[NLRS] 2018 ARRL Jan. contest (aka 144 mhz report) de KA0RYT

[Ronald Bergantzel]

Hello All !! 
Well , I enjoyed a laid back weekend participating in the January contest .I ended up with 50 QSOs by  26 grid multipliers on 144 with only 2 by 2 on 6 meters .....  I seen ALOT of MSK144 activity on 6 though ( while I was replacing the B+ "glitch" resistor that blew due to an over abundance of ladybugs / Asian beetles that liked the B+ feed thru coating in the B+ box on the outside of the GS-35 cavity ) ...... The times , they are a changing" .... and it seems that there is more and more digital QSOs to be had during the contest . ( HINT - I WOULD BE VERY GLAD TO ASSIST SOMEONE GIVE A TALK ON DIGITAL QSOs @ AU2018 - ANYONE ?? ) . I went home at around 1 - 2 pm Sunday afternoon . Best 144 DX was HB9Q in JN47 and UA3PTW in KO93 via JT65b on my rising moon . Then best MSK144 on 2 meters was W3IP and K1RZ in FM19  also KA1ZE/3 in FN01 with the  quickest MSK144 QSO was W9RM in DM58 with monster pings !! I am seeing that rovers are now starting to take advantage of digital QSOs.....  All in all a fun contest ! Too bad the aurora did not develop like predicted though - honorable RARE DX mention goes to WA2VOI/0 ( been a long time since I worked that station on 144 ! ) . Thanks to the rovers for being out !! Equipment used was  : FT-991 to GS35 cavity amplifier @ 1300 w to single 2M12 @ around 50 ft with preamp at the antenna of 0.3 db noise figure and 25+ db gain  ..... No elevation antenna ( the modified 17B2 ) was used this time .  CU at AU 18 and June contest !! 
73 , Ron Bergantzel KA0RYT EN35ct