October 2006 UHF Contest
I was half an hour late starting due to last minute changes to the phasing harness for the 23cm Yagis. Conditions on the Saturday were poor, with DL0GTH unworkable for example. Late on Saturday evening the lower bands opened towards the South with Spanish and French stations on 70cm and F2CT on 23cm from IN93. I went to bed thinking that Sunday might be quite good, so set the alarm for 0500z, which proved a good move, with more Southern French stations worked. The conditions then moved further to the East, so that stations in JN47/JN48 become very strong, then JO50, and finally JO60 at the end of the contest. Several new squares were worked, and just after the contest ended I contacted OK1DFC (OL4A) on 3.4GHz for the First G - OK QSO on that band.
70cm provided some nice DX such as EA2RL/P (IN83), F2CT (IN93), DF5GZ/P (JN47) and F2JR/P (JN03) late in the evening and early on Sunday. Later on Sunday morning the band opened to the East with good signals from DM7A (JO60). From mid morning the higher bands were very busy so I did not have time to explore 70cm further, and missed some stations in SE Germany and OK.Saturday on 23cm brought a few highlights such as DF9IC (JN48) and DK6AS (JO52), but conditions were flat. Sunday morning started out with DF5GZ/P (JN47) and continued with F2JR/P (JN03), F4CKV/P (JN16), DK9IP (JN48), DL0GTH (JO50), DM7A (JO60), OL4A (JO60), DH9NFM (JO50), OK4W (JO60) and DF0YY (JO62). DL0GTH was 59+ for very long periods, and both DM7A and OL4A were a real S9 on peaks. The Saturday evening on 13cm yielded DK6AS (JO52) as the only significant DX. On Sunday things changed, with F6KPL worked for a new square (IN99), and excellent signals from DL0GTH (JO50) and DM7A (JO60), who were so strong at times they could be heard off the side of the dish. DF9IC (JN48) and DL3IAS (JN49) were also good distances on the band.9cm failed to live up to the record number of QSOs made last year, but included DL0GTH and DM7A.On 6cm DM7A provided the best DX and a new square. Surprisingly DL0GTH was not worked, despite 2 or 3 attempts and working them on both 9 and 3cm.Receive performance seemed a bit down on 10GHz with sent reports a lot lower than those received. Nevertheless some excellent DX was worked, with DM7A, OK4W and DL0GTH the best.Results:
|
Band (MHz) |
QSOs |
Claimed Score |
Best DX |
Locator |
Distance (km) |
|
432 |
30 |
14524 |
EA2RL/P |
IN83FE |
1049 |
|
1296 |
61 |
24902 |
F2JR/P |
JN03CB |
1004 |
|
2320 |
34 |
10642 |
DM7A |
JO60LK |
837 |
|
3400 |
13 |
3907 |
DM7A |
JO60LK |
837 |
|
5760 |
15 |
4499 |
DM7A |
JO60LK |
837 |
|
10368 |
21 |
6961 |
DM7A |
JO60LK |
837 |
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