[NLRS] VHF Contest results K0DAS, N0LNO, KC0SKM

[ka0ryt1]

Yes , it's a little bit of a learning curve .Everyone just needs to remember to keep the VHF - Contest mode box CHECKED . This then will send the grid report and NOT the signal report - ALSO the grid repaort will decode correctly.
Ron KA0RYT



From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.

-------- Original message --------
From: John Kalenowsky <hamk9jk at gmail.com> 
Date: 06/13/2018  4:02 PM  (GMT-06:00) 
To: Gregg Lind <gregg at thelinds.net> 
Cc: NLRS <nlrs at mailman.qth.net> 
Subject: Re: [NLRS] VHF Contest results K0DAS, N0LNO, KC0SKM 
 


Hi Gregg (and Cc: NLRS),

Sounds like we are mostly in agreement about how the contest played out
with FT-8 (and other digital modes) versus 'legacy' modes (SSB/CW); that,
at least when the propagation was 'in', it didn't reduce legacy mode
activity and that FT-8 provided opportunities to get more calls and grids
in logs when the band was marginally open or 'worked out' between areas
(see my second paragraph below).

I didn't get on until later Sunday afternoon (after 4pm) but the "magic" of
the magic band was happening then. I had a magmount vertical for 6 and a
measly 100 Watts or so from my FT-991, which shouldn't work, right? Not
earthshattering but I was able to make 44 Qs on 6 meters, mostly on SSB
(one on CW but no digital), from the rovermobile as I visited 4 different
grids in about three hours - I tried a CQ once and got one reply but
otherwise it was all Search & Pounce. As I was driving later (I had to go
pick up my wife from her sister's house, where my wife had been visiting),
I picked up a station in Tennessee and another in Colorado followed by a
repeat with a local station as I entered a grid that we'd missed earlier.

My assessment is that the "true contesters" (TCs) knew and understood that
SSB (or CW) would allow completion of contacts at a higher rate than FT-8
and focused there BUT also checked 50.313 when they had worked out the area
to where the band was open for them at a given time and likely got some
more casual (FT-8 only) participants to add to their QSO counts. When the
band opened to a new area, the TCs would go back to SSB/CW and work
everyone they could before trying FT-8 again (lather, rinse, repeat).

A question I have is how things work(ed) on a single (FT-8) frequency when
the activity level is higher with many stations transmitting at the same
time in the same frequency 'window' (though hopefully at different spots in
the 'window') but the 'window' has a fixed size and the number of folks can
be larger in a contest than in non-contest times. From some of the comments
I've read in 3830scores postings, it sounds like there were 'traffic jams'
on 50.313 (possibly made worse by all the 'trouble' with using/not using NA
Contest Mode or programs other than WSJT). Is there a need for multiple
"channels" for FT-8 in contests? (Say, add 50.316, 50.319?)

I hope to find a way that I'm comfortable with having a laptop in the
CoROVERolla...the direct USB interface of the FT-991 should "ease" the
connection from laptop to radio, then I have to figure out how to keep the
laptop charged while in the mobile. Or maybe I need a new, 'more roomy'
vehicle as my rovermobile.

Nice discussion here.

73, JK
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