N0URW,,EN41GO,, Iowa,, 

I remember when these vhf contests were 2 meters as the main go to band, before moving on to other bands. Now with so many HF+ 6 meter rigs out there, and FT-8.  It has changed to 6 meters as the main go to band.  With FT-8 being so popular, the days of calling cq using cw or ssb even on the call frequency, now will only net you a few contacts per hour. At least that is how it is here in Iowa.  I could not believe how many asked where is everyone, It's The June vhf contest. Should be tons of stations on. When I told them most are on FT-8, they were like, why?, the band is open, I agreed and moved on.    Preparation::: A week before this contest, I had no antennas up for any of the bands. So I worked all week on the tower mounting two 18 element 2 meter yagi's and a pair of phased loops. Two 5 element 6 meter yagi's and a single loop. A single 222 MHz. yagi. A single 432 MHz. yagi. A single 902 loop yagi and a single 1296 loop yagi. Finished up running all the new feed lines to everything Friday before the contest.       Saturday::: I started out SSB mode only on 6 meters. Heard a Colorado station calling and not getting any results. So I added DM79 to my log. As I turned the beams around, Texas stations came booming in. So I thought, all right, here we go, but nope. Only two contacts logged and the opening was gone. As I turned the beams farther East, only one station in Louisiana, and one in Florida were logged. Time to look up the East coast. Only 6 contacts were made, all were easy copy too. So where was everyone else ? With a big bad storm up north, I knew better than to even point my beams that way. So off to 2 meters I go. Calling cq on or around the calling frequency only netted a handfull of contacts. Stations with multiple bands is getting harder and harder to find. Once again those that had 222 MHz, found it to be better than 2 or 432. Why the manufactures don't at least offer an all mode rig or an add on module for some of their rigs is beyond me. It's a great band. Storms moved in to my area off and on so I spent a lot of time unplugged and far away from the radio room. When I could get on I always picked up a few new grids here and there. But it was very slow going. Everything came to a halt when the big storm got here around 10PM. Didn't show any signs of stopping very soon either. So I called it a night..   Sunday::: Sunshine at 6AM. Got on 6 meters and worked several out east coast way. But not as many as in the past.  With my 2 meter score below 50 Q's I figured it was time to look North. Added 15 more just from Minnesota, awesome, thanks guys. Then as luck would have it, the 6 meter band opened up in all directions big time. Rather than wear out my rotator turning my beams all over the place. Or having to switch between multiple beams pointing in different directions. I switched to my 6 meter loop. With 700+ watts pumping into it, I worked everyone heard in all directions.  It is so nice to work Arizona, Canada, Texas, Florida, Colorado,Conn. and many more. One right after the other with out having to turn the beams. The opening died out about the time the wife told me it was time to go to grandma's house for birthday dinner. When I got back home the big opening was all gone. A few long distance contacts were still out there to be had. The band conditions on the lower 4 were in good shape, 400 mile contacts were easy. Pulled the plug at 9PM, an hour before the end, as the static crashes from the on coming storm was just too much to deal with. I no longer get on just to see how big of score I can get, but to just have fun. And this one was lots of fun. I didn't run any FT-8 this go around other than to check from time to time to see how and where the signals were coming in from. It's a great add on tool for a few more contacts, during tuff times. But I found it didn't work when the band was wide open. Probably because it's for weak signals, not 20 over S-9 signals.  My biggest improvment to my station was getting a Heil Pro 7 headset. Amazing what a difference it was over my old stereo head phones. Now it's time to get ready for the July CQ vhf contest. I have a 9 element 6 meter yagi that needs to be mounted up on the tower. Just didn't have enough time this year to get it up for this one. 73 all,, and hope to work you in July or Sept.