OPERATORS
N2SLN -- first solo rover trek under my callsign (was 144/222 op for AA2YG/R 2001-2004)
ROVER VEHICLE
No pictures were taken during this contest. The rover vehicle was my personal vehicle.
ANTENNA SYSTEM
No antennas were operational while mobile between grids.
6 meter KB6KQ horizontally polarized omnidirectional loop
and
6 meter PAR Electronics horizontally polarized omnidirectional loop
2 meter Cushcraft 124WB 4-el yagi
and
2 meter mobile whip for FM contacts
RADIO EQUIPMENT
6 meters:
Icom IC-706 original
100 watts out
2 meters:
Icom IC-706 original
7 watts in
Mirage B1016G amplifier
150 watts out
DESCRIPTION
The annual ARRL June VHF Contest starts 2 pm eastern time each year, and runs through 11 pm the
next day. This was my first rover expedition under my own callsign--I used to be the 144/222 op
for AA2YG/R from 2001-2004. Luckily, clear
weather was predicted for both days, but as luck would have it, unavoidable responsibilities
pulled me away from the contest, eventually leaving me with only 3 hrs 35 minutes of contesting
time for the entire weekend. I activated FN11 Saturday and FN22 Sunday, a combination I had never
done before. Saturday night was my first chance to get on the radio. I decided to try a new FN11
rover site which has a great shot to the south as its main attraction, although it's much lower
in elevation than most of the well-known FN11 operating sites. Still, I was rewarded with a high
activity level, no noise, and lots of privacy. These factors contributed to my best DX of 317
miles on 2m with N4HB in Richmond, VA (FM27).
This contest provided an interesting result: When I activated my second grid, I worked no new
grids despite the 400' increase in elevation. In fact, I worked three more unique grids from the
lower elevation the day before. The most likely explanation is the extra hour of operating from
the lower site, which should also explain why the lower site provided me with more QSO
points:
GRID | QSO POINTS |
FN11 | 32 |
FN22 | 18 |
Of particular interest in this contest was the performance of 144 MHz versus 50 MHz. In previous
contests with which I've been involved, 50 MHz almost always provides more unique grids, whether
or not there's a band opening. June 2003 is
one example. But not so this time. There were 13 on 144 MHz but only 10 on 50 MHz. Of course,
part of the reason can be attributed to the failure of my 6m loop in the last hour of operating
from FN11.
There was no Es on 6m nor tropo on 2m for this contest at my locations.
POINTS SUMMARY
Band QSOs QSO pts. Mults.
----------------------------------------------
50 22 22 10
144 29 29 13
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS 51 51 23
+2 grids activated
---
25
--- Claimed score = 1,275 ---
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the N2SLN rover team. |