[NLRS] "The Contest View" from EN37ed
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:53:05 -0600
Hello Gang
Oh my, am I bushed! Got 30min of sleep during the contest (Sunday
afternoon) and was "working the contest all but 2 1/4hrs of the entire event".
I joined Pat, our visiting daughter and son-in-law for dinner out Saturday
between 4:45 and 6:30pm.
I general the contest was the best ever January contest at K0AWU third
best score for any contest. (And without 6m Es). But not the kind of scores
that you guys have closer to the metro areas or in "Rover alley".
Band QSO's QSO Pts Mults
50 50 50 28
144 74 74 31
222 16 32 10
432 19 38 9
1296 2 8 2
----- ----- ---------- ------
Total 161 202 80
Grand Total Score = 202 x 80 = 16,160pts
---- Soap Box ----
For this contest I ran the Icom 746Pro with external preamp and the
8877 amp (800watts) the entire period, to try to improve the chances of
attracting those "fringe" locations and overcome some of the underground
antennas found in various locations on 2meters. Not sure if it made any
difference in EN34, EN35 or not. 17 stations worked in EN34 and 8 worked
in EN35. The 17 equals the high ever in EN34 only matched in Jan 2001.
The EN35 nummber is FIVE stations lower that the 13 stations in Jan
2001!
HOWEVER ... the 74 contacts and the 31 grids ARE NEW HIGHs for 2m
and better the previous high (June 2001) numbers of 58/27. Those 2meter
numbers in 2001 were up because of 23 contacts and 6 or 7 unusual grids
Via 2m AU. SO .... I think that the IC746/ 8877 was a improvement for the
score. Lots of noise in the shack from the blower though.
222, 432 and 1296 numbers were down ..... bummer. Were conditions
that "flat"? I really didn't come away with any feeling of what conditions were
like. They were not above average and may have not been average even.
Gary W0GHZ was way below normal on 1296 when we worked. Only 2
other stations even wanted to try 1296. So guessing most thought
conditions were not that hot :>(
SO HARD to walk away from the radio. During the last 2 hours I worked 5
stations, but look at the five! VE4GLS 6/2m EN19 at 231 miles, K8OM 2m
EN42 at 379 miles, N0URW 2m EN41 at 406 miles and N0DQS 2m EN22
at 353 miiles. Three contest unique grids. Quite a difference in the score I
will tell you. COOL ... High point of the contest. Well, that and working Ed
W0OHU mobile in EN33 on 2m SSB :>)))) Thanks Ed and Terry.
A "bit" of AU Saturday ... fun when it was there. 19 stations worked with
11/ 6m, 8/2m and 1/222Mhz. Made things a bit hectic... what to do? Hard
to listen or work 3 bands Via AU at one time!! Talk about NOISE! Like June
2001the 2m aurora produced 6 contest unique grids, 4 beyond normal
tropo range.
18 rover contacts or 11% of the contacts. Thanks guys for being out there
and looking our way. Sure a shame not to be able to complete 1296Mhz
with W0AMT/r from EN46. We could both hear each other, but not well
enough for the contact and they were willing and happy to take the TIME to
try hard! Thanks again. The biggest bummer of the contest for me.
I heard several "Cities" stations on 146.550 FM with the little 5elem yagi
pointed south. I may need to put up a better antenna there and tune the
400watt amp for that freq. Might be able to add a few that way. Calls with 25
watts didn't even get a QRZ ....
SO ... with my 3rd best contest in the last 7yrs and without 6m Es, I
consider it a success.
Please don't forget "the bands" until June. Can't tell you how many guys
asked before the contest "if everything was ready"? Every piece of
VHF/UHF gear is used weekly if not daily. I guess a real perk to being
retired. Nice to just say "hi" once in a while.
7 inches of new snow await my attention .... see you all on the bands and
THANKS for the signals, contacts. Now looking forward to a break in the
WX for that snow scatter on 10Ghz. Looked good yesterday afternoon
toward "The Cities", but the 3deg and 15mph wind was not good to set up
on the lake ice and look south! See you at April's Auoroa VHF/UHF
gathering.
Bill K0AWU EN37ed