Need 2m ops for the ARRL VHF Contest!

Propogation is good on 2 meters for the ARRL VHF Contest, but we need more stations on the air! I just worked a guy who was in the parking lot at Ft. Fisher, NC. I've made contacts on 2 meters with 50 watts to: SC, all over NC, Va, Pa, & De. Most all had good signals, and everyone reported "slim pickins" on 2m SSB and CW due to the lack of participation. Lots of folks are on 6m SSB for the contest. C'mon hams, if you have a 2m SSB station, get it on the air for a while. The ops on that band need your contacts.

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

ARRL VHF Contest Needs Ops!!

The ARRL VHF Contest runs from June 8th @ 18:00z (2pm est) until June 10th @ 2:59z (11pm est) on all bands, 6m and up. I plan to be on 6m ssb, 2m ssb, 146.52 fm simplex, 223.5 fm simplex, and 446.0 fm simplex. The last few VHF contests I've worked have been pretty sad, between poor propagation and not nearly as many folks working the event as in previous years.



If you don't have SSB or a home station, get on from your mobile or HT on fm simplex and call CQ. Even if you're not really working the contest, others who are can surely use your contacts! If you have a home FM station, do the same, you'll be surprised what you might hear or work. The ham radio club I'm in, TEARA, did this back in 1994 and took first place in the Roanoke division working mostly FM simplex!! I'll be scanning 146.52 as primary, and then 146.43, 146.46, 146.49, 146.55, and 146.58 on 2m fm. I'll be listening to 223.50 simplex on 1.25m, and 446.0 on 70cm.

If you're able to work mobile, contesters love picking up those ROVER stations. You can do this easily from your mobile, and if you're going to be covering a large area, you'll be able to work people from multiple grid squares.

All of the info can be found on the ARRL website at this link: http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf

73 & I hope to hear you on the bands!
Dave WB4IUY FM05
www.WB4IUY.net

ARRL September VHF QSO Party, 9/10/11-9/12/11

Playing around on the ARRL VHF QSO Party this weekend, primarily on 2m & 6m SSB. It runs from 1800 UTC Saturday and ends 0300 UTC Monday (September 10-12, 2011). Not really making a serious effort, but it's neat to pick up a few new grids and help out with those that are making an effort to pack in a good score. Nice to see activity on 2m SSB! You can see more about it at: http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf-qso-party

It's about 11:30pm local time, Saturday night, and I'm still hearing a few signals on the band.

Updates:

- I just worked W8ZN on 144.195 & 50.220 at abt 11:02pm EST FM05 FM19
- Worked KO4YC on 50.220 & 144.230 , FM05 FM17
- Worked K3TUF on 50.150 & 144.210 FN10 <-> FM05 NC to PA on 2m at 11:50pm EST. Not bad for a dead band!
- Worked K4LY on 50.190 & 144.187 FM05 <-> EM85
- Worked KN4SM on 50.190 & 144.187 FM05 <-> FM16
- Worked W3SO on 144.2128 & 50.163 FM05 NC <-> FN00 PA, not bad!
- Worked W4IY on 50140.0 & 144.950 FM05 <-> FM08


Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

CQ WW VHF Contest - 7/16-17!

This weekend is the CQ WorldWide VHF contest. It runs from 18:00Z Saturday 7/16 through 21:00Z Sunday 7/17. The full rules for it can be found HERE . Dust off your 2m & 6m rigs and get on the air. You can work all modes, and even FM... The only prohibited FM frequency is 146.52, the USA National Simplex Frequency, but all other standard simplex frequencies are acceptable like 146.49, 146.55, and 146.58. The contest exchange is [Callsign & Grid Square], signal reports are not necessary. Hope to see you on the air!!

Dave Wb4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

BAD storm & June VHF Contest

Wow... while getting ready for the June VHF contest this weekend, we had one heck of an electrical storm tonight (Fri, June 10th). Multi-discharge lightning strikes all around us, some so close there was no delay between the flash of lightning, crack of the air, and the BOOM from the thunder. Thank goodness I had disconnected everything in the shack prior. The power was out for a while and we were running on our whole house generator.

It's now 1:30am June 11th. The storm has finally passed, leaving cooler temps and over 3" of rainfall behind. You can see my weather station online, along with the weather data archives from my location, at http://207.126.49.184/wb4iuy/radio/wb4iuy5b.htm .

Have all of my gear reconnected, all antennas tested, and ready for the contest! You can see the rules for the test at http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf-qso-party . Hope to see you on the air on 6m or 2m during the test!

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

September VHF QSO Party

Get your VHF/UHF gear up and on the air this weekend! The cotest begins 1800 UTC Saturday and ends 0300 UTC Monday (September 11-13, 2010). I'm operating on 6m SSB, 2m SSB, 223.5 FM simplex, and 446.0 FM simplex.

Not lots of activity in my area at the moment, but I've worked out about 3 grid squares away (around NC & VA), and heard a station up in FN21 in NY a few minutes ago.

Check out http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf-qso-party for more details, and I hope to see you on the bands!

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net