[NLRS] Jan VHF Contest -- EN37ed report

[Bill Davis]

  Hello NLRS:

   The end result here was the lowest Jan contest score since 2002. This is a continuation of a sharp downward trend of stations either workable from here and/or active. It was interesting to compare band contact/grid data of this contest and the last Sept contest that was SO SO bad. I had one fewer QSO on 2m, but 6 fewer grids. One more Q on 222 and one less grid. Same number of QSOs on 432 but one fewer grids. Two fewer Qs on 902 and one less grid. One less Q and one less grid on 1296. One Q on 10GHz, where in Sept none. Remember that Sept was the poorest contest result here since 2001 ... by FAR! Except for Es on 6m, I don't think conditions were all that different. The weekend warm spell may have helped.


   Conditions where pretty flat, sure not enhanced except for perhaps aircraft scatter. My noise floor on 2m is becoming a concern looking south toward most of the "activity". This looks down the lakeshore and the electronic pollution is significant.  This is an issue when trying to work those "less than big guns" down in EN34 and EN35.

  The only rovers in range were Glen KC0IYT/R and the team of KC0P/R and N0HZO/R. These were limited to 2, 222 and 432. There was NO margin on signals for any of those QSOs. Rovers accounted for 17% of my contacts.

  6 meters was limited to tropo and three requested meteor scatter QSOs. My six meter QSO count was the lowest since I became active on contests (2000). The default panadaper screens are 2meters (ALL THE TIME) and 6meters, unless active at that moment above 222. There was nothing going on on 6. 


  Several people complained about my signal strength on 2m. The loading on the 13B2 has changed in the past year, I still hear well, being limited by the noise floor south. I ran the 8877 all weekend at around 500w. I don't know what to make of the reports. No reflected power is being measured with a Bird at the PA changeover relay output.

  Best DX signals for the weekend were K9MU on 2m Sunday afternoon at S9 on the S meter. Justin didn't stay there too long, but a HUGE sig with 100w both on CW and SSB. Dennis NT0V was outstanding Saturday evening on 2 meters and we swept 6-432. Wally W0PHD was very good again on 2m and we even worked on 432 SSB! Both of these guys were stronger than any of the EN34/35 stations except for Ron and Gary. Sunday morning Bob K2DRH and I swept 6-432 again (411miles). All CW except for 432 which required JT65. We both heard each other on SSB on 432, but the signal strength just wasn't there. Both K0SIX and M9MU have new towers up, congrates to both.


  W0UC was not as strong on any band as usual. Seemed odd. Very limited signals were heard out of the Chippewa Valley.

  Over the years during contesting, I have observed what I called "tropo bubbles", where the signals would rise for a brief period and then go away. These "bubbles" were/are free of any periodic variations associated with aircraft scatter. Sunday I started running Aircraft Scatter Sharp pretty much full time. By doing that, I had occasion to make calls in specific directions when aircraft were mid path to a specific location. The cause effect was very positive. I suspect many of these bubbles were indeed random aircraft scatter. I worked both WA0VPJ and KC0DCO via aircraft scatter on 2m. The enhancement took the signals from barely detectable to S2 or so. Once the aircraft was out of the sweet spot, the sigs were gone. The flight paths between me and "anywhere" do not provide too many opportunities. HOWEVER, those stations in a E-W line from Chicago to Minneapolis would have MANY chances. What has  been observed "here", is that the enhancement is brief
 for any 2 stations and the aircraft must be truly "in line" with the path. On longer paths the enhancement may be somewhat longer, a couple min vrs a min at best. I was somewhat distracted by football Sunday afternoon and very few stations were being heard, so opportunities for additional verification were somewhat limited. If you haven't already .. load up Aircraft Scatter Sharp and listen to your favorite DX beacon.

   Activity on 144.200 seemed to be more appropriate than what it has been for some time. It could be improved yet, but a much greater variety of stations were heard using the frequency as a calling frequency. Thanks. Keep working at appropriate us of 200, it should be there for all to utilize in a productive manner for ALL. 


   Contesting is becoming very unrewarding here. Its about the only activity here on VHF/UHF any longer. 25% of my QSOs were from stations in EN37 or Dennis, Wally and Eddie. We are loosing well equipped operators because of that. I worked only one station (WB0DBQ) out of the Duluth area for example and Ray up in Thief River gave up on VHF. No Connie for this contest and Fast Eddie was a difficult Q on 2m with nothing detected on 222 or 6m. His 432 Amp was tripping breakers and prevented a run there. The future may hold a different mode of operation. Work the first hour or so, work a couple hours both nights and call it "good". It seems that a growing number have already reached that conclusion. This would be DEVASTATING for the rovers and not what any of us really want to happen.  The decrease and general activity AND the active rovers moving farther south and east are making the effort up north increasingly less than rewarding. I can't blame the
 rovers, go where the activity is and stay close to home as possible. Gas isn't growing on trees YET, but it's being tried!

  6m -- 13 Qs  9 grids
  2m --  31Qs  12grids
222  -- 11Qs   6 grids
432  -- 14Qs   8 grids
902  --   1Q and 1 grid
1296 -  2Qs and 2 grids
10GHz - 1Q and 1 grid

73 contacts 39 multipliers and 4,446pts

Respectively  Bill K0AWU