CQ Worldwide VHF Contest 2007

CQ Worldwide VHF Contest 2007
category: ROVER
callsign: N2SLN / R

OPERATORS

    N2SLN -- 6m op
    AA2YG -- 2m op

ROVER VEHICLES

    The rover vehicles were our personal vehicles.

ANTENNA SYSTEM

The 6m antenna was a KB6KQ loop mounted on a fiberglass telescopic mast. The mast is anchored to a military style drive-on mount.
One idea was to take down the base station antenna--a pair of 6 meter Par loops--to use in the rover (like this) but I ran out of time as contest weekend approached.
The 2m antenna system was a pair of 4-element end-mount yagis stacked at 5/8 spacing. The 6m paths began to shorten late Saturday afternoon, but no E-skip ever developed on 2m.

RADIO EQUIPMENT

6m: Icom IC-706mk2G at 100 watts

2m: Icom IC-706 original at 10 watts into Mirage brick at 150 watts

DESCRIPTION

The CQ Worldwide VHF Contest is sponsored by CQ Magazine and occurs every year in July. It is less popular than the "big 3" ARRL contests in January, June, and September, so it's a good contest for trying new equipment, visiting with old ham friends, or trying new rover sites rather than focusing on a big score. This contest starts on a Saturday at 2 pm eastern time every year, and runs through 5 pm the next day (only 27 hours versus 33 hours for the big 3 ARRL VHF contests). It is a two-band contest (6m/2m only) and has many categories based on things like the number of bands you have available, how much time you want to spend operating, and how many operators you have.

Our goal for this contest was just to have fun. Jeff and I hadn't participated in a VHF contest since June 2006, so this was a good way for us to chat while operating weak signal VHF from some of our favorite hilltop locations. This was also a way for me to make up for missing out on most of last year's incredible CQ WW VHF contest. Thankfully, I ran into a great opening on 6m this year and worked through several pileups.

We began at 3200 feet above sea level in FN22 Saturday and spent the entire afternoon there in perfect wx. After 15 minutes of working local stations, we noticed some minor E-skip on 6m (first E-skip contact was WD5K EM12), but then it stopped and we wondered if that was all we'd get. So we slugged it out for another 45 minutes working some more locals. We heard someone at K1WHS at 2054Z calling "CQ DX" but they were not in the 6m DX window. Then the E-skip came back, and this time it was allowing contacts in 2 directions at once--toward eastern Canada (VO1MCE GN36) and toward Arkansas (WA5NFC EM45). We continued to enjoy a rare treat--we were able to work several more VO1 stations--before the band weakened again around 2230Z. As stations in both directions dropped out, we heard a skip signal (complete with QSB) on 50.130 FM at 2131Z. Then half an hour later the band opening came back to stay, starting with K4LY EM85 for whom we provided a new grid. It stayed open to the southeastern US and began simultaneously opening to the upper midwest. We knew the paths were beginning to shorten when we heard our first OH to NY signal at 5x9: N8XA EM89 (533 miles) at 2326Z. But paths would get shorter still, with WA8WV EM98 (465 miles / 748 km) at 2344Z and then later the shortest E-skip of the whole contest: WA8SDA EM99 (414 miles / 667 km) at 2359Z. Despite the extremely short skip and hearing several nearby grids for the first time, there still was no E-skip noticed on 2m (just like last year's CQ WW VHF). At this point in the contest, the skip dropped out to the southeastern US almost completely, and began to lengthen back out to the upper midwest for the rest of the evening. The second-to-last station we worked before tearing down the equipment was 2nd place rover WB8BZK/R EN62 for whom we provided a new grid, then 3 minutes later we worked AB9H in Chicago at 0100Z. The next day I activated FN12 by myself at an elevation of over 1980 feet above sea level [pic], but grabbed only 11 more contacts in 1 hour and 18 minutes. I did hear VO1MCE GN36 on the call frequency at 1744Z. He was the only E-skip signal that came through on both the first and second day of the contest.

While last year's contest featured the strongest double-hop E-skip I've ever seen in a contest, this year's featured the shortest single-hop E-skip I've ever seen in a contest. I picked up 12 new grids, many that I've never even heard before--mainly because they are inside the shortest distances normally supported by the E-layer and are too far/rare for ground wave. We worked only 25% of the available contest time. The best run of unique E-skip grids was 17 in a row. The best 6m QSO rate appears to be 27 QSOs in 24 minutes, or one QSO every 53 seconds--not bad for no beams and no amplifiers. The overall 6m QSO rate was one QSO every 4 minutes and 53 seconds for 6.75 hours of operating. We worked more than half of the VUCC award in one contest (56 unique grids) on 6m. We worked 24 states [map] and 2 Canadian provinces. After looking at the results from the 2006 attempt at this contest, this one gave better results despite the smaller band openings. This year's score is more than triple the 2006 score, thanks mostly to adding 2m to the effort this year as well as operating a larger chunk of the available time and not being distracted this time. May 6, 2008 update: N2SLN received a certificate in the mail for 7th place rover worldwide in this contest.

POINTS SUMMARY


Band    QSOs    QSO pts.    Mults.
-----------------------------------------------
 50      90        90        56
144      16        32         9
-----------------------------------------------
TOTALS  106       122        65
                             +2 grids activated
                             --
                             67


        --- Claimed score = 8,174 ---






LOG



START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CALLSIGN: N2SLN/R
CATEGORY: ROVER ALL HIGH 
CLAIMED-SCORE: 7930
CONTEST: CQ-VHF
CREATED-BY: WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo 1.08
NAME:
ADDRESS:
ADDRESS:
ADDRESS:
OPERATORS: N2SLN AA2YG
SOAPBOX: Saw some of the shortest E-skip of my life on six meters. Many NY-OH and NY-WV
SOAPBOX: contacts. My shortest path was 414 miles with WA8SDA in EM99 at 2359Z Saturday.
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 1924 N2SLN/R          FN22   N2VW             FN32   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1926 N2SLN/R          FN22   KA2LIM           FN12   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 1931 N2SLN/R          FN22   KA2LIM           FN12   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 1933 N2SLN/R          FN22   NQ2O             FN13   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1933 N2SLN/R          FN22   K1WHS            FN43   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1934 N2SLN/R          FN22   NQ2O             FN13   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 1935 N2SLN/R          FN22   K3ISH            FN21   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1939 N2SLN/R          FN22   N2KTO            FN21   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 1942 N2SLN/R          FN22   K3EAR            FM19   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1942 N2SLN/R          FN22   KA2ILJ           FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1944 N2SLN/R          FN22   K3MSB            FM19   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1945 N2SLN/R          FN22   K3EAR            FM19   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1946 N2SLN/R          FN22   WD5K             EM12   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1949 N2SLN/R          FN22   K5QE             EM31   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1953 N2SLN/R          FN22   N1WIE            FN32   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1955 N2SLN/R          FN22   KF6C             FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 1956 N2SLN/R          FN22   WN2WNC           FN22   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 2001 N2SLN/R          FN22   WN2WNC           FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2036 N2SLN/R          FN22   WA5NFC           EM45   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2037 N2SLN/R          FN22   VO1MCE           GN36   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2039 N2SLN/R          FN22   K3ISH            FN21   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 2040 N2SLN/R          FN22   K8GP             FM08   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 2040 N2SLN/R          FN22   W1AUV/R          FN32   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2051 N2SLN/R          FN22   NE1RD            FN42   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2056 N2SLN/R          FN22   WA8ZBT           EM12   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2103 N2SLN/R          FN22   K0CIY            EM25   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2119 N2SLN/R          FN22   VO1MUF           GN08   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2122 N2SLN/R          FN22   VO1KVT           GN29   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2126 N2SLN/R          FN22   VE1YX            FN74   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2210 N2SLN/R          FN22   K1TOL            FN44   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 2301 N2SLN/R          FN22   K1WHS            FN43   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2309 N2SLN/R          FN22   K4LY             EM85   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2312 N2SLN/R          FN22   KA1LMR           FN43   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2313 N2SLN/R          FN22   NN4RR            EM73   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2317 N2SLN/R          FN22   AF4HX            EM85   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2320 N2SLN/R          FN22   NG4DX            EM96   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2321 N2SLN/R          FN22   W4WA             EM84   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2322 N2SLN/R          FN22   W4GRW            EM96   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2324 N2SLN/R          FN22   K4FJW            EM86   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-21 2326 N2SLN/R          FN22   W3SO             FN00   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2328 N2SLN/R          FN22   K9CT             EN50   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2330 N2SLN/R          FN22   KG9N             EN50   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2333 N2SLN/R          FN22   K4WI             EM62   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2336 N2SLN/R          FN22   K1IIG            FN31   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2340 N2SLN/R          FN22   KE9I             EN61   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2341 N2SLN/R          FN22   N4WD             EM74   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2341 N2SLN/R          FN22   W9DOC            EM69   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2342 N2SLN/R          FN22   N4HID            EM66   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2343 N2SLN/R          FN22   KE4YZN           EM63   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2344 N2SLN/R          FN22   WA8WV            EM98   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2345 N2SLN/R          FN22   K2CVG            FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2347 N2SLN/R          FN22   K5OMC            EM44   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2348 N2SLN/R          FN22   W1QK             FN31   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2348 N2SLN/R          FN22   WB4YDL           EM56   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2350 N2SLN/R          FN22   K5PQ/4           EM78   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2352 N2SLN/R          FN22   KC0PUN           EN11   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2353 N2SLN/R          FN22   N9LAG            EM57   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2353 N2SLN/R          FN22   WB2KLD           FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2354 N2SLN/R          FN22   WS0E             EM37   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2354 N2SLN/R          FN22   KC8WDT           EM88   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2357 N2SLN/R          FN22   KC2NAS           FN23   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2357 N2SLN/R          FN22   K2RQA            FN32   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2358 N2SLN/R          FN22   K2DP/0           EM48   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2358 N2SLN/R          FN22   W8WEJ            EM99   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2359 N2SLN/R          FN22   WA8SDA           EM99   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-21 2359 N2SLN/R          FN22   N9DG             EN53   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0000 N2SLN/R          FN22   N0URW            EN41   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0000 N2SLN/R          FN22   AK4FL            EM64   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0003 N2SLN/R          FN22   W8UZ             EM79   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0004 N2SLN/R          FN22   KB8DDZ           EM79   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0004 N2SLN/R          FN22   WA9DU            EM69   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0012 N2SLN/R          FN22   W9SAN            EN71   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0013 N2SLN/R          FN22   W1BS             FN32   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0013 N2SLN/R          FN22   K9ZF/R           EM68   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0014 N2SLN/R          FN22   KB9UMI           EN70   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0016 N2SLN/R          FN22   KC8JPZ/R         EN80   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0016 N2SLN/R          FN22   K9AKS            EN41   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0018 N2SLN/R          FN22   KB9QCS           EN51   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0019 N2SLN/R          FN22   K9SSH            EN61   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0020 N2SLN/R          FN22   KC0TDJ           EN40   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0020 N2SLN/R          FN22   N3YVM            FN21   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0026 N2SLN/R          FN22   N9SS             EN50   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0028 N2SLN/R          FN22   KJ9C             EM69   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0032 N2SLN/R          FN22   N4MJ             EM56   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0032 N2SLN/R          FN22   N9YLZ            EN51   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0032 N2SLN/R          FN22   W9LX             EN51   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0033 N2SLN/R          FN22   K9RWT            EN51   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0033 N2SLN/R          FN22   N3RN             FN11   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0034 N2SLN/R          FN22   W4XTZ            EM55   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 0041 N2SLN/R          FN22   KB2NBY           FN22   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 0041 N2SLN/R          FN22   N2YDY            FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0047 N2SLN/R          FN22   N9AKR            EN61   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0048 N2SLN/R          FN22   K2DRH            EN41   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0057 N2SLN/R          FN22   WB8BZK/R         EN62   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 0100 N2SLN/R          FN22   AB9H             EN62   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 1621 N2SLN/R          FN12   W3SO             FN00   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1622 N2SLN/R          FN12   W3SO             FN00   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 1626 N2SLN/R          FN12   KF6C             FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1232 N2SLN/R          FN12   N9XG             EN60   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1634 N2SLN/R          FN12   KI9A             EM58   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1636 N2SLN/R          FN12   KC0TPP           EM48   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1637 N2SLN/R          FN12   W0FK             EM48   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1638 N2SLN/R          FN12   KF6C             FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2007-07-22 1640 N2SLN/R          FN12   KA2LIM           FN12   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 1641 N2SLN/R          FN12   KA2LIM           FN12   
QSO:   144 PH 2007-07-22 1739 N2SLN/R          FN12   KC2NTQ           FN12   
END-OF-LOG:

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