06/14/2006 | WV0H Wow, what great conditions for a VHF contest. WBAJ and family came down from North Dakota to operate team WV at 9000 feet above sea level.

6m on Saturday afternoon was really hot as pileups sounding 20+ deep kept me guessing as to which KC8 was calling me. At times, I stopped for just QRP or Canadian stations, then working people by call area, what great fun! We got W2SZ in the log and I knew Jim would be happy.

It didn't take long to get used to having an omni vertical and a screaming W5WVO 6m YO design to choose from. While working 8's, a mere push of a button on the 2000 allowed quick grabs out to CN85 and N7DB-land. All antennas courtesy of K1BX and company.

KCXF-Rebekah, KCNO-Luke and WBAJ-Mark operated while I snapped photos of the operation from DM-79 although I didn't hang out behind the 5D very long.

There were many grids and many friendly voices out there allowing us to nab our personal best of over 187k points. On Saturday we peaked at over 150 Q's per hour, twice in 2 hours. As usual, we didn't have any real propagation on 2m and up but there were about 4-5 rovers to choose from to keep us busy while keeping 6m going. Sorry about not hooking up with you Don, for the 10Gig contacts, but 6 was blazing!

It has been tradition that we have "Cheeze Balls" and the left over container in which to store hose clamps, but this year not being at Bear Mountain DN-83, Cave Hills, or Custer National Forest near Reva both at DN-85 in South Dakota (nor being able to find any in any local grocery store), I decided to switch over to good ol' pretzels instead.

Thanks to my wife KCRJ-Sara and all who have made this effort a wonderful success.


Myron -- WV0H