Arriving at the FN23 site Saturday, I got the 6m antenna set up right away and checked 6m before doing anything else. I heard W5PR EL29 and KB0HH EM06 but couldn't get through the pileups. There was also occasional QRN which I surmised must be from the high voltage power lines running across the landscape a few hundred yards to the SE. Luckily it wasn't constant, because with loops, there's no way to null it out. I just had to try working stations during the quiet times. The e-skip dried up almost immediately, so I used that opportunity to go back outside and set up the 2m antenna system. The stack was performing noticeably better than the single yagi I used at this site a year ago. For instance, KD2AVU in NYC was surprisingly loud over a 200-mile path with his attic-mounted 4-el yagi (and would end up being a new grid and the only station I heard from FN30 for the whole contest). The best 2m DX of the contest would be worked from this spot: Delaware station K3CNH FM28 at 339 miles, although I did hear North Carolina station NG4C FM16 at 483.5 miles.
The plan for Sunday was to travel 1.5 hrs to eastern FN22, but after getting a late start (and in keeping
with the theme of casual roving), I decided to go the easy route and use the nearest hilltop instead, only 15 minutes away.
That would provide the largest amount of time on the air, and is a mostly-exposed hilltop which means no foliage attenuation
on 2m. So that fits the other theme of leaning more toward 2m performance for this contest anyway. After getting the top 6m
loop mounted, I connected the feedline directly to it and ran inside the vehicle to see if 6m was open. I did hear a weak
opening and worked a few E-skip stations before the band died again. I went back outside and installed the bottom loop and
reconfigured the feedlines, ran back inside and worked a couple more E-skip stations, and what a surpise...the band died
again. Such a similar story to the day before. I used this opportunity to go back outside and assemble the 2m antenna system.
First station on 2m was Maryland station W3DQT FM08, but the best 2m DX from this grid ended up being Virginia station N4HB
FM17 (326 miles). Calling CQ on 6m during the last few minutes of the contest allowed me to nab one final sporadic-E contact,
then 2100Z hit and the contest was done.
POINTS SUMMARY
From Band QSOs QSO pts. Mults. ---------------------------------------------- FN23 50 21 21 14 144 18 36 14 FN22 50 32 32 18 144 22 44 14 ---------------------------------------------- TOTALS 93 133 60 --- Claimed score = 7,980 ---LOG
START-OF-LOG: 2.0 LOCATION: WNY CALLSIGN: N2SLN/R CATEGORY: ROVER ALL HIGH CLAIMED-SCORE: 7980 CONTEST: CQ-VHF CREATED-BY: WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo 1.12 NAME: ADDRESS: ADDRESS: EMAIL: OPERATORS: SOAPBOX: QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1908 N2SLN/R FN23 N2JJ FN33 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1910 N2SLN/R FN23 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1911 N2SLN/R FN23 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1912 N2SLN/R FN23 NE2U FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1917 N2SLN/R FN23 WB2KLD FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1917 N2SLN/R FN23 WA2GSX FN13 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1918 N2SLN/R FN23 WB2KLD FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1919 N2SLN/R FN23 K2OAK FN32 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1920 N2SLN/R FN23 K2OAK FN32 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1922 N2SLN/R FN23 K2PLF FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1925 N2SLN/R FN23 N2YI FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1926 N2SLN/R FN23 KT1J FN34 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1929 N2SLN/R FN23 N1JEZ FN44 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1930 N2SLN/R FN23 N1JEZ FN44 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1943 N2SLN/R FN23 K1IED FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1950 N2SLN/R FN23 K3OO FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 1958 N2SLN/R FN23 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 1959 N2SLN/R FN23 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2006 N2SLN/R FN23 W2KV FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2009 N2SLN/R FN23 KD2AVU FN30 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2012 N2SLN/R FN23 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2013 N2SLN/R FN23 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2023 N2SLN/R FN23 W4RX FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2028 N2SLN/R FN23 K1DQV FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2105 N2SLN/R FN23 KA1ZE/3 FN01 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2113 N2SLN/R FN23 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2120 N2SLN/R FN23 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2122 N2SLN/R FN23 N1BCL FN34 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2127 N2SLN/R FN23 K3CNH FM28 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2135 N2SLN/R FN23 W1QK FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2138 N2SLN/R FN23 W1MR FN43 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2139 N2SLN/R FN23 W1MR FN43 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2140 N2SLN/R FN23 AF1T FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2142 N2SLN/R FN23 AF1T FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2153 N2SLN/R FN23 W3EP FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-21 2156 N2SLN/R FN23 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2157 N2SLN/R FN23 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2200 N2SLN/R FN23 K2ZJ FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-21 2224 N2SLN/R FN23 KO2OK FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1704 N2SLN/R FN22 K5QE EM31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1705 N2SLN/R FN22 K3CT FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1709 N2SLN/R FN22 N4BP EL96 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1724 N2SLN/R FN22 N4OX EM60 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1725 N2SLN/R FN22 W4RX FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1732 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TOL FN44 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1734 N2SLN/R FN22 WA2BAH FN32 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1738 N2SLN/R FN22 WN2E EM50 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1742 N2SLN/R FN22 K2OAK FN32 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1743 N2SLN/R FN22 WZ1V FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1747 N2SLN/R FN22 N5BLY EM50 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1813 N2SLN/R FN22 W3DQT FM08 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1814 N2SLN/R FN22 W3DQT FM08 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1818 N2SLN/R FN22 W4RX FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1819 N2SLN/R FN22 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1823 N2SLN/R FN22 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1842 N2SLN/R FN22 AF1T FN43 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1843 N2SLN/R FN22 AF1T FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1856 N2SLN/R FN22 W3UR FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1900 N2SLN/R FN22 N2JJ FN33 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1910 N2SLN/R FN22 W3EP FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1911 N2SLN/R FN22 KE2DN FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1912 N2SLN/R FN22 KE2DN FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1912 N2SLN/R FN22 K2ZD FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1918 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1919 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1924 N2SLN/R FN22 WA2FGK FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1925 N2SLN/R FN22 W2KV FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1926 N2SLN/R FN22 WA2FGK FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1928 N2SLN/R FN22 K1DQV FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1929 N2SLN/R FN22 K1DQV FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1932 N2SLN/R FN22 WB2RCP FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1935 N2SLN/R FN22 N4HB FM17 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1936 N2SLN/R FN22 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1937 N2SLN/R FN22 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1940 N2SLN/R FN22 WA2LTM FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1947 N2SLN/R FN22 K1IED FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1949 N2SLN/R FN22 N3MK FM27 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1952 N2SLN/R FN22 K2DAR FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1953 N2SLN/R FN22 K2DAR FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 1958 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 1959 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 2007 N2SLN/R FN22 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2008 N2SLN/R FN22 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2016 N2SLN/R FN22 WB2RVX FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 2017 N2SLN/R FN22 WB2RVX FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2020 N2SLN/R FN22 KA1ZE/3 FN01 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 2023 N2SLN/R FN22 W1AN FN41 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2024 N2SLN/R FN22 W1AN FN41 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2028 N2SLN/R FN22 N1HOQ FN41 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 2038 N2SLN/R FN22 W2MYA FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2047 N2SLN/R FN22 W2GPS FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2012-07-22 2054 N2SLN/R FN22 K2QO FN03 QSO: 50 PH 2012-07-22 2056 N2SLN/R FN22 KS4X EM75 END-OF-LOG:
N2SLN/R: A fringe rover in more ways than one. |