This contest is really kind of a crapshoot.  If the gods of propagation are with you, it can be awesome.  If they ain't, well, that's a lost weekend (not quite like the Ray Milland old movie).  This year we must have been doing something right, since the openings were terrific and lengthy.  The gods didn't totally smile upon us, at least here in The Villages, because they sent down a pretty fierce thunderstorm and bolts of lightning from about 8P Saturday until I decided to give up and go to sleep.  And things had been really hopping up until then - running stations from the northeast and Midwest at over one per minute.  The radar map showed the narrow band of storms slicing through The Villages, and sparing the rest of the surrounding area and the state – so just us!

The highlight, though, was the European opening Saturday afternoon from 3p until nearly 6p.  Worked 16 countries in 27 different grids - sweet!  Included were Montenegro and Western Sahara (S01WS) for new ones on 6 (total now 79 wkd).

Sunday didn't bring any Europeans, but the openings were even stronger domestically.  Between 9a and 11a, worked 171 stations on SSB.  But after that, things slowed down, and the rest of the contest was a real struggle on FT8 (no more SSB/CW sigs).  Heavy QSB, so that you could start a QSO with a strong signal, and yet be unable to complete it, as the station just disappeared from the waterfall.

Anyway, the totals were quite satisfying, making 518 QSOs compared with last year at 398.  I do have a two-meter antenna, but forgot about mounting it above the six-meter yagi and just didn't feel like dealing with it, maybe to the detriment of my final score, and this contest does not have a single-band category.  Maybe next year!

I worked a few TVARCers, N0SMX, KD9MM, N4FMO, W2TR, W3US (remote from NC), W2ODH, and a newbie, Andy, KQ4WWD.  Thanks for the QSOs!

73, Pete, K2PS

                    ARRL June VHF Contest - 2025

Call: K2PS

Operator(s): K2PS

Station: K2PS

Class: SO3Band-All Modes LP

QTH: NFL

Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:

Band  QSOs  Mults

-------------------

    6:  518   181

    2:          

  222:          

  432:          

  902:          

  1.2:          

  2.3:          

  3.4:          

  5.7:          

  10G:          

  24G:          

-------------------

Total:  518   181  Total Score = 93,758

Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club

Comments:

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