[NLRS] W9FZ/R and KA9VVQ/R plans for Jan VHF Contest

[James Duffey]

Bruce, Janice and NLRSers:

Thanks for the info.. W7QQ/r and KK6MC/r will be roving in Arizona for the contest, so point your beams down our way and give a listen in case some Sporadic E materializes. I usually get some openings in the January contest, but they don’t always last long, so keep your ears peeled. 

Also, everyone should realize that the peak time for sporadic E in the winter season is in the evening, as opposed to the summer season when it peaks in the late morning. The normal tendency is to get on at the beginning of the contest, work everyone on in an hour or two and then shut the radio off. If you do this, you will likely miss the best Sporadic E times. So turn on the radio in the evening and make some noise. - Duffey KK6MC

On Jan 12, 2015, at 10:46 AM, Bruce Richardson <w9fz at w9fz.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Hello NLRS'ers and BC'ers:
> 
> It's January and Janice and my "RF low-level lights" are blinking.
> So we're planning on being out in the rover 2 weekends from now.  We've
> had fun looking at the Grid Map and Delorme Map books deciding where to
> go that would be fun for us and have access to our friends in
> NLRS/BC-land.
> 
> We've also decided to give "family rule" a try!!  So if you find us, you
> get two Q's on each band.  Sure, it will take a little longer but you'll
> already have us peaked up.  We'll get better as the event goes along at
> handing the mike (and key) back and forth.  Janice is mighty fine on CW
> so we'll both still give you Q's if the path weakens.
> 
> We'll be CQ'ing on 144.240.  The "carry to" frequencies on the higher
> bands is an interesting discussion. We all know that we "could" get away
> going to the calling freq or not too far off of it on other bands.  But
> WHAT IF there was QRM?  Now we've slowed things down for everyone.  So
> even though it might not be necessary, we plan to carry to .140 on 222
> and 432.  903 on up also pose a question. Many years, we go to the
> calling freq on those bands and don't have problems.  So we'll plan on
> .100 on 903, 1296, 2304 and 10G but we'll be VERY ready to go to .140 if
> there is a glimmer of QRM.  For 6m, we plan to "carry to" 50.190.  Some
> might think that is a bit high and a hassle, but .140 is so easily busy
> with any kind of an opening. We want you to hear our weak signal and
> usually .190 is guaranteed to be quiet.  We'll be checking 146.55 and
> 146.58 at the top and bottom of most hours.
> 
> Remember, we don't "own" .240.  We like to find it busy when we get to a
> new grid because we're guaranteed a Q (or more) when we get the ops
> attention.  We've told everybody to look for us there. If you need that
> freq, have at it!  We'll stand-by until you are done (or we'll go look
> around elsewhere).
> 
> Barring Murphy, we plan to have ABCD9EF and I.  We will be chirping
> W9FZ-15 (puppy dog symbol). Look for us on
> http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FW9FZ-15
> 
> So the plan is basically Rochester, MN on Saturday and Cedar Rapids, IA
> on Sunday. We will start in EN34 for just one hour to give out some
> extra QSO volume to local (loud) stations.  The other grids will have
> adequate time to work all ops within range of our sigs.
> 
> Saturday Jan 24:
> 
> EN34vb	1300L - 1400L (1900Z - 2000Z)
> EN44ab	1400L - 1600L (2000Z - 2200Z)
> EN43aw	1700L - 1900L (2300Z - 0100Z)
> EN33xw	2000L - 2200L (0200Z - 0400Z)
> 
> Sunday Jan 25:
> 
> EN31xx	0900L - 1100L (1500Z - 1700Z)
> EN41ax	1230L - 1430L (1830Z - 2030Z)
> EN42aa	1530L - 1730L (2130Z - 2330Z)
> EN32xa 	1900L - 2200L (0100Z - 0400Z)
> 
> It will be great to connect with all of our friends in the region on
> that weekend. We'll be looking at Omaha, KC, St Louis hopeful for new
> calls/Q's.  But we know we'll be looking at Chicago, Milwaukee, Eau
> Claire, Twin Cities, and NW. We look forward to working other
> Rovers--particularly at non-trivial distances. So we'll troll by your
> frequencies as well. We are glad to work other rovers but we won't
> coordinate/orchestrate our moves with you--we'll stick to our schedule.
> 
> Any chance N0MA will be on that weekend???  We're about to fill in the
> activity spreadsheet at:
> http://tinyurl.com/vhfss2015
> 
> Questions? Let us know. Need a particular grid on a band for VUCC? It's
> ok to let us know in advance and we'll try extra hard with you.  If
> weather requires us to change our plans,
> we'll try to let everyone know.
> 73
> Bruce W9FZ and Janice KA9VVQ
> 
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