[Wswss] [VHF] N6ZE's Comments On The ARRL January 2009 VHF Sweepstakes Contest

[Steve Clifford]

Good job on the rove and good write up.  I grew up in that area, but that
was well before I started into amateur radio.  Its neat to read about so
many places I knew growing up being used as rover locations.

Keep it up and 73

Steve
K4GUN/R

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 3:00 PM, <n6ze at aol.com> wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: n6ze at aol.com
> To: PNWVHFS at googlegroups.com
> Sent: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 6:19 am
> Subject: [PNWVHFS] N6ZE's Comments On The ARRL January 2009 VHF Sweepstakes
> Contest
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> N6ZEb s Soapbox Comments on: The ARRL January 2009 VHF Sweepstakes Contest
>
> Pete, N6ZE, entered the January 2009 ARRL VHF Sweepstakes Contest as a Low
> Power Rover Class Entry. No, I did not set any scoring records, but I
> experienced a novel 2 day drive around Southern California. I only operated
> in
> 4 grids: DM-03, DM-04, DM-13 & DM-14, but I drove a total of 367 miles on
> Saturday and Sunday, January 17th and 18th. (As anyone b in the knowb
> realizes, the size of a Grid block is 1 degree of Latitude by 2 degrees of
> Longitude or about 60 x 60 nautical miles in the mid latitudes). As one of
> my
> friends stated, I drove 3.16 miles per QSO, or per each two way contact.
> Although I had some winter gear with me, I just wore a T-shirt & jeans on
> both
> days: There was not a cloud in the sky, temperatures ranged from 60 degrees
> at
> 6000 ft to mid 80s at the lower elevations. The warm conditions were due a
> strong high pressure area over NV and much of So Cal had hot Santa Ana
> winds
> up to 40 mph. Power line noise on 2 meters, in particular, sometimes made
> it
> impossible to hear=2 0a ll but the strongest stations. Because I did this
> Rove
> as a b solob , my travels dictated that I use just a 6 meter vertical & B a
> combo 2 meter/ 70cm whip antenna for all20but a few contacts. I never did
> get
> on 222MHz and only put up a shortened 2m yagi once. During the entire
> contest,
> I did not notice any tropospheric enhancement or Sporadic E and never heard
> some of the usual mountain toppers such as KQ6EE, KE6GFF, or KG6IYN.
> However
> during Sundayb s ride down the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu, Santa
> Monica, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach, I did notice lots of ladies
> summer
> clothing & bikini swimwear.
>
> On Saturday, I operated only from DM-04 & DM-14. I began in Glendale, and
> drove up to Mt. Wilson (5700 ft) to listen to the RFI from one of the
> greatest
> concentrations of TV RF power in the world! However the view across the Los
> Angeles basin was superb: I could even see out to some of the off-shore
> Channel Islands! I ended up operating from several miles away from the
> transmitters at several pullouts on CA Rte 2. I continued to the East on
> the
> Angeles Crest and made 17 contacts from grid DM14. My view was blocked to
> the
> North and also obscured in some other directions also. On Saturday, I
> worked a
> number of Rovers, most of who were primarily operating on the20Microwave
> bands. About 7PM, I arrived home: I was almost on time for supper. Day one
> netted 63 QSOs on 3 bands.
>
> B I did not get going again until 10 AM on Sunday. At various times, I
> completed QSOs with a few fellow members of the Ventura Co. Amateur Radio
> Society and the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club. B Of note, I had
> successful
> 6 meter contacts from the Pac
> ific Coast Highway in Malibu with Eddie, KQ6K, and Roy, KE6UMW, both of
> whom
> are located on the opposite side of the 2500+ ft Santa Monica Mountain
> Range
> from where I was operating at the time. Both Eddie & Carl have modest
> stations
> with small antennas. Sunday was a long driving day, some 207 miles of
> intensive driving along So Cal beaches, residential neighborhoods, oil
> refineries, busy Interstate highways, and of course, stops near the top of
> DM-03b s Palos Verdes Hills (~1200 ft) and DM-13b s Newport Signal Peak
> (1100ft). Newcomer to VHF contesting Tom, KI6GOA, gave me directions to
> Signal
> Peak where he camped out as a QRP entry for the VHF Sweepstakes. I had a
> great
> b eyeballb  QSO with Tom and his family. A friend who lives nearby also
> visited Signal Peak to witness some VHF operating. (He used to listen to my
> tales of 2 meter Meteor Scatter QSOs some 30 years ago when we were both in
> the=2 0military.) I ha d great views of the entire LA basin from both
> hilltops
> due to the continued hot off-shore airflow: great views but continued poor
> propagation! (Just remember: It was Summer in January!) Activity appeared
> light on Sunday in part due to something called football playoff games! I
> made
> 53 QSOs during my 10 hours b away from baseb  on day 2.
>
> Due to safety considerations, b in-motion contactsb  were not really a
> viable option for me. Even my short yagis for 2m, 135cm, & 70 cm proved to
> be
> a logistics nightmare. Lack of prior planning made a
> ny 135cm operation a non-priority. Next time, I will really try to have an
> additional operator share the b funb  of a Rove.
>
> My statistics are:
>
> 6 meters: 30 QSOs in 4 Grids
>
> 2 Meters: 62 QSOs in 5 grids
>
> 70 Cm: 24 QSOs in 3 grids
>
> Grids activated: 4
>
> Point total: 2240
>
> Rig: Yaesu FT-100D with B< wavelength whip for 6 meters, combo B<
> wavelength
> whip for 2 meters & 5/8 wavelength for 70 Cm. Most contacts were on SSB, a
> few
> on FM, and one QSO was with a station that transmitted with CW. B
>
> Bt73Pete, N6ZE/Rover
>
>
> B
>
>
>
> A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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