[NLRS] UHF contest report KFØQ EN44da

[Matt Burt]

Whew - hard to believe it’s over.  Missed out last year so I wanted to get all
my gear tested and working for RMIII.  Well things were OK - was happy to have
all working including my new band 5.7 just a couple days before the contest. 
As for my choice of portable vs a big rove I just decided staying close to home
and checking all the gear would be best.  One thing is that setting up a
portable station can be a bit of work... think it took me 2 ½ hours just to get
all 3 earth anchors for the mast in the ground (like concrete here in Winona
County..)  due to the dry condx this summer.

As for the contest .. was not happy to have the ‘706 after so many reliable
years to blow the 4A fuse at my start.  The ‘706 is my only 432 rig so I was at
a huge disadvantage without it.  Any way knew the rest of my gear was working
and pleased to get sweeps with W9FZ/R and WØZR/R right away with my 7 working
bands.  After missing some q’s in the first couple of hours I contacted KBØTHN
(tnx Jim) and had a replacement radio waiting for me just 15 mins away.  The
TM455 from Jim worked great and I was back in business.  Hated to take the time
off to get the rig but actually was the best choice in the long run. Knew I
missed out on some rover action with my late start but couldn’t believe the
lack of fixed stations in the log.  Think we may have a problem here; good
problem actually; with all the rovers out there in ‘06 I think a good deal of
the fixed stations were busy ... so much so that other fixed stations missed
out on q’s.

So the rovers .... first let me say that all the rovers I worked this year were
truly class acts...  much patience .. on schedule and seemed to be just as
thrilled as I was working to get the contact in the log   Hats off to all the
rovers   Most of the highlights with the rovers were those contacts on 5.7 and
10G.  Working Jon, WØZQ/R while in EN25 just inches over the tops of the corn
with the dish about 100 ft from my operating tent   And working KF9US/R one
grid away from and on the heels of a 10G qso with Bruce, W9FZ/R while in EN45
fun, fun, fun!  As for fixed stations was great to hear K9KL after so long and
K2YAZ after over a year.  Drill with K2DRH running the bands backwards ...3.4,
2.3, 1.3, and finally 902 was amazingly easy. Not much DX this year for me but
it was a great time.

As for the rover vs fixed station thing I noticed ... I think we should take a
hard look at this over the next year and see what we should do.  Do we need a
fixed station activity hour?  Or should we enlist the point north at ??00Z
theme?  Not sure to be honest... I know that I left thousands of points on the
table by only working KMØT on one band and WØGHZ on two...  really wish it was
different (sorry guys ).  Just like Bill, KØAWU said ... can be kinda lonely ...
called CQ in all directions fone and CW ....
In retrospect I think if had I called more on 432 (when it got fixed..) I may
have stirred up some attention, but I have always considered 222 to be the
calling band of choice for the UHF test.
	
So in spite of missing many of the other rovers out there and some of the
mainstay fixed stations the contest was fun.  Have to say that I really broke a
sweat a few times out there running from the field where the dish was back to
the tent for liason trips on the high bands. (Had more q’s then ever before on
10 ... can’t wait till next year!)

As for the storm here - everything was fine.  Knew it would be bound to happen
so when I pulled the switch just before midnight I battoned down the hatches by
pulling the rigs and computer and placing them in the car, covering the rest of
the gear inside the tent with a tarp, and placing a tarp over the generator. 
Was a great idea ... got up to the site in the early AM to find all the
antennas fine; the tarp inside the tent blown off, but the equipment was
still dry.. always an adventure!

2006 ARRL UHF Contest KFØQ
     QSO's  Mults
222   32    19
432   28    18
902   15    12
1.2   14     9
2.3   10     9
3.4   6      6
5.7   3      3
10    8      7

     116    83   678 qso pts     56,274 Total

So my 2nd best effort, but have to say better than 40K over my highest fixed
effort for the contest.  

Final thoughts .... remember when the League threatened us with taking the UHF
contest away?  Please send in your logs as a message that the UHF test is here
to stay.

73,
Matt
KFØQ