[TVARC] ARRL June VHF K2PS Single Op-All Modes HP

[Pete K2PS]

While I do enjoy most contests, this one was not one of them.  I put up the
yagi a week ago, hoping to take advantage of some of the great propagation I
was seeing, and in the days leading up to Saturday, it didn't disappoint,
with signals on 6 meters into Eastern Europe.  Even worked a few.  But,
given the vagaries of the Magic Band, I wasn't too surprised that signals
degraded, and by the time the contest started, things were not as I hoped
they would be.

In years past I operated Low Power, and once in a great while the
propagation gods smiled on Florida, with signals all over the northeast and
Midwest booming in down here, giving us an advantage.  This time, however,
signals were not great, and frustratingly when I called a station on FT8
(almost no SSB/CW activity), they would come back to me, and then never
again to complete the QSO.  This happened time and again.  So, I figured
that I wasn't going to win anyway, and let's turn on the amp (putting me in
the HP category).  It got a little better, maybe.  The band was still not
cooperating and Saturday ended with about 100 QSOs in the log.  Oh, did I
mention that the amp decided to quit on me?  It just went dark.  And my
spare KPA500 also decided not to work!  Of course, it was too late to be in
the LP class, since I made a bunch of Qs using HP.  But I continued on
Sunday, barefoot, and had some decent runs on SSB and CW between 11a-1p,
after which the band dried up, and so back to FT8.  Eventually there was no
one to work - either I never heard anyone not yet worked, or they couldn't
hear me.  So, with a little time on my hands I decided to see what was going
on with the original amp.  Turned it on, and voila!  It worked fine.  I
guess I just wasn't thinking that it probably overheated, given the
demanding duty cycle of FT8, and of course now it was too late.

The total number of QSOs made was less than half of last year's (518), and
multipliers (grids 183).  Oh well.  Maybe next year...

73, Pete, K2PS

                    ARRL June VHF Contest - 2026

Call: K2PS
Operator(s): K2PS
Station: K2PS

Class: Single Op-All Modes HP
QTH: NFL
Operating Time (hrs): 14

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  237   108
    2:           
  222:           
  432:           
  902:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  237   108  Total Score = 25,596

Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club

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