06/15/2007 | NS3M I have vastly improved this years June VHF QSO Party score over last years score, I was not in any way able to contest then like I did this year because of several factors and only ended up with 42 points last year with 7 QSO's and 6 grids worked. This year I also had a slight advantage with all my equipment in the shack installed and working with the exception of small things here and there, but was able to at least get on the air with low power on 2 meters, 1.25 meters, and 70 centimeters and ended up only making a single contact on each of those bands. I seemed to be having more problems than needed with my 2 meter SSB setup and my only contact on that band was simplex FM, I need to get up on the tower to work on replacing old stuff that needs it, and adding a 222 yagi, as well as tuning the 2 meter and 70 cm antennas for the SSB frequencies, they are still tuned for the FM portion of their respective bands from when I started out in the hobby. As mentioned previously, Murphy CAN climb towers, and he just so happened to climb mine the day AFTER the contest, and now I have a need to also replace the rotor and controller, I had the controller apart the day before the contest to tune up and repair as needed, but it only lasted the duration of the contest. I certainly gave it quite a workout this time around as I found it much easier for me to turn the antennas a few degrees, scan the frequencies from top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top of the band, move the antennas a few more degrees and start over again. Maybe that's what did the controller in.

I found the usual stations on the air shortly after the contest started, and worked about 85 percent of the stations I heard, the rest were either unable to hear my limited 75 watts on 6 meters, or the stronger stations were just overpowering me, along with the fluctuating band conditions. I worked 24 grids this time around, trumping last years 6, but this is making the September contest look like it will have some more promise if things continue as they are right now. I still have a disadvantage with my location being nearly 400-800 feet in elevation BELOW the surrounding hillsides in the valley where I live, I would really like to use some land my family owns to set up a contest site for future contests, but that would also require more $$$ than available to me right now.

I worked a total of 13 hours and 45 minutes of the entire contest this time around, and had my usual assistance from my son Andrew, but this time he wanted to be more than gopher and tried to get right into the thick of things and tried his hand as my logging assistant, even though he came in right near the end and band conditions just weren't on my side. He is showing more and more interest in amateur radio, as are my other two children. The 6 meter band wasn't jumping with tons of activity from my average equipment combination's abilities, but it kept me active and on the air. I may just stick around home to try out what I can on VHF for Field Day if I can doctor the rotor and controller enough, I might even just position one of my CCTV security cameras straight up the tower for a direction indicator and go from there.

I was limited to about 5 watts from the transverter on 144.200 SSB, but had 60 watts available for 146.55 FM simplex, as well as 20 watts on 223.50 FM, and 35 watts on 446.00 which yielded me 1 contact on each of those bands- so I know what to look for in upgrading or replacing before September. I didn't have the option of borrowing the Icom this time around, but am looking at getting something in the near future to allow me to not have to ask for assistance in any way.

I also had the pleasure and benefit of using logging software exclusively this time around, I found a couple programs that I didn't care for as I was more accustomed to the older DOS based programs and had quite a time making the switch to the newer generation of software selections available, I found a couple that actually made me mad and delete them rather than try to figure them out first. The one I settled on, seems to be one I see others here on the soapbox are also using- W3KM's VHF LOG v3.52, it seemed almost TOO simple compared to what I have used in the past.

73's until next contest. -- NS3M