all of the amplifiers in the back of the vehicle, and connected the coax connectors to antenna switch boxes and radios respectively, I had never plugged in the 200 amp Anderson Power Pole plug for the main DC Bus in the Pathfinder. I had been using the Nissan for camping over the past several months and had taken out two of the three deep cycle batteries I usually carry to save on space and weight. When these went back in to the vehicle and then cabling buried under all of the other loose gear and equipment, I never reconnected the amplifier distribution main bus to the batteries. When I was running around Saturday afternoon wrapping up before getting in to serious contesting mode, I flipped all of the power switches on the TE Systems Amps and on the Demi Amps, but never noticed the "power" leds weren't on because the sun shining in to the back of the vehicle made them look like they were actually on !
Now the reality of why this contest "seemed much harder" and why all of the repeated contact info from my side made perfect sense - I had run the entire contest at power levels just above the QRP range with nothing coming out of the amplifiers because they weren't powered up !
One more darn thing to check off of my "Murphy" list in the future -
Thanks to all for a great weekend and for being there - local's and DX !
(comments and feedback always welcome - "mycallsign"@arrl.net)
'73 de KG6IYN
Looking toward the North, a stacked pair of Cushcraft 13B2's with vertial yagi's for 144 and 220, and to the left, M2 220-5WL and 432-11WL yagis - verticals / omni's are on the fenceline |
A coax, rotor cable and heliax "tailgate party" |
View to the South, overlooking Mexico about seven miles away. 12 foot 902 and 1296 loopers, Cushcraft 50-5 and 220/432 yagis |
View to the Southwest - Humans (KG6IYN and K6KTP's friend, 'KTP took many of these pictures) added for scale :-) |
Almost sunset on Sunday evening - any "tilting" in these pictures is caused by lens optic's in the cameras - the masts were all straight and the antennas all horizontal :-) |
Another beautiful day in the clouds !! |
Overhead view of the site and valley, with the 50, 222, 432, 902, 1296 (and vehicle mounted) antennas from the tower |
Someday, I'll buy a reasonable and decent flat field wide angle lens so that the vertical antennas don't appear to be "leaning" and the antennas themselves are truly horizontal - but then again, getting on 5.7 ghz might be more important :-) |
Operators seat view :-) Note the handy rearview mirror that doubles as a microphone holder and the strategically placed Cheese-It and Mini Wheats boxed propping up two of the four rotor controllers (I asked the photographer Marty, K6KTP why he was embarassing me with the food boxes - his reply was because "it was real" :-) |
If you look behind and beyond the vehicle and antennas, the "foothills" you see in the background are to the southwest and toward San Diego - ranging from 1500' to 4000' and starting at about 10 to 20 miles away |
Another downward facing picture from the tower ... |
This year I took my traveling QRP operation to southeastern South Dakota. I arrived Thursday evening hoping to set up and operate all day Friday and Saturday morning, but it rained all day Friday so I had to set up Saturday morning. Took a nice tour of Sioux City in the rain. Pretty good year on 6, but not spectacular. Made a few nice QSOs on the other bands, but because I was located on the flat my range was not as distant as I would have liked. Just as I was finishing tearing down on Monday morning the monsoon came back, but I had no rain during the contest.
Everything needed for five bands goes on top of the car. |
...where the buffalo roam. |
Two rigs, two paddles, two mics, five bands, |
Sunset over South Dakota. |
6 Meter Dipole not only makes great contacts on 6 Meters, it also makes great pizza! - KA2ANF |
I was able to work stations in the Midwest and down to the South from MN to KY, then into TN and TX, as well as covering some close-by in NJ PA and CT, just to name a few. All in all, I made lots of great contacts; I even got to work W5ZN's station in AR - a real BIG GUN sending a strong 59 ++ signal into NNJ.
I worked just 6M this go-round, operating an ICOM IC-7000 with its full output of 100 watts into the pictured dipole (see photo) and even got to enjoy some homemade pizza, done on the grill after it served is other role as the supporting base for the Dipole! I hope all enjoyed the contest as much as I did and hope to work all of you that I missed in the next one!
Once again this turned out to be a 6 meter contest due to E skip! That puts most rovers at a disadvantage due to limited 6m antenna real estate, limited power, and reduced activity on the upper bands. To make maters worse, the tropo to the NE was limited to short haul only (150-200 Miles) for most of the contest. For those of us who participate for the thrill of the VHF and above contacts, Saturday was a big disappointment. Working 6m on E skip just isn’t as much fun as making a 370 mile contact on 2304 or 3456 with 1 watt!
We decided to run the Rover on our old route one more time starting in FM27 and working our way up to FM28 then FM29 and FM18 on Saturday. Normally FM27 costs us an extra 2 hours of travel plus fuel to pick up just a few contacts. This time we made sure some of the Multi-Multi’s and big gun single ops knew we were starting. The sky opened up about 10 miles from our destination in Crisfield. To make matters worse the 1296 Amplifier was shutting down due to high SWR! We had to shut it off and run 8 watts on 1296 for the rest of the contest. The contact count was up slightly but not really enough to make it worth while. The thunder storms seemed to follow us around all afternoon and evening.
With the poor results from Saturday we decided just to run out to Sideling Hill in FM09 on Sunday and call it a day. We’ll save the gas money for August or September.
There were a couple of high points of the trip. We managed once again to complete with K1RZ on all 8 bands from every grid! That included 1296 with a bad antenna and 3456 with 1 watt at 140 miles. We also completed with WA2FGK up through 2304 at 212 miles from FM09.
We’ll be out looking for good uW Tropo in August and September.
73,
Jim K3LFO & Dave W3DIO
My son Christopher (KC9JTL) and I had a blast in this, our second VHF contest (see Christopher in the July 2008 issue of QST magazine). Had some antenna upgrades from the January contest. I homebrewed a 2 element coax beam for 6 meters and it worked better than I had any reason to expect. I also got the beams up on the roof this year, so we had much better coverage from our ridgetop location.
6 meters was a blast and Christopher really enjoyed being able to work station after station on that band. It was really cool to see the opening move from the southeast on Saturday afternoon up into the east and northeast, including French Canada on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday it opened to our west and northwest, but some to the south as well later that day. So we literally worked all over the country.
We added 222 MHz to our line-up late in the game after horsing around with the transverter throughout the contest. In the end, we were able to make about five QSOs in four grids on 222 MHZ with just a WA5VJB "cheap yagi" up about 15 feet. That was pretty cool and a good learning time for KC9JTL.
The action opened up on 2 meters at the very end of the contest and we were running contacts right up until the curtain closed. Very exciting. When it was all done and we had a chance to catch our breath, Christopher said, "Do they have another one in the Fall?" I think he's hooked. I know I am.
Our station and antennas are modest, but the fun factor was huge.
Da shack. |
Workin' the bands. |
Puttin' up the beams. |
I was at the QTH of VP9GE on the north shore of Bermuda for a vacation/mini-DXpedition. The antennas and accommodations were excellent. For the contest a simple five element 6M beam was put up in the yard only about 8 feet above the ground. The rig was an Elecraft K3 SN#1289. Ed, VP9GE, was most helpful in securing the VP9 permit.
It was a real rush to be on this end of the pile up, especially on 6M. During the ARRL VHF contest on June 14th, I was able to work 260 stations in 2.5 hours and I could not believe I worked 95 grids over the contest period. I wish I had more time to put into the contest but we were on vacation also and it was imperative to keep the XYL happy. The time spent on the island was wonderful and I highly recommend it.
Click http://home.mebtel.net/~kf4vtt/vp9/VP9.htm for a link to the DXpedition.
I'm glad I could help a few out with the FM72 grid.
73,
Doug
KF4VTT/VP9
The KF4VTT/VP9 operating point. |
VP9GE QTH on the northshore of Bermuda. |
6M beam and yes it is only 8 feet above ground. |
The USCGC Eagle passed by the QTH while we were in VP9. |
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VE7IYOA participated in the ARRL VHF Contest which resulted in only a few contacts made on VHF and some on HF during a 4 hour period. Only 6 stations were logged on VHF and 4 on 20 meters. A 5/8 2 meter Ground plane antenna mounted on a photo tripod was all I had for antennas on 144.220 MHz. It was not the ideal antenna configuration for this contest and I was a rank beginner.
6 stations and 2 Grid Squares were logged from the site. Members of the public that visited the station had many questions about what I was doing and I explained why the Special Event Station was requested.
It Commemorated Galileo Galilei's efforts and achievments that he has made over the last 400th years.
Signifies the first International Year of Astronomy.
Brings awareness of Astronomy as a science on a global scale and how it has evolved over 400 years.
Gets people out and observing when ever they can and sharing experiences with others.
The N8UR contest site at the Beaver Head Lighthouse (EN75). |
This was our first attempt at a portable operation and first serious attempt at VHF contesting. We learned a lot, and had a lot of fun!
We operated 6M, 2M, 70cm, 23cm, and 10GHz. Antennas were small yagis and power was <100 watts, with 3 watts on 10 GHz. Our site was about 40 feet above the lake, unfortunately blocked from the water by a thin line of trees. One great thing about this location was having an S0 noise level on 6M, even with the preamp on max gain; we were far from the nearest high tension line or sodium vapor light!
The biggest challenges were the 3-lb. mosquitoes and getting people to aim their antennas north!
We hope to be back next year with a bigger, better operation.
This was not our best contest as far as score, but that's mostly due to limits on operating time. I had to work on Saturday and Sunday had some other family obligations. There were also a number of operating problems that included an IF radio that would not key my 222 transverter and a 432 amp that is dead. Add to that the very limited 6 meter openings where I was and I didn't even match my score from January.
Still though... there were a lot of good things as well. Six meters wasn't totally dead for us. Saturday evening found us listening to a lot of TX and FL stations. They would fade in long enough for us to hear them working another station, but once they finished and called QRZ, they seemed to fade right out. It was frustrating. Sunday however, we found the VP9in FM72 Bahamas coming in clear as crystal. He was working quite a pile-up and it wasn't until I gave up sending my call and just said "Rover! Rover! Rover!" that I got recognized.
Another highlight was working KO4YC in the last 5 minutes of the contest. Two days before the contest, he answered my call on 6 meters while setting up my station. He told me he likely wouldn't be in the contest, but I was glad to get him. He was the only FM17 I found the entire time and finishing with 4 mults was nice.
A real treat was hearing what I thought was two other rovers working each other on 6 meters. They were about to QSY to 2 meters when I threw out my call. It turns out it was actually 3 other rovers, all of them in different grids, seperated by more than 50 miles each. We moved all 4 of us to all other bands. Moving 4 rovers like that when there wasn't any pre-determined coordination was pretty neat.
Finally, this was my first contest with my wife. K4LIG has been with me for the last several contests as my girlfriend and then fiance', but this was the first one as my XYL. If you haven't been fortunate enough to have yours along on a roving adventure, you're really missing out. It made a so-so rove into another great memory.
FM19 near the operating location for K8GP |
Lots of recent rain made crossing the Shenendoah a bit tricky. |
No rover is complete without a stop at Hogback Overlook on Skyline Drive, FM08us |
Dave, AJ4LU's rover vehicle with antennas mounted just before departure. |
The backseat operating position. We have a lot of work to do here! |
73, Drew KO4MA
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