The Central States VHF Society (CSVHFS), the oldest group in the country devoted to weak signal VHF, held their 54th annual conference on July 21 - 23, 2022. Over 130 amateurs attended the event, which was held in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

This year's conference highlighted the recent activity with 222 MHz Worked All States (WAS), as well as the Fred Fish Memorial Award (FFMA), the VHF Spring Sprints, and the year-long competition, States Above 50 MHz.

The Wilson Award recognizes service to CSVHFS or VHF in general, and was presented to Peter Van Horne, KA6U. For the past two summers, Van Horne has been traveling the country, activating states via EME (Earth-moon-Earth) on 144, 222, 432, and 1296 MHz. His efforts resulted in six stations completing WAS on 222 MHz in the past year.

The John T. Chambers Award for Technical Achievement was presented to Dave Olean, K1WHS, for his many years at Directive Systems and Engineering in Haymarket, Virginia. Olean has been active in the chase for 222 MHz WAS and has been instrumental in promoting activity on the band.

222 MHz WAS award recipients in attendance for the award presentation were: Charlie Betz, N0AKC; Dave Kerl, N9HF; Joel Harrison, W5ZN; John Swiniarski, K1OR; Ed Gray, W0SD; Marc Thorson, WB0TEM; Dave Olean, K1WHS, and Marshall Williams, K5QE.

FFMA recipients attending the conference were Ralph Smith, W4UDH; Jim Spence, KO9A; John Feltz, W9JN, and Greg Clausen, W0LGQ.

More information about CSVHFS is available on their website, www.csvhfs.org.