09/17/2009 | W2RJO This is my second Fall VHF/UHF contest (I started contesting in Septmber2008). Conditions did not seem that spectacular and it rained on and off most of the contest. I also had a major sinus infection which made things not as enjoyable as usual.

Most of the usual contest stations were on the air. I worked K1WHS, W3SO, K3YTL, and the gang up on Mt Greylock W2SZ. I work KC2PLJ/R who was trying out roving for the first time, good for you Mike and dont give up! It was nice to hear Lu N2SLN/R on the air again and of course K2QO/R was working his usual grids with a big signal. Other rovers I worked were VE3OIL/R thanks for FN04, VE3RKS/R, VE3SMA/R, KE3HT/R, K3LFO/R, and NN3Q/R. Thanks to all the rovers out there, you make the contest much more interesting and fun.

There was a small window of Tropo around 11:45pm (03:45Z) on Saturday evening. Just when I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a night, W9RM in EN52 answered my CQ We working 144 and 432 before propagation faded. That inspired me to stay up awhile longer, but nothing more out west.

Sunday I got an early start hoping propagation would be better. It was not. I plugged along most of the day taking frequent breaks (sinus infection). K3CB had a nice signal on 144 & 432 from FM18. VE3KKL gave me FN25 and VA3KA gave me FN15. Thanks to VE3TMT for FN14. N8IEZ gave me EN82 and it was a tough strain to hear him on 432. Someone needs to encourage a ham to get on the air in FN24. It is a rare grid.

My station was a Yaesu FT-847 and ICOM 7000. Antennas are M2 2M12 on 144 Mhz, M2 432-9WL on 432, and a Mosley TA54-XL6 on 50 Mhz. All feed lines 144 and up are 7/8 heliax. I run 350 watts on 144, 50 watts on 432, and 100 watts on 50.

Improvements for next contest will be a 222 MHz station with a M2 222-5WL antenna. I will also be adding a separate M2 6M5X to improve signals on 50 Mhz. This will all be on the air by the January contest. I also plan to upgrade power on 432 Mhz to 175 watts, this will be as my budget allows.

Thanks to everyone I worked and dont waiting until the next contest to get on the air. I frequently monitor 144.200 and it is always great to hear the weak signal stations out there.

73
John
W2RJO -- W2RJO