2006 ARRL August UHF Contest
08/08/2006 |
KC9BQA
Had a very exciting, busy and enjoyable contest from EN63ao -- 40 miles north of Milwaukee. Plenty of good rovers, fixed stations and also a few periods of enhanced conditions made for a great contest that was right on a par with any June or Sept. ARRL V/UHF contest.
The short version is this:
68,796 total claimed score.
222 -- 50 Q's and 27 grids;
432 -- 62 Q's and 30 grids;
902/3 -- 18 Q's and 16 grids; 1296 -- 21 Q's and 15 grids;
2304 -- 11 Q's and 10 grids
Before I go into lengthy detail, I want to thank a long list of folks who have helped this newer ham get to where I am. I've asked for and needed a lot of help. First would be Len N9QIP of Skywavetower.com. Big towers and beams don't put themselves up. I wanted it done right and N9QIP made time without cutting any corners.
K2DRH Bob for having a website that I saw even before we moved in June 2003 to this radio-friendly QTH. I saw what Bob was doing from the Midwest and it imprinted on me big-time.
NN4DX Tim (ex W4TRH) for having far and away the premier real-time chat site devoted to grid-chasing and DX'ing on the WWW. By hanging there over the last 4 years, I've learned at least 50% of what I know about how to do things right. The guys that hang out at www.dxers.info are the best.
KV9V Greg for patient, kind help in assembling beams for 144, 222 and 432.
W9DHI Gregg and W9GA Ken for plenty of hands-on help along the way. And W0GHZ Gary for putting my 2304 gear together expertly.
ND9Z Gary for having me to his shack in the Sept. 2002 ARRL V/UHF contest, so I could see first-hand what all the excitement was about. He shared headphones and hours of experience and I was hooked from then on.
Clubs like the Badger Contesters, Chippewa Valley VHF'ers (EN44), and Northern Lights Radio Society (NLRS) out of the Twin Cities. I've said it before, but it bears repeating -- NLRS has basically taken it upon themselves to really fire up contesting activity in the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region. You should have seen the job they did with the Central States VHF Society conference up in Minneapolis 2 weekends ago. 226 weak-signal enthusiasts came from all over the country and Canada for 3 days of fellowship, presentations, and antenna range testing. As well as admiring a variety of great rover configurations.
I would suggest anyone who cares about V/UHF weak-signal work and contesting take an hour to go thru the website at www.nlrs.org and see if it inspires you to improve our niche in ham radio. Next year's CSVHFS conference is in San Antonio and after having met a great group of 5-landers up in Minneapolis, I know quite a few of us are making plans to attend.
I also want to thank some good folks who made the products that get my signal on the air. Owen and Sam who provided great K1FO beams on 144, 222 and 432. Not only that, but detailed drawings of how to optimally stack everything for minimum interaction and maximum performance. Also K1WHS Dave at Directive Systems. Dave, 903/1296/2304 are all playing very nicely with your beams and H-frame. Steve and Sandra of Down East Microwave for good stuff on 903. Craig from www.rotor-doc.com for his CATS RD-1800 rotors and control boxes. Dale at Par Electronics for the Par Omniangle horizontal loops on 6 and 144. A pair of those loops on the side of my tower got me 600 Q's and 178 grids in the CQ WW VHF contest on six meters. With only 100 watts. They really work.
Even with all those thanks, I'm overlooking many folks who helped via email and the phone with getting KC9BQA to where I am. Too many to mention. Hopefully they recognize themselves and that's reward enough.
(HOW COOL IS THIS?? -- While I'm sitting here typing this out in the shack at midday, I have 144 on in the background. I hear a weak one and it's W8ZZM in EN57, Upper Michigan. 3 years on the bands and I've *never* heard a EN57 station. Moral? -- have your rig on and call CQ into a dead band. And look toward places you don't think anybody is on.)
So... the UHF contest itself... 2 main periods of enhancement were noted here 40 miles north of Milwaukee. Things got good out to the east by about mid-evening on Sat. Many callers from the EN91 area made it tough to swing the beams much. Busy with switching bands, and trying for tough 903 and 1296 contacts. It was a hoot trying to complete for many minutes with WA8RJF on 1296 and then have WA8TJL boom in at S5 on the frequency. (Completed a few hours later with WA8RJF anyway, so it was all good.) At 0525, I called CQ and W3KWH was in on 432, 222 and 903 with good signals from Pittsburgh.
I stayed up most of the night, and almost every sane person was asleep. But a little after 1030Z, K9SG in EM79 answered my wake-up call and then it was K8TQK with his typical big signals from EM89 and it was back to good contesting. A few minutes before 1100Z, I heard fellow all-nighter N9TZL in EN52 come back to a strong Echo Mary something. Within a few minutes, I was into W5RCI in EM44 Northwest Mississippi in a big way. Rex was an honest 30-over on 432 with 800W and 4 big yagis up about 120'. We also completed on 222 and 1296, and that pretty much made my contest, right there. That and completing with AG4V in EM55 on 222 and 432.
What *didn't* make my contest was storms moving in from the west on Sun. morning. I waited as long as I could to pull the plug and I was still hearing Mid-South EM stations as the thunder got louder. I wouldn't have thought that longer-haul tropo was possible with T-storms on top of me. So still learning -- definitely.
Here's some numbers to show what adding bands can do for your score: In the Aug 2004 UHF contest, I only had 432 and still opped almost the whole time. Had 38 Q's in 20 grids and was quite frustrated to only score 2,280. Then added 222 for the 2005 UHF 'test and a little bit of 903/1296 capability and my score shot up to 27,939.
This year, here are what my scores would have been with ----
432 only -- 5,580;
222 and 432 -- 19,152;
add 903 -- 32,412;
and add 1296 -- 50,160;
and add 2304 -- 68,796
When I started V/UHF grid chasing and contesting in Sept. 2003, I *never* thought I would go above 432. But then I started seeing the trouble rovers went to to put a good multi-band station on. I figured that if they were going to put out the effort, I could too. Yes, I sure like to have a bigger score. ;) But you can't get a big score unless you promote activity. If you see how scores around the Great Lakes and Midwest have really increased over the past few years, it's because a lot of folks have 1) gotten on and 2) some have added bands.
I may never get first place, but I tell you what --- I just enjoy a contest more when there's more activity. I'd rather score 70,000 pts and be in 5th place because so many good stations were on than score 40,000 and take 1st because so few stations were on. That's what's going on here in the Midwest -- we're getting more and more rovers and fixed stations putting up big scores, because we're promoting activity and promoting big efforts for the contest. What can *you* do in your area? Start (or participate) in a net? Have mini-contests and perhaps include FM simplex ops? This way you reach out to guys who might be on the fence about turning their beams horizontally. You can email hams who you only work occasionally and remind them of the contest and how much you enjoyed working them in the past. Things like that.
ARRL was considering dropping this contest 3-4 years ago. NLRS said that wasn't an option so they took it upon themselves to force ARRL to rethink. And even tho I can't work a lot of the NLRS guys, it still benefits me, what they've done. And when I benefit, guys in Wisconsin/Mich./Ind./Ill. and Ohio benefit. It's like when you throw pebbles into a calm pond and you watch the ripples expand and intersect. Think about that a second because the RF we shoot around is exactly the same analogy.
This has been a great summer of DX and contesting activity. In June, 6 was wide open across most of the country. Then 6 was every bit as good in the July CQ WW VHF contest. And as a bonus, 144 was greatly enhanced over a large part of the Midwest. Guys who *never* contest were amazed at how active things were on 6 and 144 for the CQ VHF contest. Now we had good activity and propagation in the UHF contest. The ARRL September V/UHF 'test is a month away. Make plans to improve your station wherever you can and to operate a little harder and longer.
I know this was a lot of yada-yada, but this is a soapbox, hi. :)
Good DX and contesting to all,
73
Todd KC9BQA EN63ao 50 thru 2304 -- KC9BQA
The short version is this:
68,796 total claimed score.
222 -- 50 Q's and 27 grids;
432 -- 62 Q's and 30 grids;
902/3 -- 18 Q's and 16 grids; 1296 -- 21 Q's and 15 grids;
2304 -- 11 Q's and 10 grids
Before I go into lengthy detail, I want to thank a long list of folks who have helped this newer ham get to where I am. I've asked for and needed a lot of help. First would be Len N9QIP of Skywavetower.com. Big towers and beams don't put themselves up. I wanted it done right and N9QIP made time without cutting any corners.
K2DRH Bob for having a website that I saw even before we moved in June 2003 to this radio-friendly QTH. I saw what Bob was doing from the Midwest and it imprinted on me big-time.
NN4DX Tim (ex W4TRH) for having far and away the premier real-time chat site devoted to grid-chasing and DX'ing on the WWW. By hanging there over the last 4 years, I've learned at least 50% of what I know about how to do things right. The guys that hang out at www.dxers.info are the best.
KV9V Greg for patient, kind help in assembling beams for 144, 222 and 432.
W9DHI Gregg and W9GA Ken for plenty of hands-on help along the way. And W0GHZ Gary for putting my 2304 gear together expertly.
ND9Z Gary for having me to his shack in the Sept. 2002 ARRL V/UHF contest, so I could see first-hand what all the excitement was about. He shared headphones and hours of experience and I was hooked from then on.
Clubs like the Badger Contesters, Chippewa Valley VHF'ers (EN44), and Northern Lights Radio Society (NLRS) out of the Twin Cities. I've said it before, but it bears repeating -- NLRS has basically taken it upon themselves to really fire up contesting activity in the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region. You should have seen the job they did with the Central States VHF Society conference up in Minneapolis 2 weekends ago. 226 weak-signal enthusiasts came from all over the country and Canada for 3 days of fellowship, presentations, and antenna range testing. As well as admiring a variety of great rover configurations.
I would suggest anyone who cares about V/UHF weak-signal work and contesting take an hour to go thru the website at www.nlrs.org and see if it inspires you to improve our niche in ham radio. Next year's CSVHFS conference is in San Antonio and after having met a great group of 5-landers up in Minneapolis, I know quite a few of us are making plans to attend.
I also want to thank some good folks who made the products that get my signal on the air. Owen and Sam who provided great K1FO beams on 144, 222 and 432. Not only that, but detailed drawings of how to optimally stack everything for minimum interaction and maximum performance. Also K1WHS Dave at Directive Systems. Dave, 903/1296/2304 are all playing very nicely with your beams and H-frame. Steve and Sandra of Down East Microwave for good stuff on 903. Craig from www.rotor-doc.com for his CATS RD-1800 rotors and control boxes. Dale at Par Electronics for the Par Omniangle horizontal loops on 6 and 144. A pair of those loops on the side of my tower got me 600 Q's and 178 grids in the CQ WW VHF contest on six meters. With only 100 watts. They really work.
Even with all those thanks, I'm overlooking many folks who helped via email and the phone with getting KC9BQA to where I am. Too many to mention. Hopefully they recognize themselves and that's reward enough.
(HOW COOL IS THIS?? -- While I'm sitting here typing this out in the shack at midday, I have 144 on in the background. I hear a weak one and it's W8ZZM in EN57, Upper Michigan. 3 years on the bands and I've *never* heard a EN57 station. Moral? -- have your rig on and call CQ into a dead band. And look toward places you don't think anybody is on.)
So... the UHF contest itself... 2 main periods of enhancement were noted here 40 miles north of Milwaukee. Things got good out to the east by about mid-evening on Sat. Many callers from the EN91 area made it tough to swing the beams much. Busy with switching bands, and trying for tough 903 and 1296 contacts. It was a hoot trying to complete for many minutes with WA8RJF on 1296 and then have WA8TJL boom in at S5 on the frequency. (Completed a few hours later with WA8RJF anyway, so it was all good.) At 0525, I called CQ and W3KWH was in on 432, 222 and 903 with good signals from Pittsburgh.
I stayed up most of the night, and almost every sane person was asleep. But a little after 1030Z, K9SG in EM79 answered my wake-up call and then it was K8TQK with his typical big signals from EM89 and it was back to good contesting. A few minutes before 1100Z, I heard fellow all-nighter N9TZL in EN52 come back to a strong Echo Mary something. Within a few minutes, I was into W5RCI in EM44 Northwest Mississippi in a big way. Rex was an honest 30-over on 432 with 800W and 4 big yagis up about 120'. We also completed on 222 and 1296, and that pretty much made my contest, right there. That and completing with AG4V in EM55 on 222 and 432.
What *didn't* make my contest was storms moving in from the west on Sun. morning. I waited as long as I could to pull the plug and I was still hearing Mid-South EM stations as the thunder got louder. I wouldn't have thought that longer-haul tropo was possible with T-storms on top of me. So still learning -- definitely.
Here's some numbers to show what adding bands can do for your score: In the Aug 2004 UHF contest, I only had 432 and still opped almost the whole time. Had 38 Q's in 20 grids and was quite frustrated to only score 2,280. Then added 222 for the 2005 UHF 'test and a little bit of 903/1296 capability and my score shot up to 27,939.
This year, here are what my scores would have been with ----
432 only -- 5,580;
222 and 432 -- 19,152;
add 903 -- 32,412;
and add 1296 -- 50,160;
and add 2304 -- 68,796
When I started V/UHF grid chasing and contesting in Sept. 2003, I *never* thought I would go above 432. But then I started seeing the trouble rovers went to to put a good multi-band station on. I figured that if they were going to put out the effort, I could too. Yes, I sure like to have a bigger score. ;) But you can't get a big score unless you promote activity. If you see how scores around the Great Lakes and Midwest have really increased over the past few years, it's because a lot of folks have 1) gotten on and 2) some have added bands.
I may never get first place, but I tell you what --- I just enjoy a contest more when there's more activity. I'd rather score 70,000 pts and be in 5th place because so many good stations were on than score 40,000 and take 1st because so few stations were on. That's what's going on here in the Midwest -- we're getting more and more rovers and fixed stations putting up big scores, because we're promoting activity and promoting big efforts for the contest. What can *you* do in your area? Start (or participate) in a net? Have mini-contests and perhaps include FM simplex ops? This way you reach out to guys who might be on the fence about turning their beams horizontally. You can email hams who you only work occasionally and remind them of the contest and how much you enjoyed working them in the past. Things like that.
ARRL was considering dropping this contest 3-4 years ago. NLRS said that wasn't an option so they took it upon themselves to force ARRL to rethink. And even tho I can't work a lot of the NLRS guys, it still benefits me, what they've done. And when I benefit, guys in Wisconsin/Mich./Ind./Ill. and Ohio benefit. It's like when you throw pebbles into a calm pond and you watch the ripples expand and intersect. Think about that a second because the RF we shoot around is exactly the same analogy.
This has been a great summer of DX and contesting activity. In June, 6 was wide open across most of the country. Then 6 was every bit as good in the July CQ WW VHF contest. And as a bonus, 144 was greatly enhanced over a large part of the Midwest. Guys who *never* contest were amazed at how active things were on 6 and 144 for the CQ VHF contest. Now we had good activity and propagation in the UHF contest. The ARRL September V/UHF 'test is a month away. Make plans to improve your station wherever you can and to operate a little harder and longer.
I know this was a lot of yada-yada, but this is a soapbox, hi. :)
Good DX and contesting to all,
73
Todd KC9BQA EN63ao 50 thru 2304 -- KC9BQA
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