[TVARC] ARRL June VHF W3US SO 3Band-All Modes HP

[w3us at casa-aloha.net]

This was my first time participating in any VHF contest.  My intent was to pick up needed states for WAS, and if the band really opened up, increase my meager 6M DXCC count.  

Friday afternoon I attached my trusty 6M moxon to a push-up mast tucked in the back yard where it is fairly unobtrusive.  If you don’t know what a moxon is, it’s essentially a 2el folded yagi.  Directional, compact, light-weight, and offering a bit of gain.  Very cool.  Check it out.  

Saturday afternoon I was pumped for the start, with Pete, K2PS, as my first contact.  It immediately became apparent that we were seeing harmonics of each other’s transmissions across the band.  Less than a mile apart and running high power we’ve not experienced this on HF.  As Pete mentioned, we resolved the issue by both transmitting on the same cycle, or QSYing to SSB, CW, or FT4, which was surprisingly productive.  Saturday was disappointing with little to no sporadic E.  6M eventually opened to the northeast and we were off and running, but still no Europeans.  

Sunday, 6M opened to the west most of the day, with lots of 5s, 6s and 7s in the log.  Surprise of surprises, Japan started coming through around 1830 local.  Wow! Japan on 6 meters!  I struggled to work two JAs, but it was more than difficult with a dozen back & forth exchanges before we could call it a QSO.  It was comforting to see both confirmed in LoTW when I checked this morning.

It would have been nice to see contestants QSY to CW and SSB when conditions permitted, as FT8 is really, really slow for contesting.  Hopefully SSB and CW activity will increase as conditions continue to improve.

Thanks to Rich, ND4G for helping me out with N1MM and WSJT-X pre-contest as well as end-of-QSO/73 guidance.  

Congrats to Pete for submitting an amazing score as usual.  I watched your QSO total zip from 79 to 206 in the blink of an eye.  I don’t know how you do it.  

Perhaps a club gavel is in our future?  Fingers crossed.

73 to all,
Rusty - W3US

>                    ARRL June VHF Contest - 2022
> 
> Call: W3US
> Operator(s): W3US
> Station: W3US
> 
> Class: Single Op 3Band-All Modes HP
> QTH: FL
> Operating Time (hrs): 13
> 
> Summary:
> Band  QSOs  Mults
> -------------------
>    6:  291   148
>    2:           
>  222:           
>  432:           
>  903:           
>  1.2:           
>  2.3:           
>  3.4:           
>  5.7:           
>  10G:           
>  24G:           
> -------------------
> Total:  291   148  Total Score = 43,068
> 
> Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club
> 
> Comments:
> 
> Flex 6600, PGXL, Hustler 6-BTV flagpole vertical.
> 
> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/