09/17/2004 | W3IY/R The September VHF QSO party was great fun on the eastern shores of NC, VA, & MD this year. After at least 5 contests with below average propagation, this one was pretty good, although still just a little better than average. We enjoyed great activity from the Washington DC area, and we really appreciate all of our faithful
followers hanging around to make QSOs. We ran the bands with lots of stations, and enjoyed handing out the grids. A very encouraging sign was hitting 61 QSOs on 3.4GHz, showing that there is healthy growth on the microwaves on the east coast. Best DX was working K1WHS thru 5.7GHz from FM16 (520mi). Over 1150 QSOs, total, convinced us that u can still have lots of fun on the bands without a big band opening. Keep those rotors turning and those dials spinning. Listen for the weak ones...

73,
Bill W3IY
Christophe ON4IY -- W3IY