[PPRAANet] June VHF Contest Report from W2SZ/1 - FN32jp

[Jim Pierson]

Hi PPRAA,

As a few of you know, for the last 14 years I have contested both the 
June and Sept. VHF contest from W2SZ/1 - FN32jp in Western Mass.  I have 
been the 222 MHz band manager at W2SZ/1 for the last 14 years (since I 
was 18) and for the first time had the joy of working Au on 222.  What 
started looking like a "typical" June contest (Darn Hot! Darn Humid and 
TONS of bugs that bite and draw blood!) with limited tropo and a small 
amount of 6m Es turned into an interesting finish Sunday afternoon with 
a bit of Aurora.  About 3pm on Sunday afternoon, we started hearing the 
first sounds of Au on 6m.  We started filling the log with 8's, 9's and 
0's on 6m.  Shortly after that we started working the same on 2m. From 
WMA on 2m we worked South Dakota for our best DX...not excluding the 9's 
we worked via WSJT the previous evening.  We were lucky to see the Au 
extend all the way to 432 that afternoon.  On 222 we worked WI, MI, OH, 
IL and IN for 6 new grids on 222 MHz....what a blast to hear and work 
Au!  Best quote heard on the hill from a new op: " Why are they all 
whispering?"

So, what did we do for a score:

W2SZ/1 - FN32jp - Mt. Greylock - North Adams, Ma.

Band            QSOs         Grids  
50                 880            113             
144               584            73
222               236            52
432               318            46
903               117            34  
1296            116             33
2304            110             35
3456            94               31
5760            81               23
10368         70               13  
24 GHz        20                5
47 GHz        2                  2

Totals      2.19 Million QSO Points


Hope everybody had fun in the contest and got to work a bit of the Au.  
Remember - Use Them or Lose Them!

73,

Jim, N1SZ
DM79mo