01/28/2007 | K0AWU Conditions were very flat from EN37ed (northeastern Minnesota) during the contest. It seemed 2m really was taking a "hit". Sunday morning K0HGP 180miles to the south running 1K and big/high antenna was just above the noise. NOT the kind of conditions one wants, for the "Sunday morning rush".

Saturday night the meteors on 2m seemed to be "one-way" on several skeds while other skeds in adjacent grids were no problem.. you never
know, that's why we do this stuff, right?

Overall, the contest was an "average" Jan contest even with the poor conditions. Eleven stations were worked on brief 6m Es Sunday adding 9 grids to the grid count, worthwhile and not a distraction from the weak signal operations. Only two rover contacts were made for the entire contest.

902Mhz was added to the bands operated, but I was only running 20w to a 10elem WA5VJB "cheap yagi" at 55ft. The new band provided three contacts in 3 grids. June will be better for 902, 3db more power and the antenna will be upgraded. It looks like an interesting band, lots of fast QSB on the 160mile path to W0GHZ in EN34 as we look at the path on a daily basis. Thanks to Chris N0JCF for "all the goodies" for K0AWU VHF/UHF/Microwave band #7.


Total damage, 153 QSOs in 66grids on 6,2,222,432,902,1296 and 10Ghz -- K0AWU