[NLRS] W0ZQ Jan VHF

[w0zq at aol.com]

band QSOs mults
50 54 13
144 74 20
222 27 13
432 44 15
903 16 9
1.2 18 9
2.3 10 7
3.4 7 5
5.7 2 1
10G 5 2

257 x 94 = 56,212

Well that was brutal. We often talk about conditions during these 
contest, but gheez, from my QTH in EN34it they really were difficult. I 
can't remember making so many weak weak weak CW contacts that are 
typically SSB chip shots.

OK, enough of the complaining. There were actually highlights ! We had 
a little bit of sporadic E on 6m late Saturday afternoon into the early 
evening. Not a lot, but just some to keep things interesting.

Then there were the rovers .... a big thanks to KC0IYT/R, KC0P/R, 
KC0RE0/R (qrp/m/r), and WA0VPJ/R. There may have been a few more rovers 
that I missed. The rovers certainly keep the activity levels up and I 
suspect my score would have been about half of what it is without them. 
Roving is tough, roving in January is that much tougher.

With the conditions so rough, multipliers were down this year. I did 
manage to catch NT0V and W0PHD right at the end of the contest which 
really helped (thanks for getting on Dennis & Wally !). N9DG and W0LGQ 
were late addes as well. On 6 meters I was using just a Par loop at 45' 
and 100 watts. Best non-E's 6m DX was to N9DG (EN53) on CW ... sorta 
fun. I also worked KB0CIM (EN37) on 6m SSB. Outside of 6m, Best overall 
DX was to N2BJ (EN61) on two bands, W9JGC (EN61) on one band, W0LGQ 
(EN21) on three bands, and NT0V (EN08) on three bands. I called CQ 
towards central Wisc and Mich a bit but never heard any replies. I 
never ran more than 150 watts on any band.

My porch mounted microwave setup worked to the tune of 7 Q's and 3 
grids. I was able to work W0GHZ on 5.7 on Saturday afternoon on the 
direct path blasting through the leafless trees. That surprised me a 
little bit .... Gary had a good signal on 5.7. The same path did not 
work on 10G. When I woke up Sunday morning it was snowing. A call on 
146.46 got me coordinated with N0KP and we worked fairly easily on 10G 
snow scatter. I lined up on the same path on 5.7 and we worked on that 
band as well albeit with much weaker signals. Bob, W0AUS found us on 
146.46 and he and I were able to make the direct path from his place to 
mine on 10G via snow scatter with 55 signals on SSB. John, W0JT, lives 
perhaps 10 miles from me and is surrounded by more trees than me. John 
got his 10G system out and we hooked up pretty quickly on snow scatter 
... good 57 SSB signals. Most of the time I was using between 10 and 20 
degrees of elevation. Later on, after the snow had mostly quit, I tried 
with N0UK and K0SHF without any luck. The lesson learned is that its 
fairly easy to work 30 miles (+/-) on 5.7 and 10 GHz when there is some 
rain or snow scatter available, even from an extremely compromised 
location. One of the keys is to aim up to just clear the tops of the 
trees and on the direct path.

Overall, local activity was good. Fun to hear signals on all the bands. 
My ears are still hurting from all the weak QSOs !

Make sure to indicate Northern Lights Radio Society on your logs and 
get them in to the League. Remember that paper logs ARE ok. If you need 
help or have any questions, just ask.

73, Jon
W0ZQ
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