Went up to SOTA peak Grouse Ridge, W6/NS-195 to operate. Awesome views, and a
great day to be on a summit. I watched the North Fire burn a few miles away
while I operated, but the wind kept the smoke away.
I missed the first hour while driving up and getting set up. Should have left
home a bit earlier. I heard some SoCal stations when I first got on the air,
but they couldn't hear my puny signal.
My setup seemed to work well, but there are a lot of things I can improve. I
need a better way of sharing the one transceiver output between multiple
transverters. I need separate antennas for 144 and 440. And I need transverters
(and antennas) for 902 and 1296. Gotta get those mults.
Overall, this was a better location than the peak I went to last year for the
September contest. I still haven't found the ideal SOTA summit for these
contests. Maybe next time.

Only had 2 hours to operate so did hiltop portable.  No contacts at all then a
rover (K2TER/R) parked about a mile away form where I was away so that worked
out well!  High SWR on 144/432 antenna caused all sorts of grief till I replaced
teh coax then worked fine.  Wish I had more time to operate.

CONDITIONS AS POOR AS I HAVE EVER HEARD
THEM. THE GOOD NEWS IS WE INTRODUCED A
NEW HAM TO VHF CONTESTING AND ROVING.

All contacts were made from antennas and radios inside my house.

First serious contest attempt and first time on SSB!

Plans for station upgrades for this contest fizzled.  The
boom-to-mast clamp for
I had to run with a single omni loop
21-element 432 Yagi arrived with no elements in the box, so
small Arrow Yagi was used on that band.  At the start of the
contest I was
finally got active I made a
4-element Yagi before discovering that the SWR
mast-mounted preamp was sky high, so that was the end of
operation
contacts on 6 meters on
on 432 on another rig. My most
contact with W4NH at over 200 miles in EM85 North
Integration of WSJT-X with N1MM+ worked well with WSJT-X
controlling
N1MM+ automatically via UDP, and
The only problem there was that I had to be
select the band when logging manually to N1MM+.  In the end
decided to call this contest a learning experience combined with
a chase for
QTH in EM64.

TO TEST WEB LOG UPLOADER READINESS FOR 2018 SEPTEMBER VHF CONTEST

The Rovers, FT8, and MSK144 really livened up the contest

With only limited time available for this contest, I elected to be an FM only
entry. According to the rules, I was restricted to the use of only the 50, 144,
223, & 446 MHz bands. I used an FT857 and TM231A with small whip antennae only.
I operated from a very minor hilltop in the middle of the city of Thousand Oaks,
CA (DM04ne).
Because the Santa Monica Mountain range lies just to the South of Thousand Oaks,
I was glad to be able to work the San Diego, CA (DM12) area on both 2 meters &
70 cm despite my marginal setup!
I made 40 QSOs on 4 bands with a total of 9 grids worked and 16 unique calls
worked. Best DX on 70 cm was about 130 miles.

Flat conditions and the conflicting ARRL New England Convention really affected the contest

I spent an enjoyable day with ham friends at the Boxboro, MA, hamfest on
Saturday, so that limited my contesting time. But I didn't want to miss this
fun
VHF contest!

SUBMITTED AS A CHECKLOG

K3CCR is the club station at the Collington continuing-care
retirement community at FM 18OW in MD, just east of DC. N3UM
operated SOLP in the Sept. 2018 ARRL VHF test. Steady rain fell
often. Rate was very slow, just 16 Qs in the first hr, 9 more in
the next 2 hrs, and a total of only 35 Qs in nearly 4 hrs. of
trying.  N1MM+ calculated only 2.7 hrs. BIC because twice I went
more than 1/2 hr. between Qs! I did not hear any E skip on 6m.
Only one QSO each on 903 and 1296 MHz, both with K1RZ. Could not
work W3EKT or W3IP on either band, even though in Sept. 2017 I
worked both of them plus 2 others on 903, and W3IP on 1296. It
could have been heavy soaking-wet tree foliage, or water in my
coax or feeds.  After the test the SWR on 903 was 2.8; it has
always been less than 1.5. I hope the low activity this year is
just a fluke, not a trend. In Sept. VHF 2000-2011 at another QTH
nearby, with comparable gear, I averaged 110 Qs on 6 and 2 m,
~half on each band, vs just 25 this year and 34 in 2017 on those
two bands. We did get 95 Qs at K3CCR on 6 and 2m. in 2016.

"Only a few local stations worked on 2m FM."

Conditions flat with rain during most of the contest. Rovers accounted for over 50%.

wow glad there were rox falling from the sky or else we would
have had just ONE contact!!

7 grids activated. Generally good results on 2 m and 70 cm. Tough on 6 m even with FT8. Thanks to
everyone for QSOs and a few other rovers that kept up with my progress.

Wish 6 was open

Once again, terrible propagation.  6M was poor and FT8 took forever
to work anyone.  6M meteors were fair to good.  2M EME was also fair to
poor, but I did work a new CQ Zone on 2M...only two left.  I also worked
AK on 222 EME for a new state on that band.  We had a lot of problems
with equipment after a lightning storm Saturday night.  We were able to
fix everything, but we did lose some time on the bands.

We operated primarily in KS - most of our contacts were from KS soil.

10 minutes of operating. Wire antenna for 6, ground plane for
2/440.

Note - there were handwritten comments/soapbox in
this paper log file but they were not transcribed.
Observed two QSO: lines on 222 log page where two
times were entered for each; entered duplicate
QSOs for both times.
Also observed a few likely mis-written callsigns
but transcribed them as written.

No summary sheet included with log submission and
no address info provided on the pages that were
submitted (looked up at http://www.arrl.org/fcc/search)

I operated one day (7 hours) mountaintop portable on Mt Pilchuck
from a high vantage point looking over the city of Everett and all
of Puget Sound. This is a premier VHF location in western Washington State.
I had a modest station: 6 and 2 meters, barefoot 9100, 3-element yagi.
Portland CN85 to the south was loud and I also worked CN84 further south.
Mark VE7AFZ/R to the north in BC was easy copy in all three places he
was on the air with his backpack portable station. Dave VE7HR also had a great signal here.
I even worked VE7DAY in CO70 - great fun. I heard Mark W7MEM in
DN17 to the east but I guess he never heard me; I was facing a big
hill in that direction.
Often I was the first to work a new player on the band, leaving
the crowd to tail-end him in a big mess while I switched to my
other band.
I almost feel guilty, but I just love these outings where all the
contacts are easy.
Gosh there were a LOT of portable and SOTA and Rover stations in
the PNW! Incredible. Heartwarming. I am amazed. Nice job guys, thanks
for going out.
More details and photos at https://coilgun.info/travel/2018-09.htm

First time VHF Contest Rover

Slow start to the contest here, It seemed to pick up Sunday afternoon. I had fun
casually operating throughout the weekend. I'm VERY happy to have had some great
Q's into the CN85-87 corridor (and beyond). This was the first time at new QTH
that I've had so many good Q's.. I was worried my new qth was shot for anything
above 50mhz, boy was I wrong!  K7YDL and a couple others about blew the brakes
off my radio. 1296 was on all weekend and one contact made. (that's a win for
me). Thanks all! .-James K7KQA DN06

Operated on Samish Overlook at 1300ft CN88, and Mt. Pilchuck CN98, and my
Driveway on Camano Island (CN88)

none

Wasn't up to operating at all on Saturday and worked who I could
find Sunday until the activity died away to nil. Barefoot 746 on
2M and barefoot 706mkIIg on 6M & 432. Not one digital QSO all
weekend which felt good to be going back to my roots in VHF
contesting. See you in January!

SINGLE OPERATOR PORTABLE from Table Top Mountain, 4300 ft
elevation, 30 miles east of Gila Bend AZ.  High point was
reaching into Tucson with 4 watts, 7-el yagi on 432 with a signal
report of S9+15 db!  (Yes, the receiving station had an EME
array!)

Operating limted rover as K8JH/R

Was only able to get on for a few minutes here and there.  Operated home station
remotely while traveling.  Thanks for the qso's  Dave ka6bim

My second September VHF QSO party entry. Didn't hear much and only worked one station!!

Fun to try six grids.

SECOND LOG SUBMISSION

Log Transcriber notes - 3 QSO: lines show band as "220" -
Transcribed as written but it was necessary to edit them
to be "222" to get the web uploader to accept.

Not a bad score, one bad coax left me off 222 till I got a break to troubleshoot with KA5D/r's
analyzer, ( mine went tumbling down the highway last contest when i left it on the car roof), Hice
to hear other rovers out there this contest, worked 5 other rover this contest!!!  I heard an
additional rover up in Dallas area but could not connect.

Usually I run lots of bands.  This time I ran just 2m for something
different.  It was fun; I have a good 2m station and the eme and MS
q's really added to the grid total.

First September VHF! Woo!

outdoor 2M: Yaesu FT857D cw, usb
WA5VJB Yagi (ARRL 2018 Handbook 21.64-6
Auto tow-hook support (photo) for
roof snowrake mast
indoor 6M: Icom IC-7300 cw, usb
Comet ground plane
Guess what? No FT8 QSOs...
Thanks ARRL for hosting this TST.
FB comments on the tow-hook
support at K0YD club monthly
meeting

de kj0p dit dit

Thanks to Jessie for helping with some of the driving.

operating from Frazier Mountain, Calif. 34.775931, -118.969118

power=80 W, grid=FM18eu, antenna=dipole, equipment=TS570S,
comment=antenna is G5RV at 10 m in trees, Thanks for the fun!

Low pressure systems + low effort = low score.

It was fun roving with Mom.

Casual operating to test station/antennas.

I had limited time on Saturday to operate, and not much more on
Sunday, but was pleasantly surprised by all the activity.  No
openings, but managed to work over the mountains to CN94 and
DN06.  Lots of rover activity as well, which kept things lively.
Thanks for all the QSO's!

Only spent five hours on this one.

Had to work both days of the contest. Thanks to Marshall, K5QE for my first
msk144 contact on 50 MHz.

We operated primarily in KS - most of our contacts were from KS soil.

The only date in the Paper Log file was "19 SEPT" at
the top of what was marked as the third log page.
All QSOs were transcribed with date of 2018-09-09 except
for last two, which were entered as 2018-09-10.
QSOs with W2RG at 2007 and 2009 might be out of time
order or could have been mis-written, and times should
be 2107 and 2109 - transcribed them 'as written'.
QSO with W1PAT did not show a Grid Received, transcribed
the QSO as an X-QSO:.

RoverLog is terrific!

Flat conditions on 6m, had to spend a lot more time on meteir scatter. Any time spent VHF contesting
is a great time!

Times appear to be in local rather than UTC,
Adding 4 hours when transcribing times (and
adjusting dates as needed).

PARTICIPATION SEEMED DOWN FOM A YEAR AGO - FEWER ROVERS
(PERHAPPS PUT OFF BY THE TERRIBLE WEATHER WE EXPERIENCED),
THE BANDS".  THIS MAY HAVE TO DO WITH THE GROWING USE OF FT8
CAUSING PEOPLE TO BE GLUED TO THEIR COMPUTERS. IT HAS CHANGED
THE NATURE OF THE CONTEST IN A WAY I AM NOT SURE I LIKE!

2018 ARRL September VHF Contest

Too many operators think it is cool to ragchew and babble on the calling
frequencies.  Ridiculous.  QSY or STFU !!! Never been this bad.  These are
longtime ops who should know better than to do this chicanery !!

Equipment: MFJ 9406 6 Meters SSB rig, TE Systems 0510G amplifier, home-made copper squalo up 24
feet.

FOR VHF-SEPT-2018
3-MAN ROVER TEAM: K6MI/R, NI6G/R, N6MTS/R
GUEST ROVERS: K0DI/R, KF6YYV

RoverLog is terrific!

N6ZE/6 (DM04ne)Thousand Oaks, CA, made 2 QSOs on 33 cm FM. N7WLC (DM04ne) and
N6UTC (DM03wt), Signal Hill, CA at 50.46 miles
Note: The Santa Monica Mountain Range lies directly between N6ZE/6 & N6UTC.

Rig: ALINCO DJ-G29 FM handheld and 11 element M>2 yagi

TRANSCRIBED PAPER LOG

Dates on log pages are written as "8/8/18"
and "8/9/18" but are being transcribed as
"2018-09-08" and "2018-09-09".
Also noted dupes of N1RWY on 50 and 144
which were transcribed as written.

Poor Condx
Rain all weekend
Poor Activity

"ROVERMANIA", Midwest style. How to make a contest fun without a 6 meter opening.

Considering the conditions, it was not the best that September can offer.
Fortunately, the rovers came through thanks to KF2MR/R,VE3SMA/R, VE3OIL/R, VA3TO/R,
K2LTD/R,VE3CRU/R and VE3ZV with whom we were able to make 7 band sweeps. Also made first 9 band
sweep
with VA3ELE for my first 3456 and 5760 contacts.  Great fun all around.
Hope to have everything together for January 2019 up to 5760.

BAND           QSOs              MULTS

50             39                13
144            63                18
222            30                10
432            26                9
902            16                5
1.2G           17                5
2.3G           16                5
3.4G           7                 5
5.7G           8                 4
10G            11                5
24G            4                 4
LIGHT          4                 4

My transmitted mode is shown for cross-mode contacts
Operation from ONS and GTA sections
Log contains 4 known duplicate QSOs, not counted toward claimed score
Equipment -
50 MHz IC-706 100W / IC-7300 100W, Moxon/mobile vert.
144 MHz IC-7000 / FT-90  50W , 5 el. Yagi/mobile vert
222 MHz K2+XV222 2W, 7 el Yagi/mobile dipole / Handheld 1W, ducky
432 MHz K2+MM xvtr 10W / FT-90 35W, 11 el. Yagi/mobile dipole/mobile vert.
903 MHz K2+rx conv+tx 5W, 7 el. Yagi
1296 MHz K2+2m xvtr+MM xvtr+amp 6W, 10 el. Yagi
2304 MHz K2+2m xvtr+ homebrew xvtr 1W, mobile horn/55 el. Loop Yagi
3456 MHz K2+2m xvtr+ homebrew/DEMI xvtr 1W, 15 dBi horn
5760 MHz K2+2m xvtr+homebrew xvtr 50 mW, 15 dBi horn / modified cordless phone
10 GHz   K2+2m xvtr+Kuhne xvtr 2 W, 2 ft dish
24 GHz   K2+2m xvtr+homebrew xvtr 250 mW, 1 ft dish / Homebrew WBFM Xcvr 150 mW, 20 dB horn
300+ GHz Red Laser, 2" Rx Lens

I enjoyed the contest.

Boxboro! 2018 delayed start.  Rotator frozen WNW.

Generally had a good time. our new 1296 beam
worked well and we had lots of new people
(Freshmen and others come by and operate
with us for a bit. VHF bands just died on sunday
though and that was kind of sad. -KC1EPN

Conditions poor with some moments of enhancement. Weather rotten. Rain all weekend when operating in
a tent on a Hill top is not the most fun

I am 78. Licienced [sic] 63 years.
First serious VHF contest in 40 years. Fun.
Noticed a trend. Of 57 contacts on two meters, 40
were digital (FT8). All distant grids were FT8.

Saturday was grim.  Sunday was probably grimmer.
My overall Q-Rate was 1.2 QSOs per HOUR!!!!!
Besides myself there seemed to be only 3 other regional
ops on for the contest -- and one was ALSO A ROVER!!
(Unless everyone went over to the FT-8 Computer Contest.)
Probably my last ARRL SEPT VHF.........

I operated from the summit of Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains
Wildlife Preserve.

All QSOs were made using FT8; my logger will not accept this.

Another fun contest. First time running FT8 along with SSB and CW.
Definitely found some atypical grids on 6m using FT8. Mr. Murphy
visited a couple times but was able to drive him off with some
effort. Thanks to all for the QSOs and 73.

1st contest`````P$%````````

*OLD* summary sheet used so default to SOHP
QSOs found on log page by band do not match the
count on summary sheet for 50 and 432 and found
one more QSO overall, 31, than the total listed
on the summary sheet, 30.

Band on_log_page on_summary_sheet
50    11 QSOs        9 QSOs
144    13 QSOs       13 QSOs
222     1 QSO         1 QSO
432     6 QSOs        7 QSOs
Total  31 QSOs       30 QSOs

The band condx were terrible. I heard no phone or cw signals. I only
heard/worked these 6 FT8 stations. Maybe June? 73,
George
WA5KBH

Portable at Shenadoah National Park, Hogback Overlook again.  Cut short due to inclimate weather.

Operated from 9am to 8pm Sunday local time.

CW or SSB only.
Propagation seemed to be only to the north and east.
No California stations heard this time. I called CQ to the
multiple times on 2 meters (4 x 15el, 1500W) but never
heard a thing. I wish they would point their antennas this
way!! Lots of stations in central and southern AZ.
Hoping to see more 222 activity. Its not that expensive to
get on with the Ukranian Transverters and the 2 I have
used have worked well.
Thanks, Doug WA7XX
Log Transcriber notes - Handwritten dates are inconsistent
with the dates of the contest. Transcribing most dates one
day earlier than written but some on 432 and 1296 log
pages were transcribed TWO days earlier than written.
Also noted that QSOs times are somewhat random,
transcribing in the order they are on the log pages.

Sep 2018 recap

Equipment:  new normal  Yaesu FT897-D / Mirage B5018G 100W nominal
13LBA 43 feet up

UGH!  I’d ask why the 3 VHF contests are always scheduled for wet
conditions in the northeast, but there wasn’t much choice this
year.  And, except for some noise to the SW the last some hours of
the contest, noise wasn’t a problem.

Acvtivity was awful in September again, as you can see from some
large gaps in contacts made.  The conditions were not good, but
could have been worse.  Brief QSB peaks enabled me to pick up some
surprising grids.  WE1P chose to operate from FN23 this year
instead of FN22.  Never did get an FN22 - I missed N2SLN/R in that
grid, but got him in FN23 (he called ME!)  2 FN233s in one contest?
I was also called by NX3B in FM28 and N4RA in FM09 and found K1HC
for my 20th grid.  However, got the terrible news that this is
K2LIM’s last contest, as their site is being dismantled.  True, I
worked N2SLN\/R in FN12 also, but I fear for the January contest,
when rovers will be much scarcer.  I never heard KA1ZE, my FN01,
because, I was told he was having rotator trouble, and if KV1J was
mountaintopping in FN44 I never heard them, either.  And I have no
idea what has happened to K8EP, my FM08.  Their QRZ page is now
quite uninformative, and they no longer have an email listed.
Never mind that I’m almost 71 and this is a LOT of work.  But I
should get the SOLP certificate again, I assume.  At this rate I
just MIGHT get to 50 of them before I’m 75, assuming K9JK
continues to translate my logs to Cabrillo format.

Of course with the lack of activity came a lack of QRM and no broad
big gun signals, either.  And unless W3CCX has gone strictly digital,
THEY’VE disappeared, too, but that’s only another FN21.

WA2GFN had almost no luck on 6, but he did work K2RMX in Brooklyn,
and he does QSL.  That’s a new county (Peter still needs Bronx,
Queen, and Nassau, as well as Manhattan, though he did work a
station IN Manhattan once - 4U70UN.  Imagine that - none of those
and he’s now confirmed over 1/4 of all US counties.

See you in January if the storms don’t get me.   73 de WB2CUT

PAPER LOG TRANSFORMED FROM WB2CUT'S RTF FILES INTO CABRILLO
AND SUBMITTED VIA WEB UPLOADER APP
http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/

The VHF/UHF wave conditions were quite poor from the rain conditions, and no
skip accomplished on the 6 meter band. But I still had fun - got w3so and some
good local ham contacts.

DEAD BAND CONTEST

It was a very good September contest for us!  Conditions were at least normal for most of the
contest and then right at the end in the last hour we work stations to the north, WB0TEM EN12, W0GHZ
EN34 144-222-432, K0SIX EN35 144-222-432, W0UC EN44 144-222-432.  Murphy visitied the 902  ssb/cw
station, RX appears to not be working, everyone heard us though. Made a couple 902 contacts on FM
with locals and a rover.  FT8 and MSK kept the 6m ops turning out contacts.  This contest was more
work with no 6 meter openings.  Tnx to these rovers, K5SRT, N0LD, KB0ZOM, KS0TRC, AND N0MNG For
giving us the score we ended up with!  See you all next contest!

I roved to 10 grids around Western Washington for this contest.  Everything
worked very well, and the weather cooperated until rain kicked in for the final
30 minutes of the contest.

There was a lot of activity in the Pacific Northwest this contest. The 606 QSOs
were with 95 unique calls.  The many other rovers (KE7MSU/R, K7BDB/R, K7JSG/R,
K7AJG/R, AE7QT/R, K7MDL/R, K7ATN/R, AC7MD/R, VE7AFZ/R, AL1VE/R, W7TAO/R) and the
portable operations providing rarer grids (N6LB, K7BWH, WE7X, WW7LW) were very
much appreciated.

Top QSO counts were with KE7SW (33), N7EPD (32), KE7MSU/R (29), W7GLF (27),
K7BDB/R (26), N7QOZ (25), K7ND (24), KE0CO (23), K7JSG/R (20), WA2BFW (19), W7FI
(17), N7KSI (17), K7YDL (16), WZ8T (15).

Operated only 12 hours but had lots of fun