09/12/2006 | NS3M I tried to basically get on the air for the June VHF QSO Party, and found that I was limited to 6 meters through the transverter and I didn't have enough drive power to excite the amplifier. I also found that my 2 meter transverter was not operational after almost 7 years of being boxed up for home remodeling.

NOT THE SAME STORY FOR SEPTEMBER.

Since my equipment wasn't up to par in June, I borrowed an Icom-746PRO with a standard 100 watts on 6 & 2 meters. I tried for two days before the contest to listen in on the VHF bands to get a feel of the conditions and where they were heading, but all that changed on Saturday morning when I looked at NWS radar on the net and found that we were getting some more rain we didn't need and my chances were going down the tubes for the contest. I also learned that I need to climb the tower and adjust the 2 meter beam for the lower end of the band as the SWR seemed to be set for the FM portion of the band, not a problem for the future but it made the 746 go into a protection mode and it reduced my output power to 20 watts maximum on 2 meters.

My location is NOT 100 percent VHF and up friendly being halfway down in a valley with 600 feet of hillside above my location on three sides with a clear shot toward the West, which proved to gain me almost nothing this weekend. I started with EN70 from my FN01 location with high hopes, but that was shot down at every turn of the rotor. Speaking of which I had to quit operating just before dark on Saturday to enlist the help of my XYL (Debbie-KB3NYR) to turn the controller while I went outside to see exactly where the antennas were pointing compared to the controller indicator, a half hour later- I was back on the air.

All in all I worked 36 stations, and activated 15 grids, while getting back into the swing of things and learned a thing or two that I need to change, along with others that I should leave alone. -- NS3M