After the initial flurry, January slow is the best description for Saturday.  I heard the stations closer to Chicago working some enhanced conditions into Ohio and PA for the first hour or so, but after an hour or so that died off and it seemed like the local stations mostly went away without looking west like they usually do at the start of the contest.  With low power I was unable to attract the attention of stations I could just barely hear out in the EN9X and FN0X grids and all too soon they were gone never to return. 

 Participation seemed way down and conditions for the rest of the day were flat to minus. Things picked up a little after dark but there were not many stations to work.  By the evening I had the lowest totals in recent memory for a Sept contest.  WSJT went fine, the rox are really quite good in Sept, but the trend continues that there are less random QSOs being made late at night than there once were.

 Sunday morning conditions were much better to the S and some long distance QSOs went into the log. Finally worked KB0HH EN06 at 540 miles on up to 432, but heard nada on 903 and above. But W9FZ/R and I were able to work 2304 (6W to 10W) at 230 miles on SSB!  In a reversal of the usual conditions, 903 was MUCH quieter than 902, but the background noise levels were horrendous on both bands especially SW. Finally worked N4QWZ EM66 on 903 (and 1296) at 410 miles. The conditions lasted until mid morning slowly fading as the sun got higher. Unless you were on before 9AM or so you missed most of it. Too bad so many folks seemed like they got on too late to work it after the poor conditions the day before. Lots of new grids, but little volume.   Heard AG4V/R in a few grids to the far south but was not able to connect higher than 903.

 The rest of Sunday was pretty slow again, but activity picked up some when the sun went down. I spent an hour chasing after a runaway dog with N2KMA, only to discover her sleeping on the porch when we got back.  Don’t think I really missed that much, although I probably missed a lot of stations to the east that get on in the morning. First contest from this QTH that I never even heard K8MD. No Es whatsoever on 6M, not even a little! Didn’t do much 6M scatter on Sunday morning either since the prop enhancement was so good, especially to the SW. It got better in the evening and the Qs went into the log but the score is way down from last year.

  Arrgh, the equipment woes saga goes on.   A lot of stuff is still not up to par and it required a lot of effort just to get the station going again. Still looking for a 3456 amp, working with only one 222 antenna and 903 is just not quite right despite a coax replacement.  But at least everything that I got working stayed working this time. Beginning to wonder if it’s worth the effort to keep patching this mess together, or maybe I should just fade quietly into the background noise of VHF contest history like so many have before me.  Participation seems way down and contest conditions have been mediocre at best.

73 de Bob2