CQ Worldwide VHF Contest 2023

CQ Worldwide VHF Contest 2023
category: ROVER
callsign: N2SLN / R

ANTENNA SYSTEM

6m
Moxon rectangle
2m
6-el Directive Systems Rover Special yagi (now Directive Systems and Engineering DSE144-6RS)

RADIO EQUIPMENT

6m
driver side Icom IC-7000
TE Systems amplifier at 150w, built-in preamp
1500w lowpass filter

2m
passenger side Icom IC-7000
Advanced Receiver Research RF-sensed external preamp
Telewave bandpass/bandreject filter
TE Systems amplifier at 150w

DESCRIPTION

Saturday morning I drove to our proven FN20 site and discovered an event being held there. But rather than go with an alternate plan, I spotted an expanded parking area that I did not see last time. It was out of view of the activities and was located in unobstructed, level terrain so I used it. Despite lightning static almost the whole time, I did not see a single raindrop and heard no thunder. The Packrats and PVRC members always provide such great activity levels down here, and I enjoy taking advantage of that activity by traveling almost 3 hours to start contests within range of them. This weekend was no exception--I worked more than twice the contacts here compared to my second best grid activation.

After 2.5 hours I moved to southeastern FN11 to check out two new sites, a primary and a secondary. The primary ended up not having as much privacy as I had hoped. So I moved to the secondary site and discovered that the foliage was thick and close to the vehicle in every direction. Plus, the pothole seen in Google Street View was bigger than expected and the terrain wasn't as level as I thought. So I spent 45 minutes here on the loops and worked one local station on both bands and then began heading home early. Little did I know that I just finished working 60 percent of my total QSOs for the weekend at this point.

The next morning I made a 1-hour trip to my northwestern FN22 hilltop in hopes of finding some enhancement on 2m. There was none. I did manage to work my only 6m sporadic-E contact of the weekend from here, though, with a station in Florida who said conditions and participation were terrible in his area, too. There was more than one station who didn't know there was a contest or didn't know which bands to use. After only 11 contacts in 3 hours, I shut down and had lunch before traveling to the next grid.

Arriving in FN23, the horsefly/deerfly capital, I set up one last time for the weekend. No 6m band openings here. The Sunday afternoon doldrums provided a four-contact hour, a one-contact hour, and a two-contact hour. This activation was even worse than last year, and last year was bad. After only 7 contacts, I tore down the antennas half an hour before the end of the contest and left for home with the lowest score since 2006, and pulled into the driveway with 479 miles traveled. Six meters is acting like an HF band with regard to radio blackouts during all these solar flares as we get closer to the peak of Cycle 25. The same thing happened in June 2015 near the peak of Cycle 24. But it should have driven people to 2m in bigger numbers. Just as strangely, there were no CW contacts on either band which might be a first, or is certainly extremely rare. Here's hoping for a turnaround in 2024.

POINTS SUMMARY



FROM   BAND   QSOs   QSO PTS.   MULTS.
--------------------------------------
FN20   50      17      17         6
       144      8      16         5
FN11   50       1       1         1
       144      1       2         1
FN22   50       7       7         6
       144      4       8         4
FN23   50       3       3         3
       144      4       8         3
-------------------------------------
TOTALS         45      62        29


       claimed score: 1,798

LOG


CATEGORY-OPERATOR: ROVER
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: ALL
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: TWO
GRID-LOCATOR: 
CLAIMED-SCORE: 1798
NAME: 
ADDRESS: 
ADDRESS-CITY: 
ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: NY
ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: 
ADDRESS-COUNTRY: USA
OPERATORS: N2SLN
EMAIL: 
CREATED-BY: WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo 2.07
X-SOURCE: WW-VHF LOGCHECK 
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1804 N2SLN/R          FN20   N8II             FM19   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1806 N2SLN/R          FN20   K1RZ             FM19   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1807 N2SLN/R          FN20   K1RZ             FM19   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1820 N2SLN/R          FN20   KU2M             FN21   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1824 N2SLN/R          FN20   N2NT             FN20   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1826 N2SLN/R          FN20   N2NT             FN20   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1851 N2SLN/R          FN20   NS3L             FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1852 N2SLN/R          FN20   NS3L             FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1900 N2SLN/R          FN20   WA3SRU           FN20   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1901 N2SLN/R          FN20   WA3SRU           FN20   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1902 N2SLN/R          FN20   K0BAK/R          FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1903 N2SLN/R          FN20   K0BAK/R          FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1913 N2SLN/R          FN20   KB3EO            FN10   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1917 N2SLN/R          FN20   N3RN             FN11   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1919 N2SLN/R          FN20   N3RN             FN11   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1924 N2SLN/R          FN20   KR1ST            FN21   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 1925 N2SLN/R          FN20   KR1ST            FN21   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1929 N2SLN/R          FN20   KA3ZAT           FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1931 N2SLN/R          FN20   KA2ING           FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1936 N2SLN/R          FN20   KE3KQ            FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 1938 N2SLN/R          FN20   WC2K             FM29   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 2020 N2SLN/R          FN20   AA2SD/R          FM29   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 2022 N2SLN/R          FN20   AA2SD/R          FM29   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 2029 N2SLN/R          FN20   K3PP             FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 2031 N2SLN/R          FN20   K3VYJ            FN21   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-15 2200 N2SLN/R          FN11   N3RN             FN11   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-15 2202 N2SLN/R          FN11   N3RN             FN11   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1253 N2SLN/R          FN22   W3HHN            FN33   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1255 N2SLN/R          FN22   W3HHN            FN33   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1307 N2SLN/R          FN22   KA2FOP           FN23   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1359 N2SLN/R          FN22   KE2DN            FN12   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1401 N2SLN/R          FN22   KE2DN            FN12   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1459 N2SLN/R          FN22   N1NQD            FN13   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1502 N2SLN/R          FN22   N1NQD            FN13   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1527 N2SLN/R          FN22   N2NT             FN20   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1528 N2SLN/R          FN22   N2NT             FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1544 N2SLN/R          FN22   AA2SD/R          FN20   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1549 N2SLN/R          FN22   K1TO             EL87   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1801 N2SLN/R          FN23   N2NKX            FN22   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1802 N2SLN/R          FN23   N2NKX            FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 1850 N2SLN/R          FN23   WZ1V             FN31   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1851 N2SLN/R          FN23   WZ1V             FN31   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 1944 N2SLN/R          FN23   K2AHC            FN22   
QSO:    50 PH 2023-07-16 2006 N2SLN/R          FN23   N1JEZ            FN44   
QSO:   144 PH 2023-07-16 2007 N2SLN/R          FN23   N1JEZ            FN44
END-OF-LOG: