With the Solar Flux Index dropping significantly in the month of July from over 200 on July 4th weekend down to less than 90 on the day before the contest (and zero sunspots), a 6m opening wasn't looking very likely for contest weekend. However, the band was open to Venezuela on the day before the contest, and band conditions were producing backscatter signals from local stations. The band was open at the start of the contest when I was in FN23. I had stations coming in from two directions at once--the EL field and the midwest. It was good to have an antenna with an 80-degree beamwidth. But probably the most noteworthy contact was picking up all-time new grid FN45 thanks to VE2NGH multi-op. Two meters did not perform well here due to receiver desense about 90+ percent of the time from a nearby repeater. That pushed me to try FM simplex and I actually worked two stations there after years of no luck. That helped to recover the 2m QSO count a bit, and even provided a new grid.
Next was the FN13 activation. This was a site that did well for me in the 2m spring sprint earlier in the year with just a single yagi. Unfortunately the activity level dropped way down here and I made only 19 contacts in 3 hours...probably not worth the 2-hour drive to get there and 3 hours was probably too long a duration for this spot because I worked most of the contacts in the first two hours. Aside from being able to see fireworks shows in 3 directions at once from this location (fireworks scatter, anyone?), the highlight from this grid activation was working into FN25 on 2m. That makes the second grid activation in a row where I was finally working the stations to the north, something I always try but rarely accomplish. New equipment for this contest was a pair of electrically-matched phasing cables for the 2m antenna stack which now really seems to bring in the distant grids. They replaced the original cable pair which were never cut with any consideration for electrical length, just physical length. In addition a lower-drive 2m amplifier was installed in the rover van to help reach full output when the 50w transceiver is reaching only 25w. I believe that these two improvements helped the 2m performance noticeably.
Tom KC2SFU joined the operation on Sunday as the 2m operator. We are still suffering from station-to-station interference in the 2-transceiver configuration, even with a duplexer acting as a filter on both stations. So the next move will be to re-locate the 2m stack to a separate rotating mast which will move the 2m feedline away from the other bands. There was no 6m opening during the time we were here at FN22, and not surprisingly, the 2m numbers were really good. Toward the end of our 4-hour stay we still hadn't worked anyone in FN02 so we kept the antennas pointed that way for a long time. Instead of picking up FN02 we got FN03 and EN93 which are even tougher. We then did what was working so well the previous day, and pointed the antennas north. That was the tactical decision of the day, because we picked up new grid FN25 and worked a string of VE3s on both bands. We even worked backpack portable station VE3AAQ over a 208-mile path on both bands, a fun way to end a grueling 4-hour grid activation, and the third consecutive grid activation with stations available to the north.
We arrived in FN12 to discover that the inter-station hash was even worse. So we coordinated our efforts by calling CQ at the same time. I should have known bad luck was upon us; I spotted a black cat walking across the access road to this site after we had been operating a while. If that wasn't weird enough, a dog later came out of nowhere and put his paws on the passenger side window to get Tom's attention. In the second to last hour six meters opened weakly at this location, this time just to the EL field, and just as fast, 2m activity slowed to a crawl. We worked one single-hop station every 5 minutes for 45 minutes (I told you it was a weak opening). This final grid activation was the only one from which we didn't work stations to the north. The foliage attenuation to the north is an issue at this site, but the shot to the south and east almost make up for it (see below photo).
POINTS SUMMARY
From Band QSOs QSO pts. Mults.
----------------------------------------------
FN23 50 35 35 21
144 11 22 8
FN13 50 10 10 4
144 9 18 6
FN22 50 36 36 19
144 39 78 22
FN12 50 36 36 17
144 18 36 8
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS 194 271 105
--- Claimed score = 28,455 ---
LOG
QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1818 N2SLN/R FN23 N4WW EL98 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1819 N2SLN/R FN23 N4TWX EL89 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1825 N2SLN/R FN23 K4BAI EM72 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1836 N2SLN/R FN23 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1838 N2SLN/R FN23 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1844 N2SLN/R FN23 W4HFZ EM90 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1846 N2SLN/R FN23 K4VLF EM80 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1847 N2SLN/R FN23 WA2GSX FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1848 N2SLN/R FN23 K2ZD FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1853 N2SLN/R FN23 K2DRH EN41 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1856 N2SLN/R FN23 W2TZ FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1857 N2SLN/R FN23 NA2X FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1858 N2SLN/R FN23 KM2KM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1906 N2SLN/R FN23 N2YI FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1907 N2SLN/R FN23 W1BS FN32 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1908 N2SLN/R FN23 W1BS FN32 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1915 N2SLN/R FN23 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1917 N2SLN/R FN23 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1923 N2SLN/R FN23 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1924 N2SLN/R FN23 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1931 N2SLN/R FN23 KJ4E EL98 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1932 N2SLN/R FN23 KK4WBT EM92 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1933 N2SLN/R FN23 K8ZES FN02 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1934 N2SLN/R FN23 K8ZES FN02 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1936 N2SLN/R FN23 N0URW EN41 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1937 N2SLN/R FN23 K9AKS EN41 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1937 N2SLN/R FN23 W2MPK FN23 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1938 N2SLN/R FN23 K4RW EM92 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1943 N2SLN/R FN23 KT1J FN34 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1946 N2SLN/R FN23 N9FTC EL79 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1946 N2SLN/R FN23 K1GX FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1947 N2SLN/R FN23 K1GX FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1950 N2SLN/R FN23 WB2SIH/R FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1951 N2SLN/R FN23 WB2SIH/R FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 1957 N2SLN/R FN23 NZ1I FN41 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 1959 N2SLN/R FN23 NZ1I FN41 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 2000 N2SLN/R FN23 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2001 N2SLN/R FN23 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2005 N2SLN/R FN23 VE2NGH FN45 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2006 N2SLN/R FN23 N1JEZ FN44 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2011 N2SLN/R FN23 W3EP FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2013 N2SLN/R FN23 K1RO FN33 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2014 N2SLN/R FN23 N2JJ FN33 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2018 N2SLN/R FN23 K1IED FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 2054 N2SLN/R FN23 N2MGU FN13 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 2055 N2SLN/R FN23 KD2CWA FN23 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2339 N2SLN/R FN13 AG2M FN13 QSO: 144 CW 2014-07-19 2345 N2SLN/R FN13 VE3FN FN25 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-19 2352 N2SLN/R FN13 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-19 2353 N2SLN/R FN13 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0002 N2SLN/R FN13 W2UAD FN13 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0007 N2SLN/R FN13 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0008 N2SLN/R FN13 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 144 CW 2014-07-20 0016 N2SLN/R FN13 K2QO FN13 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0021 N2SLN/R FN13 KF2MR/R FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0024 N2SLN/R FN13 KF2MR/R FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0025 N2SLN/R FN13 W2TZ FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0030 N2SLN/R FN13 AF2K FN13 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0035 N2SLN/R FN13 WA2GSX FN13 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0042 N2SLN/R FN13 WB2SIH/R FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0043 N2SLN/R FN13 WB2SIH/R FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0053 N2SLN/R FN13 KB2WIG FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0054 N2SLN/R FN13 KB2WIG FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 0102 N2SLN/R FN13 KW2T/R FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 0123 N2SLN/R FN13 K1IED FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1204 N2SLN/R FN22 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1205 N2SLN/R FN22 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1207 N2SLN/R FN22 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1208 N2SLN/R FN22 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1209 N2SLN/R FN22 K2ZD FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1214 N2SLN/R FN22 W3HHN FN33 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1215 N2SLN/R FN22 W3HHN FN33 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1218 N2SLN/R FN22 KD2ERR FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1219 N2SLN/R FN22 WZ1V FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1219 N2SLN/R FN22 K1GX FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1219 N2SLN/R FN22 WZ1V FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1220 N2SLN/R FN22 K1GX FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1227 N2SLN/R FN22 N1JEZ FN44 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1227 N2SLN/R FN22 N1JEZ FN44 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1228 N2SLN/R FN22 W1GHZ FN34 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1229 N2SLN/R FN22 W1GHZ FN34 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1236 N2SLN/R FN22 W3ZGD FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1240 N2SLN/R FN22 W3ZGD FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1241 N2SLN/R FN22 N2SLO FN30 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1247 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1248 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1250 N2SLN/R FN22 K2UNK FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1257 N2SLN/R FN22 W4RX FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1258 N2SLN/R FN22 W4RX FM19 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1259 N2SLN/R FN22 W3ERH FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1300 N2SLN/R FN22 W3ERH FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1309 N2SLN/R FN22 N3IQ FM09 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1310 N2SLN/R FN22 N3IQ FM09 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1314 N2SLN/R FN22 K3MEC FM09 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1314 N2SLN/R FN22 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1315 N2SLN/R FN22 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1316 N2SLN/R FN22 N1IBM FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1317 N2SLN/R FN22 N1IBM FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1318 N2SLN/R FN22 KF3DT FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1319 N2SLN/R FN22 K3UL FN11 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1320 N2SLN/R FN22 KF3DT FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1324 N2SLN/R FN22 WA4GPM FN11 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1325 N2SLN/R FN22 WA4GPM FN11 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1326 N2SLN/R FN22 K3JLM FN11 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1328 N2SLN/R FN22 K1IED FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1335 N2SLN/R FN22 K1PXE FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1338 N2SLN/R FN22 WA1Z FN42 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1340 N2SLN/R FN22 WA1Z FN42 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1349 N2SLN/R FN22 KD2DKR FN32 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1350 N2SLN/R FN22 KD2DKR FN32 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1402 N2SLN/R FN22 KC2YME FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1403 N2SLN/R FN22 VA3NRN FN25 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1405 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1405 N2SLN/R FN22 VA3NRN FN25 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1406 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1411 N2SLN/R FN22 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1412 N2SLN/R FN22 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1452 N2SLN/R FN22 W1MR FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1453 N2SLN/R FN22 W1MR FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1500 N2SLN/R FN22 W3EP FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1501 N2SLN/R FN22 W3EP FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1506 N2SLN/R FN22 N3MWQ FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1510 N2SLN/R FN22 WA3LBI FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1513 N2SLN/R FN22 K2SJB FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1515 N2SLN/R FN22 WS9M/2 FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1519 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3EU EN93 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1522 N2SLN/R FN22 AC2KP FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1522 N2SLN/R FN22 AC2KP FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1524 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3JVG FN03 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1530 N2SLN/R FN22 W3MEL FN10 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1531 N2SLN/R FN22 KW2T/R FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1533 N2SLN/R FN22 W3MEL FN10 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1541 N2SLN/R FN22 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1542 N2SLN/R FN22 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1553 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3AAQ FN25 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1555 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3AAQ FN25 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1556 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3OJN FN25 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1557 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3OJN FN25 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1559 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3FN FN25 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1600 N2SLN/R FN22 VE3FN FN25 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1719 N2SLN/R FN12 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1719 N2SLN/R FN12 K2LIM FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1721 N2SLN/R FN12 KC2VLG FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1722 N2SLN/R FN12 KC2VLG FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1737 N2SLN/R FN12 K1IED FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1740 N2SLN/R FN12 KE2DN FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1742 N2SLN/R FN12 KE2DN FN12 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1743 N2SLN/R FN12 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1745 N2SLN/R FN12 W2CCC FN23 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1751 N2SLN/R FN12 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1752 N2SLN/R FN12 K1TEO FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1757 N2SLN/R FN12 WA3SRU FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1759 N2SLN/R FN12 WA3SRU FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1801 N2SLN/R FN12 K2ZD FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1804 N2SLN/R FN12 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1816 N2SLN/R FN12 W3SO FN00 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1819 N2SLN/R FN12 WA2FGK FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1819 N2SLN/R FN12 W3SO FN00 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1821 N2SLN/R FN12 WA2FGK FN21 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1825 N2SLN/R FN12 K3ISH FN21 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1827 N2SLN/R FN12 N1IBM FM29 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1830 N2SLN/R FN12 K1PXE FN31 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1831 N2SLN/R FN12 N1IBM FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1853 N2SLN/R FN12 KO2OK FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1911 N2SLN/R FN12 KW2T/R FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1923 N2SLN/R FN12 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1924 N2SLN/R FN12 N2DCH FN22 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1938 N2SLN/R FN12 W1MR FN43 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1944 N2SLN/R FN12 W1CTN FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1945 N2SLN/R FN12 K4MF EL98 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1945 N2SLN/R FN12 W1VD FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1949 N2SLN/R FN12 KC2CQS FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1952 N2SLN/R FN12 KC2CQS FN22 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 1954 N2SLN/R FN12 W2KV FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1955 N2SLN/R FN12 W2KV FN20 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1956 N2SLN/R FN12 K4JWE EL86 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 1958 N2SLN/R FN12 W4JS EL87 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 2000 N2SLN/R FN12 N3RG FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2002 N2SLN/R FN12 N3RG FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2008 N2SLN/R FN12 W0PV EL87 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2012 N2SLN/R FN12 KJ4AMH EL99 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2013 N2SLN/R FN12 N3SCR FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2013 N2SLN/R FN12 W1LVL EL99 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2014 N2SLN/R FN12 W3HH EL89 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2016 N2SLN/R FN12 N3MX FN20 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 2025 N2SLN/R FN12 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2026 N2SLN/R FN12 W2PKY EL88 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2028 N2SLN/R FN12 KA3HED FM29 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2031 N2SLN/R FN12 N4WW EL98 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2034 N2SLN/R FN12 K2PLF FM19 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2035 N2SLN/R FN12 K5JPB/2 FN12 QSO: 144 PH 2014-07-20 2039 N2SLN/R FN12 N2GKM FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2040 N2SLN/R FN12 N2GKM FN31 QSO: 50 PH 2014-07-20 2044 N2SLN/R FN12 W3HHN FN33
| N2SLN/R: A fringe rover in more ways than one. |