[NLRS] Summer VHF & Up Contest Season almost here

[tosca005 at umn.edu]

Hello, all. The Summer VHF, UHF, and Microwave contest season is almost 
upon us in earnest, at least for ARRL-sponsored contests. (I know that this 
year's SBMS contest is already in the past, as well as some of the Spring 
Sprints. I don't mean to denigrate those but I've not been very active in 
them, except for the SBMS contest in years when I lived in MN and there was 
someone to talk to on the bands from 2.3 GHz and up.)

Anyway, I got a surprise in the mail from ARRL, a certificate for first 
place in the SOLP category for the June VHF contest in the Dakota Division. 
I did not expect this, because my "victory" does not show up in the QST 
article which does not drill down below the Regional level, and I didn't 
place within the top 10 of the Midwest Region. It is only when I went to 
the "Expanded Results" article or ran through the results database that I 
found that I did, indeed, lead in either the Minnesota Section or the 
Dakota Division in that category. Note that I am *NOT* saying this to brag, 
much to the contrary I am complaining about how poor our showing has been 
recently in the summer contests (with the notable exception of the 10 GHz 
contest where WB0LJC placed first in the country and many NLRS folks 
appeared in the top ten nationwide). I took a look at the August UHF and 
September VHF contest results and again the NLRS and the upper Midwest in 
general showed low participation and low scores.

Is there any chance we can turn that trend around this summer? I would love 
to see a lot of activity in the June, August, and September contests by our 
group, in addition to a continuation of our outstanding participation in 
the 10 GHz contest. (Gary, W0GHZ, assures me that my 10G system has been 
repaired and is in good shape for this summer's contest season! Thanks very 
much, Gary.)

For the present, my station situation is unchanged. Decent (though far from 
outstanding) antennas on the roof tower on my garage for 50 through 1296 
MHz; higher bands (2304, 3456, 5760, 10368) only if portable, and still QRP 
on 5.7G at present. But much as I'd like to put the 2304 and 3456 systems 
up on the tower, the truth of the matter is that I probably need to be 
thinking about taking ALL of it DOWN soon and selling the house in Apple 
Valley. Nothing is imminent or certain, but it's going to have to happen in 
the next few years at least and could be sooner rather than later. But NOT 
this summer!

If I'm going to be contest-active down here in Texas, it looks like I will 
have to either go out roving (as I have done for the last few Januaries 
without a lot of success) or buy a home in an area without antenna 
covenants, preferably on a high hill. That presents a Catch-22 of sorts, 
because I can't afford an RF-friendly QTH in Texas unless I dismantle 
everything in my Apple Valley home station and sell the house. Decisions, 
decisions...

Anyway, not to be depressing or anything. I would like to encourage y'all 
to get into contest mode this summer. I realize that work and life in 
general can be significant impediments to Ham contesting, and in my 
retirement, I should not be preaching to the gainfully employed about 
getting on the air. But I long for the days when a measly 10K score didn't 
count for first place no matter how far you drill down from national to 
regional to division to section.

What do you think?

John P. Toscano, W0JT/5
  EL09ro October-May
  EN34js June-September