6M SPRING SPRINT 2011
 CATEGORY: SINGLE OPERATOR
 N2SLN    FN22dn







ANTENNA SYSTEM

    stacked Moxon rectangles for quicker setup time in the rain compared with the 3-over-3 yagi stack






RADIO EQUIPMENT

    Icom IC-7000 at 100 watts






DESCRIPTION

The 6 meter spring sprint was sponsored by the personal contributions of K9JK. The rules and more info were provided at the new spring sprints website. Every year this single-band contest runs from 2300Z on a Saturday until 0300Z Sunday, and this year it was held on May 14-15, 2011.

I got to the hilltop (1963 feet A.S.L.) half an hour before the start of the contest, got the drive-on mount out of the back seat and was maneuvering it into place when I heard another vehicle pull up. The driver got out and said he was also a ham radio operator (got his ticket the previous year). So we struck up a conversation about good hilltops worthy of visiting, as well as VHF propagation, contesting, etc. He said he wanted to see the sprint in action, so he delayed his departure until after I had worked the first few stations.

No sporadic-E developed during this sprint, but local activity levels were better than some years, even with my lower antenna gain. I even worked two stations in my own grid. It was a bit strange not working anyone in adjacent grid FN21 to my south. The tough conditions to the west were due to a front moving into the area and I could not get beyond adjacent grid FN12. I did end up operating the full 4 hours of the available contest time and the wx never got worse than a light rainfall, which was tolerable.


longest distances worked:
DIRECTIONSTATIONGRIDDISTANCE
northeastK1TOLFN44vg301 miles
eastKA1RFN42ne249 miles
southeastN2GHRFN30ku178 miles
southN3MKFM27hv323 miles
westK2AXXFN12cs107 miles



Here is a list of stations I copied but couldn't work: N3RG FM29, W1ZC FN42dr, W1QH, K3TUF FN10we, W1MEL, KB1GMX, and N3EMF/1 FN31. Notably missing were KA1ZE/3 FN01, K1WHS FN43, K1RZ FM19. The solar flux was 92, up from 72 in the 2009 event, and up from 67 in the 2008 event. Results are here.








POINTS SUMMARY 



BAND   QSOs   GRIDS   TOTAL      AVG DISTANCE
                      DIST (km)  PER QSO (km)
---------------------------------------------
 50     20     10     5,417.9    270.9







LOG 



MD UTC     CALLSIGN   GRID
------------------------------
PH 2316    K1IIG      FN31nl
PH 2319    WZ1V       FN31rh
PH 2340    N2GHR      FN30ku
PH 2348    K9RS       FN20jj
PH 2351    W3EP       FN31vp
PH 2354    KA3HED     FM29co
PH 0000    K1TOL      FN44vg
PH 0002    KA1R       FN42ne
PH 0015    K1TEO      FN31jh
PH 0028    KC1V       FN31sx
PH 0041    AE1P       FN32uv
PH 0052    K2AXX      FN12cs
PH 0052    N1JW       FN31rs
PH 0053    KA2LIM     FN12nf
PH 0102    KC2TEP     FN22ba
PH 0113    KB2KIR     FN22fl
PH 0119    W1RS       FN42gn
PH 0122    W1BS       FN32jk
PH 0207    N3MK       FM27hv
PH 0243    W9JJ       FN31to








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