2007 ARRL June VHF Contest
06/17/2007 |
KI4SNY
The Fancy Gap Contest Club, KI4SNY, operated from the Blue Ridge Parkway at an elevation of apprx. 3015' in grid square EM96. The site is located in Carroll County, Virginia, near Fancy Gap. We operated on four bands; 50, 144, 220, and 432 mhz. Club participation was up sharply, and thanks go out to the following members for helping out; KI4PKW, KE4MOH, KU4JZ, KG4YVA, KG4YOU, and KF4PCT. We also had one visitor at the site. A total of five members served as ops.
The weather was very comfortable on the Parkway; a little warm on Friday for setup, but temps were pleasantly cooler on Saturday and Sunday. As is always expected, we experienced some technical glitches with coax, antennas, rotors, etc...however, all problems were overcome in due time allowing us to quickly get back on track.
Band conditions on 144, 220, and 432 mhz. were fair, living up to expectations, with no tropo enhancements noted. However, we did seem to work some new, further grids on these bands than during the Januay VHF Contest. 6m, however, was a different story altogether. A brief E opening into the Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon about 2030 UTC was a tantalizing prelude to what was to come. Sunday afternoon brought a good 6m opening into the Upper Plains and canada, starting at 1608 and running thru 1918 UTC, netting 20 new grids. Then another 6m E-skip opening topped off the contest, beginning at 0125 UTC the 11th; this opening took us into the Gulf Coast, Midwest, and lower Plains states, and netted us 21 grids.
Again the club is very pleased with our results, more than doubling our January VHF Contest effort, reporting a total of 22,100 points. Grid totals were; 50-50, 144-18, 220-8, and 432-9. The increased showing of club members was great to see too. Hopefully, this is a trend, and we look forwaard to our next effort; the 2007 ARRL Field Day. Hope to work you then!
As is our custom, we're always glad to have new members join our club and join in the wonderful world of ham radio contesting and outing!
73, John Taylor, KU4JZ Trustee of KI4SNY -- KU4JZ
The weather was very comfortable on the Parkway; a little warm on Friday for setup, but temps were pleasantly cooler on Saturday and Sunday. As is always expected, we experienced some technical glitches with coax, antennas, rotors, etc...however, all problems were overcome in due time allowing us to quickly get back on track.
Band conditions on 144, 220, and 432 mhz. were fair, living up to expectations, with no tropo enhancements noted. However, we did seem to work some new, further grids on these bands than during the Januay VHF Contest. 6m, however, was a different story altogether. A brief E opening into the Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon about 2030 UTC was a tantalizing prelude to what was to come. Sunday afternoon brought a good 6m opening into the Upper Plains and canada, starting at 1608 and running thru 1918 UTC, netting 20 new grids. Then another 6m E-skip opening topped off the contest, beginning at 0125 UTC the 11th; this opening took us into the Gulf Coast, Midwest, and lower Plains states, and netted us 21 grids.
Again the club is very pleased with our results, more than doubling our January VHF Contest effort, reporting a total of 22,100 points. Grid totals were; 50-50, 144-18, 220-8, and 432-9. The increased showing of club members was great to see too. Hopefully, this is a trend, and we look forwaard to our next effort; the 2007 ARRL Field Day. Hope to work you then!
As is our custom, we're always glad to have new members join our club and join in the wonderful world of ham radio contesting and outing!
73, John Taylor, KU4JZ Trustee of KI4SNY -- KU4JZ
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