[NLRS] W0MR VHF from Lake Elmo

[Doug Reed]

I operated the W0MR 6M station on SSB for most of Saturday. It was
quiet except for the other local FD stations most of the afternoon.
Had to work fairly hard just to make a few Q's within 50 miles. Went
for supper about 6:30PM. Was very surprised to hear strong stations
from 4-land when I got back after 7PM. Still didn't hear many stations
within 200 miles, but worked many stations from CT, NJ, TN, GA, FL,
LA, maybe a few more until about 21:20CDT. Most of the afternoon Q's
were only on 6M. A few local guys had 2M or 440 and would try it with
me. Those stations had better signals on 2M than on 6M (groundwave?).
Only made one 440 Q. Might have added a few more if I turned on a
2M-440 FM mobile.... FM Q's are easy!

Next year I'd suggest that more VHF FD stations try to include 2M for
a few more local points. And I'd suggest digital modes too,
particularly JT65 variants. When I got home 10PM Saturday I checked
PSKreorter.info and the map showed the 6M opening and 3x as many
stations as I was able to work on SSB. No PSK31 was on the map. I
don't know how many FD Q's I'd actually make on JT65, but it seems
like it might be worth the effort to find out since it should work
even in poor conditions. On Sunday before 9AM PSKreporter was already
showing significant JT65 activity but I didn't go back to W0MR.
Hopefully someone else was there to take advantage of the AM opening
that Vern mentioned.

Regarding the FD exchange, I assume the JT65 6-char grid can be
replaced by 5-6 characters of your choice, such as 2A-MN or 5A-SFL.
I'll have to try that before next year.... I haven't been reading my
QST recently so I don't know if the FD exchange was mentioned in any
of the columns before FD. If the software will let you, it sounds
pretty simple.

Having the 6M radio setup for digital modes would also make it easy to
run voice keying software on that PC too. I get rather punchy
repeating CQ FD for hours and hours....

I'd like opinions from operators who have compared omni antennas to a
small beam for FD. I'm thinking a pair of crossed loops for 6M might
have a bit of gain while still being horz polarized. The gain will be
lower than a 3-el beam but eliminates the hassle of a rotor for beam
pointing. Since most of the signals I was calling were pretty strong,
how many Q's would I really be giving up if I used the omni?

The most excitement of the day was around 3PM Saturday when the storm
front came through with high winds. I'm glad we were in a RV instead
of the usual screen canopy. I could close the doors and windows
against the horz driven rain, but the 30ft of Rohn tower and beams
reached about a 60 degree angle while pulling against the guy ropes
holding it up against the wind....

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.


-- 
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

The problem with suffering fools gladly is that they don’t suffer
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