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 Previous: ARISS Packet BBS Back Up |  Next: Surfin': About the Old: College Radio Clubs |
By Dave Bell, W6AQ
April 1, 2005
It sure ain't like LA!
For ARRL's September VHF QSO Party I found myself back at W8JJO's Michigan lakeshore hideaway, ostensibly helping him winterize his antennas. This consisted mainly of cranking down and tilting over his very, very old 55 foot EZ-Way tower and "nesting" the fiberglass elements of his 3 element SteppIR rotary beam (4 elements on 6 meters).
Before that happened, however, there was the weekend of the contest. Would I be able to get all of the winterizing done on Monday and Tuesday, my last days on the lake before flying back to my home in Los Angeles? Would it rain? Should I risk foul weather and operate the contest? One guess.
Brad's radio is an ICOM IC-746, which has both 6 and 2 meters. And while I think he's never used it, he has an M2, 7 element Yagi underneath the SteppIR at about 55 feet. So that was the gear--4 on 6 and 7 on 2, low power.
I'm Not a Demon Contester
Allow me a small digression. I'm not a demon contester though I enjoy it and have been low-band contesting off and on for probably 20 years or so. I'm just recently into VHF/UHF contesting. I've done maybe a dozen of them, all from my home station in the hills above Hollywood.
I started my ham career in the late '40s with an SCR 522 (if you don't know what that classic old VHF rig is, you're not really an old-timer) chatting on 2 meter AM with a pal of mine, now W8CY, in my quaint old hometown of Andover, Ohio. Up until a couple of years ago I hadn't been back on VHF since, except for some now and then handheld activity.
I'd been thinking about expanding my ham radio horizons to include VHF for several years before I ran across a brand new Yaesu FT-736R at the TRW swapmeet. It was clear that the great ham radio spirit in the sky was telling me that now was the time--so I bought the FT-736R knowing virtually nothing about it except that the price was right.
When I got home that day my wife asked me if I found the coax connectors I'd gone for, and I of course said that I had, omitting the fact that they were on the back panel of my new radio.
Pretty soon I was checking into nets run by the Western States Weak Signal Society, which, depending on frequency, had anywhere from a dozen to 50 check-ins. Unlike some repeaters I've tried checking in on, these weak-signal dudes were very welcoming.
Another digression: Had I
known that the VHF/UHFers in the West had named themselves the Weak Signal
Society I probably wouldn't have been so tempted to get back on the really
short waves. I'd spent a lifetime and a lot of money to be anything but a weak
signal, and here I was joining such an organization? The die was cast, however,
when I bought the '736R. I had to join the WSWSS because I'm just a natural-born
joiner. I somehow feel obligated to support ham radio organizations of all
kinds. I just had to keep it quiet so my low band pals wouldn't have something
else to make fun of me about.
I Give My New Rig a Workout
While looking at the WA7BNM Web site for upcoming contests, I read that the ARRL VHF QSO Party was imminent. Never having been in one, I thought it would give the rig, the op and the antennas a good workout. I figured that given the number of net check-ins, there'd be lots of activity.
Well, there was, and there wasn't. What I discovered was a huge pileup--on 144.200, the calling frequency. The rest of 2 meters had a few (a couple really), stations exchanging reports, but that was it! Easily three-quarters of the contesters were parked on the calling frequency, now and then to be driven off that choice spot by a kW calling "CQ North" or otherwise locking up that prime piece of real estate. Then and only then would some campers move off the calling frequency for the empty quiet of virtually anywhere else on the band.
I quickly discovered the wisdom of asking your contact if he/she had "other bands" and popping up to 222, 440 or 1296. Some West Coasters have 900 as well, and a few venture regularly above 1296, but not me (yet) and not many. And what frequency is usually suggested for the move elsewhere? Why, that band's calling frequency, of course. There are exceptions to that rule, but a casual observer could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that many VHF rigs in So Cal are crystal controlled. A lot of VHFers in California complain about the calling frequency pileups, but for whatever reason, the pileups linger like a case of bad breath after a night on the town.
So imagine my surprise when I fired up W8JJO's IC-746 on 144.200 and heard ... nothing. Absolutely nothing!
Did I have the wrong date or time for the contest? I double-checked QST. No, now was the time and date. So where was the contest? Had that deer I'd seen in Brad's front yard eaten his coax?
I tuned off the calling
frequency and was astounded! There
was the contest. All over the place. Most of the 2 meter band was teeming with
activity--but no one on the calling frequency. It was like the low bands. You
actually had to tune to make a contact--what a concept! And when I was asked to
move to another band, I was never asked to move to the calling frequency.
Never!
Can This be 2 Meters?
Tuning around there on the shores of Lake Michigan I heard--I couldn't believe it--CW! Wow! Can this be 2 meters? Somebody's calling CQ on CW! And there's another one! . About the only station I've ever heard calling CQ on CW in Southern California is K6TSK, and by the time Ralph drags out his key, he's desperate, and besides, I'd already worked him on phone. (Maybe it's time to count phone and CW as separate contacts in the VHF and UHF contests. Some dusty old keys would come down off the shelves.)
I'd heard that Midwesterners had a huge advantage over us West Coasters in VHF/UHF contests, and that weekend in September I learned what it was! They don't all camp on one frequency and fight to be heard.
Of course, there's also the advantage that the ground is fairly flat and there are stations in every direction. And when there's a hill, it's not very big and it's usually surrounded by hundreds of miles of flat. And the Rovers are on top of the hill. I heard a guy on both 6 and 2 who was running 4 watts on each band and was about 200 miles away!
This won't be the last time I operate a VHF contest at W8JJO's place in Pier Cove, Michigan. It's a great, quiet location, and from southwest to northwest, it's all lake. Incidentally, don't look for Pier Cove on a map--you won't find it. The Lakeshore Drive signs letting you know you've arrived were made by the residents and look exactly like Michigan road signs, except they're square.
Next year I'm taking my Heil headset and a footswitch so I don't have to hold a hand mike while attempting to type my contest log one-handed. Other than that, no changes necessary. Don't be surprised to hear W6AQ from the Midwest in this summer's VHF contests. I like to tune for my contacts. I'm old fashioned that way.
Comparing Scores
Oh, how do my Michigan vs Los Angeles scores compare? Well, I only did about a fourth as well in Michigan as I've done in LA, but all of my contacts in Michigan were 1 pointers because those are the only bands available on the IC-746. At home I have all of the money bands and some big Yagis. I suspect that if I had my Hollywood station and antennas there on the shores of Lake Michigan, I'd probably double the score I usually settle for in the city of angels.
When I mentioned my preference for the way things are done in the Midwest to a Western States Weak Signal Society stalwart, he said with the hint of a smile, "Maybe you should go back to where you came from." I thought about it for a moment and said, "I think I'll just get a couple of kW for 2 meters and camp on the calling frequency." Then I said, "Just kidding." To dump a ton of bricks on the calling frequency would somehow go against the grain because I've recently discovered the joys of QRP. But that's a whole other story.
Cartoons by Phil Gildersleeve, W1CJD (SK), from the January 1939, May 1955 and March 1959 issues of QST.
Dave Bell,
W6AQ, an award-winning TV producer, has served as chairman of the ARRL Public
Relations Advisory Committee. He edited and produced the Amateur
Radio Today CD-ROM, and has written several
articles for QST. You can reach
the author at mailto:w6aq@aol.com.
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