The ARRL January VHF contest is always a challenge when operating from MT Cheaha State Park, the
highest point in Alabama. The weather is usually cold with freezing rain and ice. I always operate
SingleOp-Portable-QRP. My antennas are mounted on a bike carrier and I point the Jeep in the
direction needed.

Ha ha!  Stumbled on the VHF contest by pure chance.  Was actually
trying to out a new portable antenna tripod that arrived and was
testing a 6-meter whip on it to see if I could get it tuned well.
Realized this would work well for the next VHF contest and
decided to look up when that was.  The VHF contest was already in
progress with 4 hrs left!!!

I built a 6m Cubical Quad on Thursday, and participated in the VHF contest over the weekend. First
time on 6m digital this week, and it was fun.

Conditions were generally dismal.  The Microwaves accounted for more than half of my score.

Slow and lightly attended contest. Combination of multiple fires burining in Southern California and
a significant lack of rovers in and around the area due to fires in and near areas where they would
typically be. Little to no prop on 6 so that didn't help any of the multipliers. Thanks to all of
the locals in and around San Diego that were on and thanks to the locals that popped in to help with
points.

Great contest with 10 club members participating.  Lots of QSO's on FM but 6m was not open for us. 
As always learned a great deal and worked with a good friends

I incorporated two new mini-PCs into the shack just before the contest and could not get them
working with N1MM+ and WSJT-X.  I had to run two standalone instances of WSJT-X and import their
logs into N1MM+ after the contest.  I kept an ear on 50.125 SSB with the K3s second VFO and snagged
a couple of contacts there.  I was pleased to work Mexico and Cuba on 6m FT8.  A few FM QSOs were
made with a new TYT TH9800D and GP-15 triband vertical.  Meteor scatter early Sunday morning was
disappointing with only one QSO made.  CQing on FT8 was productive.  As usual there were plenty of
6m FT8 15 second "one and done" receptions. Low power in January is a tough slog, but I had a lot of
fun.
6m: K3s with stacked HB loops
2m/70cm: IC9700 with 9el LFA/21el M2 Yagi (on push-up pole)
FM: TYT TH9800D with GP-15 triband vertical

 Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Grd  Pt/Q
    50  FT8     39      39   23   1.0
    50  USB      2       2    1   1.0
   144  FM       5       5    0   1.0
   144  FT8     43      43   29   1.0
   144  MSK1     1       1    1   1.0
   144  Q65      1       1    1   1.0
   144  USB      3       3    1   1.0
   420  FT8      8      16    8   2.0
   420  USB      1       2    1   2.0
 Total  Both   103     112   65   1.1
Score: 7,280
1 Mult = 1.6 Q's

Operated from High Knob, near Norton, VA in EM86 Saturday, was unable to get to summit as last part
of road had not been cleared of snow yet. Set up at a lower point, still had good results from the
4000+ foot elevation!  Sunday set up in EM87 at Stone Crest near Prestonsburg, KY at only 1400 feet
and did almost as good. Ft-8 was king, but miss the old days making ssb and CW contacts. Looking
forward to June! 73 all

DM12: on 446.000MHz from UCSD Campus, La Jolla
DM14: on 146.520MHz from Snow Summit, Big Bear

My 9-band QRP rover made 6 to 9 contacts with 9 scheduled stations out of a planned 14, shortened
mostly due to hazardous snow forecast at home on Sunday afternoon.

This was my second year on Dave Robbins' K1TTTT superstation for
this contest, THANKS DAVE!
boom, Sony headphones) since last year and spent a fair amount of
time trying to get remote audio to sound decent.  With Dave's
help it was usable, but not great (overdriven/clipping) so I
pretty much ignored the SSB segment after several reports of bad
audio.  The good news is that I did best my last year's score by
35% racking up 12,900 (raw) points.  With the exception of phone
contacts there were increases across the board; 38 more total Qs
and 5 more grids.  No big openings were seen but several Midwest
stations were heard on 6m.  Some 6m contact highlights were K9US
(EM68), N8DX (EM79), KE8RV (EM89) and W8TOM (EN74).  Several
others were heard but not worked.
mostly because I forgot that the beam width of those high gain
antennas is rather narrow.  Few stations were heard but I was
able to work most of them.
that I heard but was unable to work.  Despite a superior antenna
system running LP on VHF is a recipe for frustration.
all for the Qs!  See you in June!
A50-5S @ 150ft

Used an indoor fan dipole in my second floor storage area.

Had lots of fun. First time operating this contest.  2M was 10 el beam from cemetery parking lot
(killer signal).  6M was on 80 M dipole,

Another typical January VFHF contest with poor to no propagation and plagued by Murphy's
participation.  Fortunately Murphy's participation was only minor and I was able to work all of the
contest without any extensive time or equipment loss.   Although I predominately used digital modes,
I looked frequently for CW and SSB contacts.   I was disappointed in the lack of analog mode
operators across the bands.

I did not use the new QSY memo function of WSJT-X, but I did receive several popup QSY messages.  
Without a sender callsign theses are useless.  How am I supposed to know where to point my antennas 
 This function needs some work.

Too cold and windy for roving!

Rovers saved my day with 36 QSOs out of my 98 total. Very cold and a bit windy, but made it happen.
Thanks everyone for pulling out my puny 10 watt signal. You can find the full story at this link
https://k5nd.net/2025/01/january-vhf-single-op-portable-freezing-temps-cold-cruel-propagation/

Overall, participation and conditions were poor. 
Many thanks to rovers KA5D/R and W5TN/R .
No local activity to work on 2304 thru 10GHz.
K5TRA

Had a few minutes on Saturday to hand out CN85 to a couple of fellow CN85ers.  Still haven't put up
my 6m, 2m, or 440 beams since moving here in July--that's coming this summer when my tower goes up. 
See you in June and September!

First VHF contest and first using FT8

6m was really bad this time around on the west coast.

Well, another January contest in the Pacific Northwest. Very poor band conditions compunded by
operator error.  But, every year I am back!

Terrible cold operating conditions.
Outdoor truck thermometer showing
MINUS 7 deg F. WX service says
Minus 35 wind chills (Extreme Cold).
Just put the 6 M dipole five feet
above the truck bed and left Yagi
antennas in travel configuration.
Then aimed the whole truck at 32 deg
azimuth to work W0GHZ in EN34lx at
about twenty miles. Worked on five
bands. Best we can do in cold WX.

not hardly any activity. maybe it's time to do something about this problem. 73 Matt ka0pqw

My first time submitting via this mechanism!

Pretty sad with all the hot shots running big amps and cant hear
anything

My fourth January VHF QSO party entry. No Es but did catch one TEM station in SA. We are living in
Florida for the winter months.

Terrible cold operating conditions.
Outdoor truck thermometer showing
MINUS 7 deg F. WX service says
Minus 35 wind chills (Extreme Cold).
What a thrill to get R R on CW on
222 MHz from K0AWU at 230 miles
with only 30 watts.
Big surprize on the attempt on 2304
from EN35ja to W0GHZ in EN34lx, only
eight miles and Gary could not hear
hear my 20 watts. Changed aiming from
initial 60 deg azimuth to about 98 deg
and signals came up to S7. I was
setup at W0UC home QTH and nearby
houses were blocking the horizon !

Journey to Block Island again this year, beat last years personal record again each time is a
learning experience, Added 222 SSb and CW instead of just FM from last year. 222 I felt was the best
band for signals being loud. Conditions where less than optimal and no sporadic E we had marginal
Tropo saturdxay night but it went no where just hung over the island and the ocean. Conditions where
slow but it was somewhat steady. No matter the conditions its always fun!

JAN ARRL VHF/UHF CONTEST

Removed Duplicates:
144   PH  2025-01-19  0127  KC2SGV      FM29  AA2SD/R     FM29
144   PH  2025-01-19  1302  KC2SGV      FM29  WZ1V        FN31
50    PH  2025-01-19  1414  KC2SGV      FM29  AA2SD/R     FM29
144   PH  2025-01-19  1415  KC2SGV      FM29  AA2SD/R     FM29
50    PH  2025-01-20  0145  KC2SGV      FM29  KC3BVL      FM29

I  COULD ONLY OPERATE ON SATURDAY, HAD FAMLILY PLANS FOR SUNDAY.

Had a lot of help from the winter storm this year

KD6EFQ/R activated two grids from several elevated sites in DM12 and DM13
VHF seemed to have poor propagation in southern California inland areas.
only a few stations at elevation and could make QSOs with stations in SDG.
Many stations in SDG section were not able to make contacts with stations in other sections.

GOOD COVERAGE OF EASTERN USA, NOTHING NEEDED, BUT NICE TO SEE THE ACTIVITY.

I am a relatively new ham who has been getting on the different VHF
bands.

I had a decent rove this year despite a computer challenge that alluded me for the first few hours
of the contest. Also, a winter storm was threatening my planned route. My home is on Virginia's
peninsula. I usually rove onto the eastern shore, which requires two toll bridge crossings. I also
rove as far east as I-81. Traveling to I-81 requires driving over Rockfish Gap, a 1900-ft pass over
Afton Mountain that's known for crashes in inclement weather. Weather closures of either the toll
bridges or Rockfish Gap could have left me stranded outside of my home region. So, I planned routes
that preserved my escape route back to home and updated them along with the evolving weather
forecast. My planned operation at Rockfish Gap was canceled due to heavy icing and road closures. I
was glad to discover that during the day instead during my planned return in darkness. A few of my
other planned spots turned out to be duds due to either being in a low elevation bowl or having
severe RFI. 

In the end, I made 107 contacts on four bands from seven different grid squares: FM07, FM08, FM09,
FM16, FM17, FM18, and FM19. Forty-two of those contacts were on 6m FT8. My environment provided some
challenges to making more contacts, but the shortcoming was ultimately my own. I still need to focus
more on operating while parked instead of driving to more grids, calling CQ instead of searching for
activity, and I definitely need to find a better workflow for logging. My logger (not tossing stones
here) uses roll-down menus to change the bands and a pop-up menu for changing grids. Both are
cumbersome, especially if I'm running the bands with an experienced operator. I haven't explored a
rig interface since I use four different radios during a contest. I think it's time to do some
consolidating for the sake of streamlining my operation. Even if I interface just one rig that's
been strategically programmed, I could swiftly change bands in the logging program by simply
rotating a knob on the interfaced radio, even if I don't use that radio to work the band in
question. It's an idea that needs exploring. 

I've said in the past that I'd consider a 222 MHz transverter when I have more people asking, "Do
you have 222?" Well, I'm there! I have a new 222 MHz FM rig; I kind of hate it! I'm definitely going
to get a DEMI 222 MHz transverter and appropriate Yagi before June! I'll run the transverter with my
FT-857D, which will allow me to use all modes on 1.25m. It would also eliminate one speaker and one
microphone.

Speaking of consolidation, I frequently found myself with four microphones sitting in my lap during
a busy session. The external speakers are all below the dash near my knees. That arrangement works
fine when I'm using just one radio during a repeater net, a casual QSO, or even when working a
pile-up on HF. But the cabin gets quite confusing if there's activity on more than one radio at
once, especially with weak signals that do not provide an indication on the radio. I don't know
which microphone to grab, especially if it's dark! HAHA! I may relocate my speakers to provide
acoustic separation between the signals. These are some of the challenges with working in a rover
setting, especially in a little clown car like mine! I have some ideas to try in June. Feel free to
share any ideas that you might have.

73,

Scott, KE4WMF/R

Operated from FM29jw

1 Contact(s) * 1 (Point per Contact) * 1 (Unique Grid Squares) = 1 Point(s).

Thank you for the 2025 ARRL January VHF Contest Contest.

h

6M was not very hot at all

Did not operate on Saturday at all. Conditions on Sunday were pretty poor for me.  Only occasionally
heard any Es on 6m and each station I heard was gone in just 30 seconds usually.

Accidental rover! I found myself being reminded of an elevated site close to home by Mr. N6GP and I
left to try it out. I went from DM03 to DM04. I will say that Hilltop Park has the better view. ;)
And I'll probably operate from there unless I find a site with a better view.

Nice weather in San Diego even though Los Angeles is still on fire.

Great activity and lots of fun

Casual operating just for fun.

A couple of non radio activities competed for my time this
weekend, but I think I still managed to put in a fair showing.
Unlike last year, no big Es openings, just a few
too-brief-for-a-qso appearances by some CA/AZ stations.  Thanks
for all the QSOs!

Terrible cold operating conditions.
Outdoor truck thermometer showing
MINUS 7 deg F. WX service says
Minus 35 wind chills (Extreme Cold).
Had to keep stuffing towels and
shirts in openings around Coax
coming in the windows to keep the
Cold Wind from blowing in the truck.

The single operator QRP Portable is my favorite category to enter.
January can be daunting, some years have relatively benign weather and some not. 
But this year it was almost too much. I was out for about an hour
Saturday at the start of the contest single op QRP portable. Temp was 18 degrees and wind gusts over
25 mph. It was wicked and really cold.  RF got into the laptop as had the yagi mast right by the car
due to high wind. This disabled
the laptop USB mouse, so I had to unplug it and plug it back in between
FT8 transmissions.  The high winds shook the yagi, and had an intermittent
loose part. The SWR would pop up every so often.

I worked XE2YWH!  I copied him calling CQ right at the start of the
contest, and saw him work KF0M, KC0Y, N0LD, AA0MZ, AB0S and others.
XE2YWH was quite strong at times. Only "DX" I logged. Other contacts were with 
local area stations with the exception of W5TRL on msk144.. John, KF0M and Larry, N0LL had good
signals on tropo for January.

I may be getting too old for this. Years ago, I saw the cold
weather as a challenge and part of the single op portable category. Saturday and
Sunday this year were really miserable. Next year may "tap out" of the January VHF Contest portable
category. But will see next year depending on the weather.

Hope all of you did well and thank you for the contacts.  Jon N0JK

The WSJT.all file of my QRP 6 Meter contact with XE2YWH.


250118_190445    50.313 Tx FT8      0  0.0 1900 XE2YWH N0JK EM28
250118_190500    50.313 Rx FT8     25  1.0 1714 AB0S XE2YWH R DL92
250118_190500    50.313 Rx FT8    -12  0.9 1422 K0HCV WA0CBW RRR
250118_190515    50.313 Tx FT8      0  0.0 1900 XE2YWH N0JK EM28
250118_190530    50.313 Rx FT8      6  0.9 1714 N0JK XE2YWH R DL92
250118_190545    50.313 Tx FT8      0  0.0 1900 XE2YWH N0JK RR73

Conditions were poor.  Very cold!

Just one contact to learn the submission process. :)

June is coming- not a total loss.

Slow start... bad location. But 902/1296/2304 new bands worked better than expected. Try again in
June... thanks N2JQR Jeff

I like to combine the VHF contests with Parks on the Air (POTA) and
Summits on the Air (SOTA). This time, I operated QRP from the Erie
Canalway National Heritage Corridor (POTA park US-6532) in Henrietta,
NY (FN13). I was only able to go out for day, and needed to be out of
the park before sunset, but I made the most of it. I was able to
operate on 6 bands, 6m-23cm, using the Icom IC-705 and several HTs,
including the Yaesu FT-4XR, BTECH UV-5x3, and multiple Alincos:
DJ-296, DJ-G29, and DJ-G7. My horizontal antennas included a simple
speaker wire dipole for 6m, and the Elk log periodic antennas for
2m/70cm and 1.25m. I also had 14-element Yagi antennas for 23cm and
33cm. Vertical antennas included roll-up J-poles for 2m/70cm and
1.25m, as well as a 1/4-wave vertical for 6m on a mag mount. The
antennas were deployed on 2 masts and a speaker stand, which let me
operate from within the car most of the time, especially since it was
a very cold winter day in the low 20's F. The Yagis for 23cm and 33cm
were handheld and did require me to go out side from time to time. I
did bring a computer for FT8 but never did get a chance to try, as I
was plenty busy with analog voice modes. I had a lot of fun and it was
a good learning experience, as some things didn't go as planned with
my setup and I had to make a few field repairs on antennas and
supports. But the highlight was definitely working 3 other POTA
enthusiasts who decided to go out and activate parks on 6m and above
to take advantage of the activity from the contest. In fact, 2 of them
even showed up at the same park just before I was getting ready to
wrap up. I am already looking forward to the next contest and thinking
about what I might do different. 73, N2MAK

PS - Here's a link to the video I made about my POTA during the January 2025 VHF Contest
https://youtu.be/uuZaB10Zpwk

Again as always I had big dreams, but life got in the way.  I got out to the Alpine Lookout in NJ
(FN30AX) about 3:30 and wasn't setup until 4. Not only did I get there late but a big snowstorm was
in the forecast as well, but at 4 everything was fine with light snowflakes.  My regular location,
State Line Lookout, was closed on account of the impending snow storm.  POTA regular KE2NJ was
already setup at Alpine Lookout with a high power setup while I ran QRP.  What fun operating was,
even if I didn't manage to get a 2 way QSO on 5.7G with K1TEO.  I ran the IC-905 and IC-705 and a
bunch of antennas.  Didn't have enough time to setup 902Mhz in the cold. Tried to setup my new dual
band diamond beam only to find out it only had mounting holes for vertical polarization??? As time
progressed the weather got increasingly cold and sinister and we soon both realized it was time to
go. The drive home was very hairy in the snowstorm but we both made it back without incident. Not
only was I cold and wet, but and all my gear was cold and wet as well but everything worked and I
had a great time! - 73, Tom, N2YTF/P

Went analog only this year, enjoyed catching up with my ham friends. Charles KS3Z was the 6 meter
operator and did a great job.

Brian N3EXA

Running with what works this year... still recovering from flu
virus

I went downstairs to the shack before the Sunday afternoon NFL
Playoff games to do my paperwork for the NAQP. Even though I have
virtually no equipment for VHF, before I got started, I decided
to see if there were any signals on 6 meters in the VHF Contest.
There were a few so I decided to try to work them. I worked a few
local PVRC friends to get a very few points for the club.
However, the playoffs were still calling, so I was done. I am
almost embarrassed to submit this puny score, but it happened, so
here it is.

Best QRB is 1518km for K0GU at DN70

Due to an incoming arctic cold front (forecast: high 21°F, low 18°F, wind chill 3°F) I canceled
my overnight trip to Magazine Mountain for safety reasons. The extreme cold poses risks for antenna
setup and potential vehicle issues.  I created a contingency plan but the weather here became worse
than forecasted so I had to scale down that plan as well.  I ended up just working one grid boundary
Saturday and one grid corner Sunday.  Except for the frigid cold 20 to 30 mph wind gusts and wind
chill around 3 to 5°F, it was sunny.
6m had a lot of what sounded like meteor skip but it was lunchtime.. There were many periods where I
would hear stations with a brief, strong signal and then never hear them again.  It was a great
opportunity to work out more bugs and get a little better in my knowledge/skills.  I managed to make
announcements on several repeaters in an attempt to lure people over to simplex and a great number
of them were looking for a way to test their gear so they were happy I was there.
Thanks to the contest coordinators, staff, judges, etc that provide us these contests.  I look
forward to June!
I will have a blog about my adventure in a few days:  https://n5zy.org/

Severeal interruptions Saturday dealing with the plumbers working
on a problem.

I'm learning how challenging VHF+ is here in the Reno, Nevada area,
where our path to other hams is blocked my a steep and enormous wall
of granite. Doesn't mean it's impossible, but this contest does
confirm my hunch that my modest station probably needs upgrading. Even
so, I'm grateful for the few contacts I did get! On 6m, used a
TS-590SG at 100w with a homemade Moxon at 15 feet; on 2m, used a
creaky IC-271A with about 35w to a 5 element lightweight yagi at about
17 feet; and on 70cm, used an IC-471A with about 35w output to a 16 el
KLM vintage yagi, fixed due south at 20 feet.

BANDS REALLY NEVER OPENED BUT THE FAITHFUL WERER ON HAND FOR A FEW CONTACTS HI HI

Bad conditions, Bad weather late Sunday left early

Lots of unfinished, uncompleted QSOs, cuz band dropped out.

I just got back into the hobby in December after a 17 year hiatus. I
was never a serious contester.
I am still working on re-building the station. This weekend
I only had HTs available (2 of them). Antennas were an Arrow Dual
band
ground plane on a 15 ft pole, Comet 144/220/440 tri-band mobile on a
Ford Edge. For 6m a Diamond SRH940 whip on one HT.

One HT had 6m/2m/70cm and the other had 2m/1.25m/70cm. My goal was to
make at least one contact on each band available to me. I got the 2m
and 440. Despite several CQ calls on 50.252 and 223.500 I had no
responses there. I expect to have some better equipment by June. May
do Rover, an FM only rover class could be fun.

CHECK LOG ONLY

Would have liked better condx and more participation.

A very bad year for january, like last june...

Conditions were poor.

BAND           QSOs              MULTS

50             44                10
144            48                13
222            22                6
432            19                4
902            12                3
1.2G           13                3
2.3G           5                 2
3.4G           2                 2
5.7G           3                 2
10G            1                 1
24G            1                 1
122G           1                 1
LIGHT          1                 1

Uninteresting band conditions and few rovers kept my score down.

My transmitted mode is shown for cross-mode contacts
Claimed score does not include 5 duplicate QSOs
Equipment -
50 MHz Yaesu FTDX-10 60-100 W, Moxon at 27 ft
144 MHz Elecraft K2+xvtr+amp 100W, 5 el Yagi @ 30'.FT290RII 25 W, indoor GP on FM.
222 MHz Elecraft K2+xvtr 20W, 7 el.indoor Yagi
432 MHz Elecraft K2+xvtr+amp 50W, 10 el. Indoor Yagi.FT-818 6W, indoor GP on FM.
903 MHz Elecraft K2+rx conv., homebrew tx, 5W, 7 el indoor Yagi
1296 MHz FT-290R+xvtr+amp 6W, 10 el indoor Yagi
2304 MHz: FT-290R+xvtr 1W, 9 el indoor Yagi
10 GHz: K2 + 2m xvtr + DB6NT xvtr/amp 2 W, indoor 2 ft. dish
24 GHz: FT-818 + homebrew xvtr 0.25 W, indoor 1 ft. dish

BAND           QSOs              MULTS

50               2                 2
144              4                 2
222              1                 1
432              3                 2
902              1                 1
1.2G             1                 1
2.3G             1                 1
3.4G             0                 0
5.7G             0                 0
10G              0                 0
24G              1                 1
123G             1                 1
LIGHT            1                 1
16                13

It was very quiet, it has been a long time since I participated, fun
to heat up the airwaves.

Extremely cold weather kept me from making it to another grid.  It was less than 15 degrees F, with
snow, slick icy roads.  Only SSB operation kept me from a few Qs, I briefly heard some FT8 on 6m,
but wasn't set up tp operate that mode, next contest I hope to have digital modes set up.

6 Meters FM - IC-T90A + amplifier 70 watts, 2 Meters FM - Kenwood TR751A 25 watts, 70 Cm FM - IC-47A
25 watts, outdoor omni antennas up 20-25 feet

New VHF/UHF Tower Operational 6m thru 1296, Unfortunately not the transverter stack 222 thru 1296

RE-SUBMISSION RE-SUBMISSION FOR ENTRY MISSED IN TRANSFERRING FROM PAPER LOG

This W2NTN operation was part-time 2 meter and 70 cm single-op,
at 10 watts from home, using the IC705 and a 2 meter beam only.
As always, it was great to be part of hams working together to
make everyone successful.  Thanks also to ARRL for making the
contest possible.  A great event!  Craig, W2NTN

My first VHF Contest, definitely a learning experience.
I learned: (1) don't trust cheap coax adapters, (2) the more antenna
the better, and (3) when you set up your station on your back patio,
be sure to check if your chair is wet before you sit down!
I look forward to getting some better antennas and making some SSB
contacts next time.
Ed, W2SI

In snowstorm

Part time effort. Poor propagation overall.

FEW STATIONS HEARD, EVEN LESS THAN LAST TIME...

HAD A GREAT TIME AND THANKS FOR SPONSORING IT!

Plumbing emergency cut operation short, but hope this helps as a check log.

Bob

Got tangled up with EMI and aborted effort.  Losing WSJTX USB Com and
Audio drivers throughout- whew!
Looking forward to June.

2m should be worth 2 points

Had fun as usual as a rover.

Started out Saturday and made a few contacts at Van Buren State Park.

On Sunday, visited Bass River State Recreation Area (US-3304),Bakale Wildlife Management Area
(US-6619), and Ionia State Recreation Area (US-3314).

Cold!! I don't think it got above 20 degrees the whole time I was out.

Work3d more than I expected to. Checked analog every so often but herad nothing. 70cm was dead
😕😕😕😕

Looking forward to June VHF.

Too cold to be outside so had fun with the bands
between chores. We had light rain over Friday
night and into Saturday morning and that seemed
to quiet down the power line noise. Ran across
a few short openings on 6m. Thanks for the
QSOs and 73, Ron (W8RU).

Better conditions than last year's Jan. VHF, good activity levels.

The ARRL January VHF event continues to be a challenge for QRP
portable operators like me that are in the Northeast US with regards
to both weather conditions and band conditions.  For the 2025 event,
band conditions were generally poor, especially on Six Meters, for me
during my portable operation in FN30.  Weather conditions were OK,
with light rain on Saturday afternoon, and quiet on Sunday afternoon,
some hours before the predicted snowfall in the area.
There was no enhanced propagation this year observed by me during the
contest period. Interesting enough, six stations from the area (FN30
and FN31) provided 22 QSOs across the lower four VHF bands for me:
WZ1V, K1TEO, WB2JAY, N2SLO, W2TMA and KE2CCG.  This represented 90
percent of my score, and I thank them very much for the points that I
needed.

I wish that the ARRL would seriously consider trimming the January VHF
Contest period by at least three hours as the main bands, Six Meters
and Two Meters are very quiet for much of the day on Sunday.   During
the 35 years that I have operated the January event, I have only
witnessed about ten short-duration Sporadic-E openings, one F2 opening
(in 2022) and one brief aurora opening.  The noise level is generally
very high in January, particularly in the Northeast, which cuts down
on signal strength, even with nearby stations.

Only got to operte a few hours. Band was open mostly to Tx

Unfortunately, hardly any activity existed around my area.

With only a 6m through 23cm log periodic antenna up around 20 feet, and running modest power, I was
able to at least put some grids and a few new stations in the log.  

With snow in the forecast I decided to run down to my portable location for 10GHz as an opener to
the contest.  Managed to get a new grid on the band (FM28!) and another contact bouncing off the Bay
Bridge on the horizon.  With conditions not great, and the wind picking up, I packed it all in to
head back to the house to settle in for the evening on the rest of the bands.

A few days before the contest, the Pack Rats had put together an activity night to get everyone
familiar with the new QSY messages one can now send using the WSJT software.  I had tested this
functionality with K1RZ the night before and was excited at the prospect of being able to use it to
run the bands with folks I couldn't otherwise "talk" to.  Unfortunately, no one seemed to respond to
the requests and I never saw anyone else using them.

Band conditions remained poor throughout the contest period with a few times the band would open up
just to tease you.  Reworked a few needed grids on 2m, 33cm, and 23cm but nothing new on the other
bands.  Looking forward to June!

Operating from HOA restricted QTH this time, 2 2M stacked halos at 20 ft agl is all I had available.

The dynamic duo of Brian WS1O and Ron N1LSJ braved the cold, rain and fog of winter in Northeastern
CT and Southwestern MA to see if we could win the New England Division again...and Ron had his first
taste of FT8!

Skookumlogger, Flex 6600M, 3 ELEMENT 6M YAGI @ 22' - Op Time: 9.5 hrs.  Doesn't show CQ/listening
time as no Q's! Shame that large swaths of our bands are sitting empty because the rules prohibit
multiple contacts with a station on same band using different modes. RBN picked me up many, many
times and thus I was spotted. Zero Q's due to those spots. Pathetic.

First DX contact on 1296 with WZ1V on CW. Yea !  222 amp died
Sunday morning RATS !

Analog-Only