[NLRS] W0UC Sept VHF contest

[Paul Husby]

This was almost a contest to remember - but it started 24 hours late.  
K's of 6 to 7 would have been pretty fun.  As it was, it was fairly 
decent, largely thanks to good rover activity.

Conditions were mediocre at best Saturday afternoon.  Failed with K0AWU 
on 902 & 1.2 for the first time in many contests, but after dark signals 
were about 15db better.  Conditions on those bands were also poor 
mid-morning Sunday;  W9GA and K2DRH were an unusual struggle.  Never saw 
any significant enhancement on 432 & above.

There was a little tropo late Saturday night after most everyone was 
gone.  About 1:20AM I heard W4NH in EM85 weak but solid CW on 144; got 
them in the log on 222 also, for the best DX on those bands at 775 
miles.  Also squeaked out WD0T (DN94) Sunday morning on 144.

6m SSB scatter activity was slim, yielding just a few contacts.  I 
thought the flares might produce some other propagation on Sunday, but 
not much came of it.  We did get a sporadic-E pipeline to EM93 for over 
an hour Sunday evening, for a few contacts.

My log shows 160 rover Q's, almost 50% of my total.  Swept with KA9VVQ, 
KC0P and N0HZO in all of their grids.  A bunch more Q's with N0LNO and 
KC0SKM.  I continue to have trouble hooking up with the Chicago-area 
rovers;  just 2 Q's with W9SNR, and one grid with K9GY.  If illness had 
not sidelined AC0RA, rover action would have been fantastic.  I find the 
rover spreadsheet to be invaluable, and have the best luck with those 
rovers who set a calling frequency and a schedule and stick with both.  
Those also seem to be the rovers who end up with the most contacts.

Never heard anything out of Michigan on any band.  Hello, anyone there?

W0UC  EN44  Single Op, High Power:
50      81    33
144    85    29
222    50    22
432    53    20
902    24    12
1.2    30    14
Total    323    130    69,420

Thanks to the fixed stations who bothered to get on!  Those who didn't 
missed some fun tracking the rovers.  Thanks to all the rovers for 
getting out there, and thanks to W0AIH for his support. I'm inspired, 
hopefully I can get some constructive work done before the January SS.

73
Paul W0UC
EN44HamRadio