June VHF Contest, CN85

[Dave B.]

As one who has been in many Contests over the years, this past
weekend would be one that will go down in our contesting lore for some time.

I was not planning on putting in much time contesting this
weekend. My 2M rig was not working right, plus I -had- planned on
projects around the place.

I did decide to focus on just 6M for the Contest. OK, the first part
of the contest period was single hop stations in the West, primarily
CO, AZ with some from TX. UT and XE2 came in the early afternoon
along with CA. The band died out, so I decided to take care of some
afternoon chores. I was listening on the road and did hear K0DU come
in Q5 on the way home.

Later in the evening the band opened up again, this time into the 8's
& 9's followed by the 4's.

Early Sunday morning I worked VE6JW on MS ( a regular, year after
year on MS.) Mid-morning the band opened again to AZ & NM. Then it
stretched out to the East Coast. There was then a Northern tier
opening that made it to the NE US and Eastern VE. This went on for a
good hour and a half. This is very unusual to have such a long
duration opening to NE, especially mid-day. The path moved south
into the early afternoon before fading out again.

Late afternoon the band opened again double-hop into the 4's. Before
the band died again, NV and CA came in.

The activity level was so high on 6M, that the Propagation maps
looked like what I've seen from Europe! Although KL7 and KH6 were
not reported from the PNW that I am aware of, I believe between all
of the stations on in the Willamette Valley, all 48 continental
states were probably worked. I would not be surprised to see new
record scores from this past weekend.

I believe we had enough elevated solar wind to keep the geomagnetic
field stirred up this past weekend. I have observed that usually
helps E cloud formation.

I am sure the conditions on 6M this past weekend will be talked about
for some time in the future.

de Dave

Dave Bernhardt, N7DB
Boring, OR CN85uj

[Edward R. Cole]

Maximum 6m DX in the contest was 70-miles up here. I worked four 6m
stations! Score = 108
I've found that often the enhanced prop for the lower-48 often
results in a huge ionospheric attenuator over arctic regions.

In June 2010, I worked 14 stations in 9 grids on 6m: BP40, CN80,
CM87, CM95 CM98, DM06, DM07, DM08, DM09 (the 6m band actually had
QRM). Score = 135

73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com
EME: 50-1.1kw?, 144-1.4kw, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-?
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubu...@gmail.com
======================================

[Stephen Hanselman KC4SW]

_____ snipped a good bit__________

Greetings,

Like more than one person, I only worked about 6 stations on 6 meters.
Heard a lot but I think having the house between them and me hurt a bit.

The real question, not having done this before, is what prep stuff do I need
to do to my log to send it in

Thanks!

73, Steve KC4SW

[Gabor - VE7DXG]

You can use a web-based applet to manually type in your data:
http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/ and pick "2011 ARRL June VHF QSO Party".
You can leave the "Claimed Score" blank, it will calculate it for you.

I'd like to encourage everyone to send in a log even it's but a few QSOs.
Not only do you get to see your callsign in fine print on the ARRL website,
but it also demonstrates that we are active on the bands and contest
participation data is often used when arguing frequency/band allocations for
amateur radio.

Also, please remember everyone that we're not all in the PNWVHFS territory
for club competition.
See: http://www.pnwvhfs.org/territory.html
In the results I always see bunch of guys that should have left the "Club"
entry in their Cabrillo file blank.

73,
Gabor, VE7DXG

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[Jeremy Alexander]

W7EME/R contested North from Los Angeles, CA up I-5 to Tillamook, OR. I side tracked to CM99 to do portable eme with k1jt and ve5uf. At the CA OR boarder my voice was shot and I was done contesting. I operated all bands 144 thru 1296, no 6 meters.

My brother in law is the IT Admin for the Graham School district in WA and helped build me a voice logging App for iPad 2. I am currently trying to print the data.

It appears I have the following score for my /R station. The two eme contacts were not part of contesting and are not in my claimed score.

2M 566 QSO 49 grids
1.25M 28 QSO 7 grids
70cm 88 QSO 20 grids (had qrm issues on this band?)
33cm 34 QSO 8 grids
23cm 38 QSO 13 grids

This is comparable with my January results of 2008 traveling straight thru to Denver from Portland. My emphasis is always on 2m, as it is what I know how to do.

I had zero incident of trouble, other than 2400 miles in 4 days just wore me out. I noticed no tropo during mobile. I will note, I still believe the W-J miniceptor is by far the finest wideband (250kHz) DSP receiver I have played with so far and will be using it for some time. WA5ODO ulnas were utilized on every band. Tx was simply a FT-897d to switching and the QROs.

I may very well submit a log this year.

My contest car is still up at www.w7eme.org/2011.html but will be dismantled again this coming weekend.

Next stop is v31ja. Please watch MMMonVHF for operation if you need that region on 2m.

Jeremy w7eme
www.w7eme.org

[Edward R. Cole]

Steve,

The web-based applet (also called the robot) works very nice to make
your entry. I like to print off the Log From and Entry Form that one
would use for mail-entry to pencil in my log info and calculate my
score. It is similar to the format used by the "robot" and helps
having it easy to copy when making entries on the "robot". Be sure
to read carefully the instructions on how to fill out your on-line
entry. The entry is in two pages with summary info, class of entry,
and score entered first. When you click to enter this the page where
you enter your log opens next. Be sure not to delete anything on
this next page. Follow the format exactly for entering your
log. Use common band frequencies like 50, 144, 222, 432, instead of
entering actual freq. Even if you work some stations on FM ismplex
the band is 144 not 146-something. If you do not use the standard
band frequencies the "robot" will reject your entry (sent by e-mail).

The robot is really the easy way to make your entry.

PS: I had one of our AK VHF members enter PNWVHFS as club and of
course he is up here. If all Alaskans would indicate Alaska VHF
Up Group, it would show the extent of membership for ARRL. Of
course the organization will never win any awards.

73, Ed

[Tree]

Actually - the web based applet and the robot are two different things. 

 

The web based applet is a great way to convert a paper log into an electronic one (an ASCII file).  It will send that file to the robot - which also accepts the logs that come from logging software - and confirm your entry and store the file away for the log checkers. 

 

The file format that the robot accepts is called "Cabrillo" - which is the standard log format used for nearly all contests.  www.kkn.net/~trey/Cabrillo has the spec if you are interested.

 

73 Tree N6TR

[Mark Van Winkle]

Jeremy,  " WA5ODO ulnas were utilized on every band.”

 

I would like to know more about this.

 

Thanks,

Mark K7HPT

DN17

--

[Steve L. Sala K7AWB]

Dave

You are correct about the contest. I had more fun in this one than any
other VHF/UHF contest since I started in VHF in 2001. My DN17 score was
great compared to last year's; calling CQ mostly rather than S & P, holding
any frequency from the snipers, working the VP5CQ, working ten new EM
grids, and working Tim K3LR from Oklahoma were the highlights!

I learned a lot about the deficiencies in my station layout and changes are
forthcoming to be more efficient. Having two sets of earphones for two
radios is dumb; you get the wrong set on and cannot understand why your
contact is gone. Also, I learned that pointing to CN89 or JA puts my 6
meter beam right into the metal side of my barn.

I was surprised at the number of stations that were off frequency (from
mine) on 6 meters so I had to use the IC-756 Pro III RIT to clarify them.
One was 1.6KHz away. On 6, I had to keep one hand on the volume control as
I was working signals with no S-meter reading and the next one would be S9+
and blow my ears off.

73

Steve Sala
K7AWB
DN17es
Nine Mile Falls, WA
427 grids ARRL confirmed-6 meters

de Dave

--

[Jeremy Alexander]

--- On Tue, 6/14/11, Mark Van Winkle <markva...@comcast.net> wrote:

From: Mark Van Winkle <markva...@comcast.net> Subject: RE: [PNWVHFS] june vhf qso party To: pnw...@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 1:44 PM Jeremy,  " WA5ODO ulnas were utilized on every band.”

I would like to know more about this.

Thanks, Mark K7HPT DN17   ---- Mark,   I have posted his products to this list before. Resulting in several folks buying them....even one ham thinking he could some how improve them?   Please contact Pete directly at: pma...@gmail.com I am Cc: him, so he'll be aware you'll be writing. (Or Pete, maybe you can just tell Mark what you currently have available).   They are quite simply the best ULNA for the $ available, better than my DB6NT LNAs...   73 Jeremy /PNWVHFS

[Edward R. Cole]

OK, my apologize if I confused anyone.  The link shown by Gabor http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/ is used to directly send a log to ARRL.  As I understand, it makes a cabrillo file in the process.  So I guess the robot lives at ARRL?

73, Ed

[Tree]

The robot sort of lives at the ARRL.  It's actually an effort by a group of hams to provide a consistent tool for the ARRL, CQ and some other contest sponsors to use (including the Boring Amateur Radio Club).  It was created by Trey, N5KO, who some of you might remember did a rover operation with me last year in the June VHF contest. 

 

The link for the "Cabrillo Web Forms" is sponsored by yet another person, WA7BNM, not affiliated directly with CQ or the ARRL (or N5KO) who has developed some useful tools.  Bruce is also the web editor for the web pages of the National Contest Journal (NCJ) - which has sort of been taken over by the ARRL's publishing arm - but is still edited by volunteers. 

 

So - it seems that both of these tools have been created in true amateur spirit - by people who probably don't get thanked enough for their contribution - and pretty much are supported by personal funds of their own to keep the tools available.

 

I believe I even gave a presentation to the Kenai Club about this very topic last November (same talk many of you saw down in Tacoma).  I forget if you were there Ed. 

 

Tree N6TR

[WB6FFC]

Jeremy:

Pete's call is WA2ODO and not WA5ODO.

Maybe part of the confusion.

The guys makes some R E A L L Y low noise preamps!

Mike
WB6FFC

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[Jeremy Alexander]

Well it seems I have been informed of this about 10 times, so I'll just say it to all...I made an error.

I was filling out a fancy qsl to W5UN for the first ever 2m WAZ that I helped him finish, and had "5" on my mind. I simply errored.

So please pardon my error.

Interesting ... Pete just sent me a note and he had the kuth not to even bothering to correct me...just sayin'

Strange instant interest about what preamps I use is beyond me? Perhaps some just feel I needed to be corrected? So enough of the emails, thanks!

I stand corrected. No apology to you, Pete. I know you can handle it :)

Jeremy

--- On Tue, 6/14/11, WB6FFC <eaglep...@juno.com> wrote:

> From: WB6FFC <eaglep...@juno.com>
> Subject: Re: [PNWVHFS] pete's toys
> To: w7...@yahoo.com
> Cc: pnw...@googlegroups.com, markva...@comcast.net, pma...@gmail.com
> Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 4:48 PM
> Jeremy:
>
> Pete's call is WA2ODO and not WA5ODO.
>
> Maybe part of the confusion.
>
> The guys makes some R E A L L Y low noise preamps!
>
> Mike
> WB6FFC
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________

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