[NLRS] ARRL UHF and 10-10 Summer Phone contests

[Dave Aho - N9TTX]

Well folks, this weekend was disappointing to say the
least.  

  As far as the UHF contest went, the only highlight
was adding three new grid squares and states to my
counts in EN55...the only thing is...they were all
EN74 and all Michigan...but they count for 222, 432,
and 1296.  Thanks to K2YAZ for the contacts...you were
the ONLY person I got ahold of.  I was calling and
calling spinning the beams phone and CW, but no-one
else was there.  I thought I heard some others, but it
may have been YAZ all the time.  I thought for sure
that at least Bill K0AWU and the Eau Claire crew would
have been somewhere and heard by me, but no such luck.

   The 10-10 summer phone contest was not as
disappointing, as I got about 30-40 contacts...but the
band was dead.  I felt like I was in the book "Horton
Hears a Who"...All the others I noticed from the 10-10
reflector said all they heard was noise.  My RX was a
bit hissy, but actually quiet for noise floor.  the
signals coming through though were very QSB, Thanks to
those that I contacted.  I was running an RCI 2950DX,
into a mobile amp punching 300-400 watts (depending on
battery charge)..feeding an Antron-99 up about 25 feet
in the air.  I did run a counterpoise ground line into
the lake so that may have helped.  (I did notice the
SWR dropped from 1.8:1 to 1.3:1 after I did that, so
it does help)

All in all, I think the bands all over were closed or
at least closed in my neck of the woods.

   One benifit to the weekend was that I got to see my
grandmother's brother this weekend, as he came into
town to visit her and my parents.  He is a very
energetic and active 93 year old.  Anyhow, I am not
sure if I will send in the UHF contacts...3 contacts,
3 grids, 3 bands, for a grand total of 36 points.  I
have not compiled the 10-meter log yet and filled the
paperwork out, but that will be sent.

UHF:

   222     1 QSO     3 points   1 grid
   432     1 QSO     3 points   1 grid
  1296     1 QSO     6 points   1 grid

           3 QSO's   12 points  3 mults
total:  36 points

10-10:   No sumary yet...paper logging and need to
print the summary sheet and log file.



=====
I modulate, therefore I am!
               ...73, and all that jazz,


                 Dave...N9TTX


Always remember:  "It could be worse.....it could be raining."
                             Marty Feldman from "Young Frankenstein"


	
		
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