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2003 Jan VHF Results Article (Members Only) Scores (Members only) Printable Line Scores Rules ARRL Products: Contesting (More) RSGB Prefix Guide -- The complete guide to prefix identification and information. DXCC listings by prefix, award details, and more. 8th edition. NCJ -- National Contest Journal -- The best news and information for contesters! Published by ARRL. Subscribe Today... A-1 Operator Club Pin -- Show off your achievement for being among those operators that meet the highest operating standards. RSGB IOTA Directory -- Now Shipping! -- Everything you need to know for the popular worldwide Islands on the Air award. 45th Anniversary Edition. 2010 ARRL Amateur Radio Calendar -- Now Shipping! -- Deluxe 13 month calendar, featuring a selection of QSL cards from the W1AW collection. Includes important ham radio dates: contests, operating events and more!

2003 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

KE4WBO -- Nov 30, 2004 17:03 ET

TNX TO ALL WHO FOUND ME RUNNING QRP THIS YEAR ..DONT CHANGE THE RULES LEAVE THEM THE WAY THEY ARE ..LOW POWER IS LOW POWER 10W OR LESS NOT 150 WATTS 6M AGAIN KEPT YOU JUMPING 73 -- KE4WBO

KE4WBO -- Nov 30, 2004 16:59 ET

GREAT CONTEST ,6M OPENINGS KEPT YOU BUSY THRU WHOLE CONTEST TNX TO ALL THE W5'S WHO BEAMED THIS WAY -- KE4WBO

KC2GOW -- Jun 5, 2003 16:48 ET

Contest this year was one of the best. Enjoyed the 6m opening here in FN20. Hope to catch everyone during the June Contest.

73's Andy -- KC2GOW

AA2UK -- Apr 22, 2003 22:26 ET

Antennas

Equipment rack

It sure was cold it never got over 50 degrees in the shack even with 3-8877's on the lower 3 bands. The 6 meter band opening was great. Special thanks to Warren, WB2ONA for putting my 5.7/10ghz dish and 4 foot side arm in windy 10 degree weather two days before the contest. This was my personal best January contest with over 320K! I am looking forward to the June contest and summer band openings from FM29PN. 73 All Bill AA2UK -- AA2UK

WB2FKO -- Apr 8, 2003 21:52 ET

Running 170 Watts to stacked 5-el beams on 2-m; 100 Watts to a KB6KQ loop on 6-m.

This was my fourth VHF contest as a rover and this time I concentrated on 2-meter meteor scatter using WSJT. Photo taken in grid DM73 (central New Mexico) where I completed five random meteor scatter contacts including a new personal DX record of 1004 miles with K6AAW in northern California. Also used JT44 to great effectiveness on an otherwise dead 6-meter band. I made a total of ten meteor scatter contacts during the contest. Every multiplier helps, as there are only a half dozen or so VHF contesters in this part of the country. Activated 6 grids on 50 and 144 MHz. -- WB2FKO

K3EAR -- Mar 24, 2003 21:45 ET

The Saga of K3EAR, the Sweepstakes Mult-op Station, the icing on the cake, this was an operation that almost did not happen. In early December we were hit by 3 ice storms in a row plus the never ending snow. Our huge 6m stack was taken out. First the ice along with the heavy winds, stripped the rotor box, next the massive ice loading helped by the winds, sheared the main boom off. The FM vertical was completely cleaned from the mast and parts of it have never yet been found! The 2m stack was found damaged one week, which we repaired only to find it near totally destroyed the following week, booms snapped and vertical also gone! The 432 tower was almost completely lost due to melting ice sliding down the guy wires, shearing off at ground level one of the top guys. The tower was leaning 5ft out of plum still loaded with ice! Both of the on site HF tri-banders were damaged, one of which there was nothing left but the mast to boom plate. As some of our available pictures show, our antennas took a beating. Russ (N3EMF) and myself (WA1HHN) journeyed to our site some 5 consecutive weekends to repair, stay ahead of the damage and dig the place out, not really knowing if we would have to sit out the contest! Each weekend various members (who all ended up operating with us) of the Murgas Radio Club showed up and helped us repair the carnage. The 6m rotor that failed, even thought it's wind load rating was sufficient, being no match for the heavy ice loads encountered, was upgraded to a much heavier geared unit! Without the help that we received from all who were involved right up until the last minute, the results of this contest would never have happened. We are truly grateful to all who participated and would like to also thank all the fine operators we worked during the contest who made this years Sweepstakes a remarkable operation that will be well remembered! Our cast of usual suspects is as follows; N3FA, N3RN, N3TKK, N3WV, N3PBH, N3IKO, KE3OA, WB3FKQ, K3MKZ, K3RDA, WA3JWP, KA1ZE, N1ROZ, N3EMF, and WA1HHN. Main Rovers were N2GKM and N2DVQ who endured the weather and drove over 1100 miles each to bolster our score. -- K3EAR

432 stack, KT34A & 2M FM heavily iced	The K3EAR Multi-op at South Mountain
The Crew in the main operating room	Broken guy, 432 tower leaning...
2M stack heavily iced, note vertical

K1DS -- Mar 4, 2003 23:11 ET

11 bands(50-10G+Laser)in FM29

My best rover score ever-101K. All the radio gear worked great, rotor control improvements were especially helpful on 5G and 10G. The biggest problem was the van's starter and fuel-pump, which both died just after the contest ended! 24G addition is planned. 73, Rick -- K1DS

N2IM -- Feb 18, 2003 16:39 ET

Rover array turned Portable array!

This was supposed to be a GREAT year for my roving, but I got very sick with a flu, and could not venture outside. On Sunday night, however, I knew I had to get out for just a little while to help the club and use the equipment I spend so much time on integrating! On my way to my first operating location, I decided I was going to change my category to Single Op Portable and would stay out as long as possible. I arrive at 2350, and began to work the rovers and some others. The thrill was knowing that most of my stuff seemed to work! I made my first contacts ever on 903, 2304, and 3456. I was only able to last for about an hour, and then I had lost my voice again, so I headed for home. I did my best Single Op Portable score ever in just an hour! Oh well! It was still fun! -- N2IM

N8ZM -- Feb 6, 2003 22:56 ET

Our first January contest from our favorite hilltop in EN80. No longer running Field Day style (generator, tents, no A/C or heat) now that we have real 200 Amp service installed. Three 1500 watt heaters plus the exhaust from the amps and we were toasty, except for the draft across the ankles (see pix). Crockpot full of chili helped, too. Missed all of Saturday on 6m due to broken matching network on the M2 11 element, but the big opening into the northeast late Sunday afternoon help make up for it. 2m was steady all weekend, and 432 also worked well. -- N8ZM

N6NB -- Feb 6, 2003 04:17 ET

N6NB/R in FN10, nearly 3,000 miles from home.

I know this sounds a little crazy, but I drove my van almost 7,000 miles (from California to the northeast and back) in the middle of a cold, snowy winter just to for the 2003 January VHF contest. The station worked fine during the long trip, but little else went right. There were near-record low temperatures during the contest. Several of the sites I had in mind were snowbound. I spent nearly half of the contest looking for places to operate. I missed easy multipliers by not being on when other rovers were on. I also failed to tap the potential of 903 and 1296. I wasn't even on the bands above 1296. At least the six-meter opening Sunday afternoon went well. Luckily, as it turned out, my intended site in FN20 was snowed in, so I operated at an overlook on I-80. That site is blocked in several directions, but it has a good shot to the west--something my planned site lacks. So I did okay for a rover with a low 3-element Yagi (52 multipliers on six). I operated several VHF contests in the east in the 1970s, using a van and a tower trailer that I left back there. I didn't leave a van this time, but I definitely intend to be back. This is just too much fun to miss. It was a pleasure to reconnect with old friends and make new ones during the January 2003 contest. -- N6NB

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