[NLRS] N9ISN Sept VHF Results

[Allan W Schlaugat]

All I can say is 'Wow'

There were no 6 meter openings to speak of but the local activity almost
made up for it. This was my best September contest ever by a factor of 5!
But with no 6 meter opening, this score won't compete with the southern WI
scores I am sure. But for northern WI, I felt it was a great score and
effort.

Some highlights (and there were many!): 
+ Working W0ZOK in EN16 on 2 and 432 and N0UNL in EN10 on 2. Sweeping K0AWU
EN37, K2YAZ EN74 and KM0T EN13 is also a treat.  :-)
+ Rovers! Without the effort of the rovers, this contest would die. W9FZ,
K0DAS, W9RAY, K0WOW, K0PG/K9ILT, N0DQS, KC0FXY, KC0P, K0MHC to name a few
off the top of my head.  I worked 'Frank Zappa' from 7 grids with 4 band
sweeps and 'DAS from 4 grids with 4 band sweeps and a 5th grid with 3
bands. 
+ Only one 6m scatter contact W4NH. Hey.. he was loud too!
+ Tremendous activity from EN34. 67 Q's were made from that grid alone;
only beat by my home grid of EN44 with 68!
+ 2m tropo opening in the last 15 minutes of the contest. I finally managed
to work W6ZI in EM26 but not without stepping on some toes in the final 5
minute frenzy on 144.200.

Some lowlights (and there were few!)
+ 144.200 was a zoo most of the contest. I realize that is the place
everyone looks for Q's but when there are 4 or 5 stations calling CQ nobody
will get a solid Q in that mess. In the last hour of the contest it sounded
like 20 meters during CQWW!!
+ 222 Mhz. This was my second major effort on that band and I discovered a
major problem to the SE of me. WEAU CH 13 was destroying the entire band
with S7 broadband noise, and their transmitter is 30 miles away (but line
of sight; I can see the tower beacons on a clear night)! I think I need a
bandpass filter. What really hurts is that WEAU is directly down my
EN52/53/62/63 beam heading and it cost me several Q's.
+144 Mhz and 50 Mhz. I spent several hours looking SE towards EN52/53/62/63
during the contest. I discovered a new S9 noise source from a farm 3/4 mile
away. Fortunately it was on only during milking times in the early morning
and around 6pm. I still have a S3 noise source to my WNW (EN36,37,26,27)
from power lines but it is getting better. The local power coop is
replacing aging power poles all over and it is making a big difference.
+Missed some local grids entirely.. EN42, 55 and 46. Ouch!

Here is the summary.. 
                       ARRL VHF QSO PARTY -- 2004


      Call:      N9ISN
      Category:  Single Operator
      Power:     Low Power 
      Band:      All Band
      Mode:      Mixed Mode 
      State:     WI

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS      GRIDS


       50       76       76          24
      144      101      101          28
      222       44       88          17
      432       66      132          20
     -----------------------------------

     Totals    287      397          89  =   35,333

Club Affiliation: badger contesters

See you in January!!

73   Al

--
Allan W. Schlaugat        www.n9isn.com       Albertville, WI  USA
Amateur Radio: N9ISN  * Lumber Cartel (tinlc) Member #1390 *  APS #186089
                Chippewa County (WI) District 6 Supervisor

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."