ARRL VHF Contest September 2024, First Contest

eptember January VHF Contest Summary- AA2SD/R

AA2SD/R Rover - Sept 25 2024 - Thanks to all that worked me from the Poconos and the ride back home
during the September VHF Contest. Although the band  conditions were not great, I was able to hit
all of my planned grids over the 2 day period. I visited FN11 in the evening and again in the
morning. The Big Pocono State Park site proved again to be a great location with 70 QSO’s during
the first 3 hours of operation. Although my score is low, my main objective is to support low signal
“phone” VHF activity and test “quick” antenna setups for operation. This trip I also tested
some stationary mobile FT8 during the early morning hours successfully. Thank you to all club
members that supported me, and I look forward to working you from the field during the January VHF
contest.

Follow the You Tube Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hg-QSR9NTo


Grids and Rove Summary

FN21HB Big Pocono State Park 2
FN11WA Overlook Lookout Motor Lodge Drums PA1
FN10WW  Overlook
FN20DV Penns Peak Overlook
FM29 Home 
QSOs in Log : 162  40 Multis 7,760 points

As a  Rover it is a  challenge to time your overlook locations and get your antennas set up in time
for the contest and stay on schedule for contacts. Going for “ease of set up” and speed, I only
brought only a single fiberglass push pole, no rotor for the 3 Grids after the set up at  FN21

I look forward to working with you during the upcoming January  VHF Contest

Had fun working 6 meters.  My goal was 50 contacts or 500 points. I hit the points.  Ran short on
contacts.  Had fun anyway.

Perfect weather at nearly 8,000ft.  Good fellowship.  No 6m band openings but we did OK.  Thank you
everyone in the NW for the QSO's

Despite not living close to a high-density metropolitan area, and despite rather poor propagation I
had a real blast operating in this contest.  I managed a just-in-time recovery from a storm-induced
computer crash that killed my main i7 Win11 machine, and got two N95/N100 mini-computers online. 
Those miniature Win11 boxes performed remarkably well.  With three simultaneously operational
stations I was able to bounce back and forth between the bands to snag most of the available
stations.  Propagation on 6 meters was poor with Es almost nil, but there were enough meteors to
complete contacts (with some patience) on FT8.  I was especially pleased to complete with W2SZ in
FN32 for a new 6m multiplier two minutes before the end of the contest.  A few local FM QSOs helped
the score a bit.  I had quite a few contacts between 300-400 miles, but the best DX was WQ5S in
Texas at 625 miles on 144 MHz MSK on Saturday afternoon.  I was pleased to put K5N (K5QE,SK station)
in the log on 2m MSK and 222 FT8 (507 miles).  A VHF contest would not be the same without multiple
QSOs from rovers NV4B/R, KG9OV/R and AG4V/R.

50 MHz: FT-857D (100w) and HB stacked pair of loops at 50'
144 MHz: IC-9700 (100w) and 9el LFA Yagi at 25'
222 MHz: IC-375A (30w) and M2 15el Yagi at 30'
432 MHz: IC-9700 (75w) and M2 21el Yagi at 27'

 Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Grid  Pt/Q
    50  FT8     34      34   22   1.0
   144  FM       5       5    1   1.0
   144  FT8     45      45   28   1.0
   144  MSK1     2       2    2   1.0
   144  Q65      1       1    1   1.0
   144  USB      3       3    1   1.0
   222  FT8     15      30   14   2.0
   222  USB      1       2    0   2.0
   420  FM       1       2    1   2.0
   420  FT8      9      18    9   2.0
   420  USB      1       2    1   2.0
 Total  Both   117     144   80   1.2
Score: 11,520
1 Mult = 1.5 Q's

Need more incentive to get stations on cw and ssb again!

Nice two days opening here in Chile SA   lot of fun . locator ff30ng05

Tried to enjoy the contest, but was very ill and only stayed an hour. Conditions seemed typical for
Sept. Was very glad to have logged K5N (Memorial callsign for K5QE/SK). Things will just not be the
same without Marshall around. Good Luck to everyone. See you again in Jan!!

Saturday was a conventional rove visiting four grids (FM19, FN10, FM29, FN20) with  only 6m and 2m
on 10-foot halos and 100w. Continuing a sad trend, I saw little activity on SSB, spending virtually
all my time making FT8 contacts. Made a couple modestly long contacts on 6m but saw no real
openings. Overall, contest activity was not great but not bad.

Sunday was dedicated to making short-distance QRP contacts on all nine bands from 6m through 6cm, by
driving near contesters' stations. The highlight of these visits was parking on the roof of a garage
in West Philadelphia to make contacts with KC3BVL's rowhome station on all my bands except 3400.

September VHF Contest had better than average propagation conditions.  Worked   VE1SKY FN74 at 1160
km on Sunday evening - thanks Sky. Worked the Brazilian stations on 50 MHz FT8 Sunday evening.   My
new tower is just about complete.  Made ten band runs with WB2RVX and W2SZ. Getting better at
changing from analog to digital and back.  Appreciating more and more the fun of analog versus the
DX capability of digital.   Many Rovers were out and workable here in the Mid-Atlantic - Calls
(QSOs/Grids): KE5NJ (6/2) , AA2SD (8/2),  N2SLN (8/2), K3IP(former N2XRE) (14/3), KC0IYT (3/1),
KC8JPZ (5), K0BAK (1/1), KM4OZH (3/3), KK4BZ (4/2), VE3OIL (6/2), AB4CR (5/1), KD3PD (12/2) and 
KG6CIH (5/1).  Thank you ROVERS!!  Go ROVERS! We know all it is lot of effort.  But the rest of us
really appreciate you for it.

So again I appreciate being able to operate after being off for a couple years, connecting with so
many VHFers again, being on when the bands are enhanced, shifting modes to be able to complete a
contact, and checking the gear to see where more work needs to be done.  Working closely with others
to be sure the antennas are pointed properly, etc.  That was this weekend.   Thanks to the ARRL
Contest Organization for sponsoring this event.  And thanks to everyone who got on and to those who
worked me too.   73, Dave K1RZ

Used an indoor fan dipole and 90 Watts.

RoverLog is terrific!

Another HO-HUM contest.  We were all hoping for some decent tropo along the
eastern seaboard - didn't happen, I didn't even work FN31 on 2m.  Solar activity
didn't help either; Es was just that - sporadic.  The only gee-whiz was the late
Sunday TEP to Brazil and Chile on 6m, I didn't work any.  Top all that off with
my 9700 wanting to turn duplex mode on; I lost all chance at 70cm (could have
been another 12 QSOs and at least 3 more grids = 1200 more final score points -
30% higher score).  Can you guess what else gets checked in January?  At least I
got a couple of nice photos of airplane scatter impacting FT8 signals of KF2T
and K1HTV on 70cm and KK4BZ/R on 2m!

Beautiful weather, operated outside and enjoyed the days.

A little propagation would havebeen helpful.

"Let's hope for better band conditions and improved activity next year."

Activity on 6 meters seemed lighter than usual during daytime hours. Time between QSOs was
yawn-producing much of the time, although it picked up some at night. 

Mode usage was virtually 100% digital. Heard only one SSB station calling CQ, and (sigh) none on CW.
The future has arrived.

Propagation observed from my N. Virginia QTH was mostly limited to the Mid-Atlantic states. Once or
twice I heard/worked stations in Ohio and Indiana, and one in North Carolina. The big surprise from
the "magic band," however, came Sunday night at 2045 EDT when all of a sudden stations began popping
up from Brazil--BRAZIL! I copied five PY stations--all participating in the contest--but could not
raise one with my modest station. Thirty minutes later they disappeared as if a switch had been
flipped off. In the last hour of the contest, New England stations began popping up, adding a few
from the 1st call area to the log.

My computer was used for logging only, not contacting other computers.

Easier to work Chile with my 10 watts on 50 MHz than the USA. Good results on 144 and 432. Found out
that /P and /R don't work in WSJT-X. Won't be using /P again. Thanks for all the QSOs.

TEP to two stations in Chili Sunday morning on 6m, other then that 6m was very quiet out West.  Did
not work or hear any rovers.

Great band conditions on 6M for watching paint dry.

Most time spent on Lion Rock at 6200ft in CN97. Operated 6M to 3cm.

k7YO operating from fixed CN85.

Only made one CW contact but I did try.   I made a message on FT8
to "Try CW" but no one took the bait.   Was surprised at the
opening to Brazil a couple of hours before the end.

Bands not great, but did what I could with dualing radios :)

A little Es to help things out but not enough!

Very low activity by the usual
operators within my normal
300 mile range. Spent a lot of
time getting seven bands running !

KD6EFQ/R activated two grids: DM12 DM13 from moderate elevation sites in western San Diego County.
VHF seemed to have variable to poor propagation along the California coast
from Orange and Los Angeles County to western San Diego County;
only stations at elevation seemed able make QSOs with stations in SDG.
KN6ZOO in DM04 was at elevation in Angeles National Forest US-4453 and was able to make some QSOs to
SDG.
Many stations in SDG section were not able to make QSOs on VHF to OC or LAX
while the coastal tropo ducting was defeated by cool and cloudy weather.
KD6EFQ/R used a laptop with WSJTX for FT8 mode on 50.315 MHz to make some
digital QSOs to nearby grids with aircraft reflection Satuday afternoon
while activating Torrey Pines State Reserve US-3581 near Del Mar Calif.
Great fun and useful outcomes for amateur radio operator experience
on VHF without using repeaters or links.   The ARRL VHF Contests help a lot with operators learning
to use radios without repeaters for ARES.    No DMR QSOs were heard in the contest activity.

Lots of activity, no DX except Canada. Highlight working N1SFE.

I am a new ham and getting the hang of VHF operating and contesting.

First time on 6m.  Able to work many relatively local grids.  A great way to get things started on
the band.

Heard a station, once, on 6m FT8 claiming to be DI1CLI in JA87.  Could this have been real?  Did
anyone else work or hear this in NA?

Very poor band conditions

Best QRB is 953km for WD9EXD at EN57

Operated in 4 gridsquares: FM08, FM09, FM18, and FM19.

Great contest, need more participants across the world (voice and digital)!

First VHF contest by the CHIRP team! https://chirpmyradio.com

Missed most of Sunday.  Worked more stations below the equator than above it seems.  No propagation
to the USA this time.

Was bouncing all over 432, 222, 144, and 50, was really quiet

Nice turn out.
N6KTH surprised many locally calling from Santa Barbara, with 10-element yagi(s) at 3,600 feet. At
close to two-hundred miles that's my furthest
simplex contact yet.

This was my first time participating in this contest, and I had a lot
of fun. It was a great learning experience, and the other
participants
were also very considerate and helpful.

It was great to work N6KTH into Santa Barbara on 2 meter sideband and
to hear operators on 6 meters.
I appreciate the several Rover stations including Roger KD6EFQ/R
operating on multiple bands.

I sure had fun. 6m was good and got a few in Canada and in US. I will be doing this again.

Casual operating just for fun.

No Es, as far a I could tell, but a fun time anyway.  Lots  of
good tropo to the usual suspects: KA6BIM down in CN73, W7MEM out
in DN17, and also WR7X in DN04.  A few new callsigns, which is
always nice too.  And I gave my new 432 antenna a workout, with
encouraging results.  Also the new 222MHz transverter, which
scored me a few QSO's despite the low power and fixed antenna.
Thanks for all the QSO's!

Very low activity by the usual
operators within my normal
300 mile range.

Some tropo on 6M and 70 cm Sunday morning. Worked N9JJ EM48

1st VHF contest with my tower in Oklahoma!  112 ft high.  7el6m beam,
30 ft 2m beam, 30 ft 1.25m beam, and a 22 ft 70cm beam.  I can say
this is amazing!  I look forward to more VHF contests!

This is my 150th ARRL VHF contest in a row. They are a regular part of life.

Best QRB is 7783km for PY5CC at GG54

Busy weekend here with out of town company staying over night. Lucky I got to operate as much as I
did. Thanks for all the Q's. Missed the regular rover's this time because they did not go out.
That's a lot of points had they be able to operate.

Please consider separate contest periods for digital vs analog.  The recent rule changes are
detrimental to analog participation.

50 MHz - MFJ 9406 to TE Sys. 0510G amp to PAR Elec.
OA-50 omni antenna up 26 ft.
144 MHz - Kenwood TR751A to two phased PAR Electronics OA-144
omni antennas up 26 ft.

Had a great time this year even though propagation wasn't great.  Tnx to all those who worked my
station.  Broke rotor left me favoring the north this year from Lizard Lick, NC.  Will be back for
January test.

Was amazing to work Chile, Falklands, and Argentina during the contest

mostly ssb; some FM; 2 cw QSO
Best DX CO-90 on 2m & 70cm
All 135cm QO using Ukranian Transverter & 5 element VJB Cheapie Yagi
Briefly heard CN85 on 2 meters, buy no QSOs South of CN86
Enjoyed operating fromfrom my deck overlooking thr Puget Sound

THANKS TO ALL THE ROVERS.

No time to play Saturday and limited time Subday. If there was any band
openings on 6m, I missed them. Most all contacts were local grids. Lots
of one and done signal decodes on 6m ft8. Did manage two grids with KG9OV/R,
and not exactly local prop but some enhancement. Still waiting for cycle 25
to activate some good 6M prop! Another 6m grinder. 73 Gene N9TF
100 watts to 3 elements at ~18' above ground, turned by armstrong.

Nice tropo opening on 144 around 0000z 9/16.

Poor propagation & little time to operate

Icom IC-7300, homemade 4-element 6m quad.

Whew! Throwing off the shackles of the affordable apartment I
headed for the hills. To gain anything like a score, and increase
my popularity I again went as a Rover. I've done these four
grids however I also think I'll get my score submitted this time!
(OSI - Those who know . . .) Some ops in my local community are
wonderful, coming on to give me contacts, even when I don't
remind/ask/beg them to. CN-88 is usually great, and was. CN-78
was the worst time yet. I secumbed to adding FT-8 in June, and it
saved the trip. I may not go there again. CN-88 again, for the
Saturday folks and those that live over the rock pile at the
south end of Vancouver Is. CN-89 is a bit of drive, and proved
worth it again. However pickings were low. Folks don't point
North, or notice others working stns to the North. I also need to
improve some station components. CN-79 was saved by a fun local,
by a couple of radio friends in Vancouver, and by one waaay south
who 1. had enough of a station to hear me, and 2. the nerve to
break with routine and swing his antenna. He could not believe
where I was. I had planned for another grid to the North, however
ran out of steam. I may start in the North next time and work
South. The shape of the Island means one can't simply circle
around activating grids. After a tidy I drove around the area
scouting higher possible locations. My not-yet-patented cable
loom works, well! I operate drive on mast support portable, so
any saving in time to set up/strike is valuable. No injuries,
however a near catastrophic mast collapse speaks to tiredness, as
do most problems it seems. Other challenges arose, so a full
review of power and RF cabling, connectors, antenna condition are
warranted. Do it again Probably. It's fun to get on. I wish
more folks tried 222, as the points are good, and I'm now on the
band. Might I go beyond four bands Maybe, though the set-up /
tear down nature of my op may proclude that making any sense.
Thank you for the contacts, patience, and waking others up! 73

Hello, I was portable in FN46eb at 540 m of elevation (1771 feet).  I really enjoyed this contest,
and I tried FT8 for the firse time, a great add-on to this activity.

BAND           QSOs              MULTS

50             86                26
144            92                26
222            40                10
432            40                9
902            21                7
1.2G           21                8
2.3G           14                7
3.4G           4                 2
5.7G           10                8
10G            2                 2
24G            7                 7
123G           0                 0
LIGHT          5                 5

My transmitted mode is shown for cross-mode contacts
Log contains 3 duplicate QSOs not counted in claimed score
Equipment -
50 MHz FTDX10 100 W, Moxon
144 MHz K2+DEMI Xvtr+B2518G 100W,5 el Yagi & FT-290RII 25W,GP indoors
222 MHz K2 + XV222 20 W, 7 el Yagi indoors
432 MHz K2+MMT432/28 xvtr + amp 50W,10el Yagi & FT-818 6W+GP(ants indoors)
903 MHz K2 + HB Rx Conv + HB TX 5 W, 7 el Yagi indoors
1296 MHz FT-290R + MM xvtr + amp 6W, 10el Yagi indoors
2304 MHz FT-290R + HB xvtr 1W, 9 el Yagi indoors
3456 MHz FT-290R + HB xvtr 1 W, 15 dBi horn indoors
10 GHz K2 + 2m xvtr + DB6NT xvtr + amp 2 W, 2ft. dish indoors
24 GHz FT-818 + HB Xvtr 250 mW, 1 ft dish indoors

VC

The V/Uhf contest ras a lot of fun I got the 222 Mhz contact with
ny vintage IC-3PAT Icom's last 222 handie

Always enjoy the September contest.

My rover only got to one grid together with my friend Sandro I5MSH - who was visiting. Incredibly
strong signals on Spruce Mountain, DM34. We need more ops!

What a weekend! Best VHF contest for us and me and that includes me getting whacked on the head from
the antenna mast and having to go to the ER to get stiched up! Anyways conditions didnt have
spectaular openings on 6 but we had decent Tropo at times on 2, 222 and 432. Got many new grids,
even with 432 antenna issues we where right inline with past performances. Cant wait for January!!

Thanks for the contacts. Thank you for sponsoring the contest. 73
Dan - W1QK, Roger- NG1R & Peter - KA1SYG

I always enjoy the September VHF Contest! This year included a surprise visit from "Microsoft
Murphy". I won't belabor the point, but the automation of my entire station was on the laptop that
crashed! So, I operated the lower 4 bands plus 1296 with my TS2000X. I remember saying, how did we
ever do all these bands and logging manually? The next contest should be better! 73, Bob W2SJ

Operating from Flag Pole Knob, VA 4500 ft.  3 ele 6m beam on
summit

Poor 6m Es conditions, but worked the local Texas operators through 14 grids.  K5LLL and W5TRL
tracked me well throughout on SSB and FT8, resp.  Made a QSO with a low hanging tree branch on day
2, but no major damage.  Had a blast thanks to the folks who worked me.

zzz

Keep 33cm alive!!

Wish I had more time to operate, but had fun during the time I
did have. Thanks for the QSOs and 73, Ron (W8RU).

Personal highest QSO total ever in spite of a very delayed start on Saturrday.  Excellent tropo
conditions, especially on Sunday, & great activity levels!

RoverLog is terrific!

The weather in Long Island (grid FN30) was great both days.
Conditions were fair for the September event, with decent tropo paths
early Sunday morning.   I missed hearing K1TEO for this event.

6m didn't open to SFL during the times I was able top op. But "Thank you" to everyone I worked.

A fun contest...
Too bad the propagation gods didn't allow any DX contacts outside of the Northwest.
But I did get to meet a lot of local people.
There were 7 or 8 duplicates, mostly because it was fun using 6 Meter SSB and using a paper log for
all phone QSOs.
Bill
Sherwood, Oregon

I had fun contacting two active-VHF contest local ham people. I plan
to participate in the January VHF contest. Not much activity except
for FT8, which I don't use.

Only opening was 2 meteor scatter contacts.

I only wish that everyone participating, whether competively or not, would set the "Advanced"
parameter under "Settings" tab to NA VHF.  During contest for those who are compeating do not need a
signal report, only your grid square.  It goes much faster when everyone co-operates on this.  I had
a great time, even though the band was pretty much dead for the most part.  Signals were up and down
one minute to the next.  You had to quick to catch a contact.  Even at that I was glad to capture 29
different grids.  I did better this contest than the June VHF event.  If only I could have been able
to rotate my yagi (It's stuck toward NE)  Tnx for the soapbox. The real surprise was that some TEP
popped in toward the end.  I managed to work about six SA stations.  73, Bill, WF4R

My 2024 ARRL VHF contest season is dedicated to Blue Mount State
Park and summit references: US-1441, KFF-1441, and W9/WI-010.
Conditions were mostly sunny and warm for my operating periods. On  one hand I could have been out
in the field earlier for this
two-day operating adventure, but QSO performance on the VHF bands
wasn't well suited to the amount of effort I put in. No major
openings, but I was able to push the limits of my equipment and
engage with the local community. Will be an interesting challenge
to decide what gear expansion and operating modes will be worth it
for next year's lineup.
Equipment was KX3 with homebrew 6m full-wave rectangular loop,
FT-818 and KG-UV8T with Elk 2M/440L5 and homebrew copper pipe
222 Moxon, and TH-350 with stock tri-band whip. Again! A solid
setup I'm now well-practiced with.

Analog Only. Dupes left in.