07/07/2009 | KC9JTL My son Christopher (KC9JTL) and I had a blast in this, our second VHF contest (see Christopher in the July 2008 issue of QST magazine). Had some antenna upgrades from the January contest. I homebrewed a 2 element coax beam for 6 meters and it worked better than I had any reason to expect. I also got the beams up on the roof this year, so we had much better coverage from our ridgetop location.

6 meters was a blast and Christopher really enjoyed being able to work station after station on that band. It was really cool to see the opening move from the southeast on Saturday afternoon up into the east and northeast, including French Canada on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday it opened to our west and northwest, but some to the south as well later that day. So we literally worked all over the country.

We added 222 MHz to our line-up late in the game after horsing around with the transverter throughout the contest. In the end, we were able to make about five QSOs in four grids on 222 MHZ with just a WA5VJB "cheap yagi" up about 15 feet. That was pretty cool and a good learning time for KC9JTL.

The action opened up on 2 meters at the very end of the contest and we were running contacts right up until the curtain closed. Very exciting. When it was all done and we had a chance to catch our breath, Christopher said, "Do they have another one in the Fall?" I think he's hooked. I know I am.

Our station and antennas are modest, but the fun factor was huge. -- W9HQ