2003 ARRL September VHF Contest
10/04/2003 |
N
ARRL ...Sept... VHF...Contest...2003...NRW...EN41GO...
*** During editing of my 1st soapbox entry ,,, I suffered a fatal error & poof,, no more soapbox,,, it had vanished so I re-posted the edited version.***
Greetings All...It had been raining here since friday night & didn't look to be stopping any time soon...( yes we really needed the rain,, a couple of weeks earlier would of been better but you take what you can get) In the past I try to be well prepared for contest weekend..This time I was not... Too much going on ,so ham radio had to take a 2nd place on the priority list...As the contest started out Saturday,I found no tropo on 6 meters ,,,, The June & July contests had blessed me with fabulous conditions on 6 & 2 meters.. But not this time...6 meters is my primary band now , (4-6 el.yagi's) after taking down my monster 2 meter array..( 8-11 el. yagi's ) just after the July cq vhf contest for major upgrades... It will be back up bigger & taller & with elevation control by the June 2004 contest...I put up a small 7 el. homebrew antenna on 2 just for the contest...It worked well as I made several contacts both days , but missed alot I would of normally had no trouble contacting with the monster.. I decided to switch from the low power section to the hi-power section in a attempt to grab a few new grids & contact some of the distant rovers I could just hear...( it worked ) I unplugged the 170 watt bricks on 2 & 6 ... Plugged in the old 600+ watt mirage brick on 2 & the Heathkit HL-2200 amp. ( converted to 6 meters)
The increased power helped me alot with no tropo to speak of on 6 both days. I did pick up a few east coast contacts Sunday morning on 6 ( scatter ). I'm happy to say my 222 setup was still working great, even in the rain, & even after turning up the drive in the dem transverter to feed my amp to 265 watts. After having problems with my 432 setup in June & Aug. , it too was working great... ( about time ) ... I found my 1296 setup was water logged & just barely made 1 contact. A BIG thanks goes out to everyone I did make contact with,& once again the rovers were a main part of my log...Just wish 6 would of opened up...even a little would of been nice... Some how the rest of my family misunderstood which weekend the contest was & had planned lots to do at home. So as to not make the xyl any more mad than she was , left me with just over 12 hours of actual sitting in front of the radios.
Still this was a very good test in the rain under very poor conditions from my qth & I was very happy with my score... This being the 2nd year without any 6 meter enhancement has me re-thinking my strategy...
January will be here before you know it & I have lots to do before then . I'll listen 4 U to call in January so look for me on 6.... Dan (ֿ -- N
*** During editing of my 1st soapbox entry ,,, I suffered a fatal error & poof,, no more soapbox,,, it had vanished so I re-posted the edited version.***
Greetings All...It had been raining here since friday night & didn't look to be stopping any time soon...( yes we really needed the rain,, a couple of weeks earlier would of been better but you take what you can get) In the past I try to be well prepared for contest weekend..This time I was not... Too much going on ,so ham radio had to take a 2nd place on the priority list...As the contest started out Saturday,I found no tropo on 6 meters ,,,, The June & July contests had blessed me with fabulous conditions on 6 & 2 meters.. But not this time...6 meters is my primary band now , (4-6 el.yagi's) after taking down my monster 2 meter array..( 8-11 el. yagi's ) just after the July cq vhf contest for major upgrades... It will be back up bigger & taller & with elevation control by the June 2004 contest...I put up a small 7 el. homebrew antenna on 2 just for the contest...It worked well as I made several contacts both days , but missed alot I would of normally had no trouble contacting with the monster.. I decided to switch from the low power section to the hi-power section in a attempt to grab a few new grids & contact some of the distant rovers I could just hear...( it worked ) I unplugged the 170 watt bricks on 2 & 6 ... Plugged in the old 600+ watt mirage brick on 2 & the Heathkit HL-2200 amp. ( converted to 6 meters)
The increased power helped me alot with no tropo to speak of on 6 both days. I did pick up a few east coast contacts Sunday morning on 6 ( scatter ). I'm happy to say my 222 setup was still working great, even in the rain, & even after turning up the drive in the dem transverter to feed my amp to 265 watts. After having problems with my 432 setup in June & Aug. , it too was working great... ( about time ) ... I found my 1296 setup was water logged & just barely made 1 contact. A BIG thanks goes out to everyone I did make contact with,& once again the rovers were a main part of my log...Just wish 6 would of opened up...even a little would of been nice... Some how the rest of my family misunderstood which weekend the contest was & had planned lots to do at home. So as to not make the xyl any more mad than she was , left me with just over 12 hours of actual sitting in front of the radios.
Still this was a very good test in the rain under very poor conditions from my qth & I was very happy with my score... This being the 2nd year without any 6 meter enhancement has me re-thinking my strategy...
January will be here before you know it & I have lots to do before then . I'll listen 4 U to call in January so look for me on 6.... Dan (ֿ -- N
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