[AK-VHF] Good contest day

[Brandon Clark]

Hello group,

The contest yesterday went great. I didn't make a ton of contacts, but
considering that we didn't have time to do a lot of push to get the word
out I was really happy with the day.

Contacts from the eagle River mountains out to Anchorage were full quieting
with only whip antennas (no surprise there), but the spot I picked was
actually blocked to the north, preventing some valley contacts. I'll have
to do a different peak next year.

One thing we might think about is a way to entice more operators to set up
6 M capability. During both the June contest and this one the 6 M contacts
were as rare as hen's teeth. Very few people had an antenna to run 6 M.
That's unfortunate, since it's a great band. In my experience it gives a
better "fill in" around obstructions than 2 m does, but antennas are still
just small enough to set up portable or mount on a mobile.

Something like a 2 M - 6 M digital net might help stir up activity. We
could run keyboard modes like psk31 and MFSK16 - the same modes ARRL uses
on field day. We could use FM, so it wouldn't require any extra gear. Food
for thought.
73,
Brandon