[NLRS] June VHF Results ND0B EN07 SOHP

[Bill Ockert]

ARRL June VHF QSO Party

Call: ND0B
Operator(s): ND0B
Station: ND0B

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EN07
Operating Time (hrs): 22

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
---------------------
   6:      876      201
   2:          3          3
---------------------
Total:    879      204  Total Score = 179,316

Comments:

I worked last years contest with the intent of chasing states on 6m and
had great success in working 9 or the 11 states I needed.   The other
two soon followed so it was on to bigger things.   My good friend
Dennis NT0V jokingly said "Whats next?  FFMA?"   No Way!!

However the seed was planted and pretty soon the map was on the
wall and I spend time watching the reflectors for rare grid expiditions
and cussing deadbeat QSLers.  My wife says I now mutter in my sleep
alot.  I am a LONG ways away but I did set the goal for this year to
break the 400 worked mark.

I went into this contest with the intent of hunting grids but, being in EN07
is not conducive to that, most of the time when I called someone I would
have someone call me back after the contact, then  several more, not fair
to the folks who had the frequency.   I usually gave in and found a clear
frequecy and called CQ.  During some stages of the contest finding a clear
frequency on 6m almost meant operating 2m LOL.  It all worked out well,
I worked 30 new grids and worked someone new in 2 grids that have been
persistent QSL deadbeats and have repeat contacts in several recently worked
grids for insurance purposes.

(BTW the 400 goal is... reachable.  With the contest I am at about 368 
worked.
The goal after this year will be to work 1/2 of those remaining each year 
making
FFMA reachable in a little less than 10 years if all goes well.)

The contest started slow with my first contact being W0ZOK on 2m
at his cabin on Star Lake. 6m opened slowly to the East then got
pretty exciting and stayed that way for many hours in various directions.
The pileups at times were pretty crazy.   I have gotten used to working them
and can usually garner a few letters out.   There were times, especially 
toward
the end of the contest when all I could do was go QRZ? again becasue so many
stations were calling and they all mixed together.   There were also many 
extremely
strong signals on the band this year and from the band scope it was obvious
that solid state amps are making their presence felt, some of the signals 
were 30 -
40 KHz wide.

A nice cap to the day was working K9FZ in EN65 just after the contest while
he was sitting waiting to head home. Card and SASE will be in the mail...

Operation was from my home station using the Flex 5KV/U as the rig.
On 6m power was provided by a Command Tech VHF-200 and the
antenna is a 4 element Steppir with 6m kit giving 6 elements on 32
feet of boom mounted at 55 feet.  On 2m power was provided by a
Lunar Link LA-200 and the antenna is a M2 2M12 mounted at 60 feet.

Next year hope to be QRV on 222, 432 and 1.2GHz with real power and
antennas.   My operation will also be alot more focused also as I "should"
be into a much more confined grid chasing effort.

Thank you to everyone I worked. The mailbox is going to be brutal for a
while starting about Wednesday.

It was a fun and successful contest.

73 de Bill ND0B