08/14/2002 | W3IY/R The beginning of the UHF contest was scary...didn't hear any signals for the 1st 12 minutes. Finally K4QI showed up, and broke the silence in FM15. Activity was still poor, as were condx for most of Saturday. Then, Sunday morning, things got interesting, and we were hearing good signals from all over, particularly to the south from FM28. It was great fun working W4VHH (EM95) thru 3.4GHz. Bill, AA2UK, gave me great company from almost all my grids (FM15,25,26,16,17,27,28,18,29,19) on all bands thru 10GHz. It's great to have guys like him, K2SMN, K1TEO, and N3EMF to keep things going into all hours of the night. Thanks guys...we really appreciate the activity! Keep up the good work. The Packrats were also all over the bands, which was a nice treat...we always miss lots of stations in June, with the multiop efforts of the clubs. The UHF contest is always a little less active than the big 3 contests, but the dedication of this UHF amateur radio group makes me proud to be a high-band enthusiast. The QSOs are more challenging, and less frequent than in the VHF contests, but the satisfaction of working guys on 10 GHz is hard to describe. It's amazing how well things can work on this band with a little effort and perseverence. My hat's off to all these FB operators! CU on the bands in September.
Tnx es 73,
Bill W3IY/R -- W3IY