01/20/2009 | N3NKC This contest gave me a chance to try out my new beams, a 4ele for 6m and a 7ele for 2m, and an amp for 2m. 2m proved to be the best band for me yielding 50 Q's. 6m wasn't so good, giving only half as many on 2, 24 Q's. Plus I ended up with S6 noise level whenever I pointed North, a direction my QTH favors, so I ended up loosing several Q's there. And 2m was very noisy up toward New England, tho I was able to work K1TEO in FN31 and hearing the others around there, but wasn't able to make the connection. But this gave me a chance to gauge the performance of my antennas and how my QTH affects them. Since this is the start of my second year in VHFing, I still have plenty of work to do. But at least I know I'm able to work stations out to around 400mi with the current setup. I didn't get to put the 432 beam, so only squeezed 1 Q out of the halos and 1 on 220 FM. So overall, ended up with only 76 Q's total. Not a big score, but I had a lot of fun trying the new antennas, learning some more about VHF operating, and learning how my station plays.

Activity seemed to be pretty decent, especially for only utilizing SSB/CW and with the NFL Playoffs. I hope to get the 432 beam up by spring and I'd like to add another band, but we'll see how time goes. Definitely looking to make some more noise on the VHF/UHF bands and I'm having a blast with weak signal operating. Time for me to go back to work and plan some more upgrades....see you all in June!

73,

John N3NKC

Oh, and I'd like to thank several of the rovers that braved the cold for those mults we all enjoy getting. -- N3NKC