[ADXA] VHF contest

[w5zn at w5zn.org]

Dennis,

Sorry to be so short with my original reply. Obviously my focus was 
elsewhere over the weekend and I never look at email during a contest 
however I needed to do a quick check for something and saw your post.

As you noted in your email, in the "old days" in VHF contesting when we 
worked a station it was very simple to ask, as you note, "what other 
bands to you have" and then zip off and work the station if possible. 
That is virtually impossible today with proliferation of digi modes in 
VHF contesting (a good thing for activity) interspersed with SSB and CW. 
I don't know if you subscribe to any of the VHF reflectors but as I said 
in my quick response this is one of the topics over the past two years 
that almost starts WW III.  The proposals have suggested to put some 
short coded note in the TX6 msg block but this can be problematic during 
a busy band as you don't know who is being requested to move (since no 
callsigns are attached to TX6 and the msg length is very short) and if 
you don't know the other stations capabilities there is no way to ask 
what other bands they have. So it remains an issue that needs 
resolution.

I apologize for not knowing you had 432 on the air for the contest. We 
could have easily worked but then again, on SSB/CW we could have quickly 
assessed that.

Another topic of fierce debate on the VHF reflectors is another topic 
you note below, separating digi from SSB/CW for VHF contests.

I'll cut this off, because I could go on and on for another several 
pages talking about FT8 -vs- FT4 (the contest mode that no one used this 
weekend except K5FUV!!!) but will save it for the in-person meeting this 
fall (not yet scheduled) and go into it more.

73 Joel W5ZN

On 2021-06-13 20:27, Dennis Schaefer wrote:

> Thanks to Jay, Joel, and Rory for good info.  This was my first time to 
> have capability to operate on 432 and I was disappointed to not work 
> anyone.
> 
> I did have fun, though.  I worked about 25 stations on 2M FT8, mostly 
> in neighboring states, but also IL, AL, KS, etc, with a total of 11 
> grids.    The highlight was making 21 CW contacts on 6 meters.  I even 
> got on 6M FT8 for a few minutes and worked John (BHS) and Joel.   6M 
> SSB was  active and I made a handful of contacts there.
> 
> I checked 432.100 from time to time and called CQ on 432.174 FT8, 
> covering 360 degrees.  Never heard anything or got a response.  Maybe 
> the issues on moving from band to band will be resolved somehow.
> 
> Maybe we need a separate weekend for digital ops and one for SSB and 
> CW.   Then a standard messaging system for moving stations on digital 
> modes.  I'm sure all this has been exhaustively discussed.
> 
> The setup here:   6 meters - 100 watts to 3 element yagi at 15 feet.
> 2 meters - 100 watts to 8 elements up 18 feet
> 70 cm - 80 watts to 22 elements up 12 feet.
> 
> Not a world beater, but it lets me get my VHF/UHF fix every once in 
> awhile.  I'm surprised it works as well as it does at these heights.
> 
> 73,
> Dennis
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