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VHF-UHF Contesting! All-Time 6 meter VHF Contest QSO Records While not yet offi cial, W5PR is claiming more than 1700 QSOs in 278 grids in the ARRL June 2008 VHF QSO Party. Prior to this, Bob, K2DRH, had posted the all-time highest 6 meter contest total in any domestic VHF event. He did this in the 2006 CQ World Wide VHF Contest with a 6 meter line score of 1421 QSOs and 288 Grids. Bob’s total score that year was 700,701 including an additional 260 QSOs and 73 grids on 2 meters. Both 2006 and 2008 were outstanding years for E S . To Drop or Not to Drop 6 Meters from the June VHF QSO Party According to a thread on the VHF Contest Refl ector, some contest ops believe the June VHF Party would be improved if it did not include 6 meters. Now, before you throw down this issue of NCJ in anger, there is a reason why some feel this way. In a June VHF QSO Party like this year’s with massive E s openings on 6 meters, most contestants — and particularly casual entrants — stay on 6. Often 2 meters and down are neglected. Operators who prefer UHF or microwave fi nd fewer stations to work. Thus — the reasoning goes — if the contest did not include 50 MHz, then contestants would have to operate on the higher bands where, presumably, there would be more activity. Personally I have some issues with this. Six meters is a VHF band and has every “right” to be included in a VHF-oriented operating event. If 6 meters were to be excluded from the permissible band lineup, June VHF contest participation — and log submissions — would plummet. Activity in areas away from the Northeast US and California would decrease. There is relatively little activity on the UHF or microwaves from the Rocky Mountain States or the Great Plains in comparison to what occurs on 50 MHz. While stations in those areas did work 2 meter E s , this was the rare exception. The June VHF QSO Party is the only ARRL VHF operating event with a reasonable probability of E s on 50 MHz. The <strong>Sep</strong>tember and January VHF contests are de facto 2 meter, UHF and microwave contests. E s on 6 meters sometimes occurs in <strong>Sep</strong>tember and January, but it’s rare. The multi-op stations operate all bands — 6 meters through the microwaves. They even do so during big 6 meter E-skip openings. The current scoring system favors UHF and microwave contacts, however. To do well, top contestants must operate on as many bands as possible. Some years, 34 November/December 2008 NCJ such as 2008, have seen good tropo and aurora conditions that favored the higher bands. So, I recommend leaving 6 meters in the June VHF QSO Party. DXpedition Lessons for VHF Contesters Several dedicated 6-meter-only DXpeditions took place in late June and early July. These included TO5E from St Barthelemy, CYØX from Sable Island and 5JØM from San Andres. TO5E made nearly 1800 QSOs on 6 meters, while CYØX logged nearly 4000 contacts, possibly setting an all-time record for DXpedition QSOs on 6 meters. These stations have some characteristics in common that VHF contesters may fi nd applicable. In addition to having good locations, they ran high power into large Yagi antennas. When operating, team members would call CQ consistently on a particular frequency, often using CW. The Jon K. Jones, NØJK operators stayed in the chair and kept at it, whether or not they had apparent propagation. By doing so they caught nearly every possible opening. They heard well, and modest little pistol stations were able to work them. CYØX heard my indoor dipole from EM28 on 6 meters July 8 (thanks, guys!). They do not give up. CYØX’s stay on Sable Island was extended due to fog that kept the charter plane from picking the team up. They continued to operate on 6 with 100 W into a 5 element Yagi. By doing this, CYØX caught several big coast-to-coast E s openings across the US and gave many ops a new country on 6. The lessons? Build as good a station as you are able with the biggest and highest antenna you can put up. During the contest, call CQ often and stay in the chair. Listen carefully for weaker signals and don’t give up. Persistence is key!
Contesting 101 Welcome back to Contesting 101. Fall has arrived, and I’m working on making antenna repairs and other station improvements. I hope your plans are proceeding on schedule. Competition: Winning, Losing and Playing the Game Many operators who enter the game of contesting do so in a very casual fashion. Our fi rst few forays into contesting might only involve a few hours of operation sandwiched between chores, work and family obligations. Little attention is paid to overall score; the operation is simply for the sheer fun of making contacts. Such casual contest operation is the meat and potatoes of contesting, however. Without all of the casual operators on the air, contesters would run out of people to work in a hurry. The simple joy of, “Can you hear me now? Yes I can!” lures us in, and the outside world with all of its responsibilities disappears while we’re on the air. After participating in a few contests, some operators may discover the joy of competition. It usually starts off subtly. You might fi nd that you placed higher than the operator across town with a better station. Maybe you received a certifi cate for fi rst place in your ARRL Section or Division or in your state. Perhaps a concentrated effort in a state QSO party resulted in a plaque or other handsome award. After a few such achievements, that little light bulb illuminates to suggest, “Hey, I’m not too bad at this, and it’s fun to boot!” Some contesters might discover a fi ercely competitive streak within themselves that they didn’t even know existed. Competition is a peculiar phenomenon. What else could drive a person to sit in front of a radio for hours on end, sometimes to the point of utter exhaustion? Contesting is ultimately a competitive game; therefore it brings out all of the uniquely human behaviors associated with competition. Some of these behaviors are exemplary. Some are, well, not so exemplary. The recent Olympics documented examples of true championship behavior and a few bozos as well. Ultimately operators must decide for themselves what matters most. Winning a contest requires a lot of effort, and winners are to be respected for their dedication and skill. Winning a major contest is not the only way to gain the respect of your fellow operators, however. The mountain of contesting achievement is high indeed. As with some other skilloriented human endeavors, there’s no top to the mountain, only views from different heights. When you see the same operators placing in the Top 10 in the same contests year after year, that achievement typically represents decades of contesting effort, and dozens — if not hundreds — of forgettable losses throughout their contesting careers, leading up to that point. Is Contesting Fair? Is Amateur Radio contesting fair? In the end it depends on how you look at it. From one perspective, it seems that only the largest stations in the best locations with the greatest operators have a chance of winning. While it may appear that little pistols have no chance, that attitude makes little sense if you think about it. The big stations and top operators usually took a long time and a lot of work to get there, and it should be very diffi cult to compete with them. While it’s true that the bar seems to rise higher and higher every year, history has shown that operator skill remains the most important factor in the equation. Big stations could not win a single contest without great operators at the helm. The bad news here is that there really is no level playing fi eld. The good news is that those willing to maximize their advantages and skills can choose to compete at whatever level they want. One of the bigger challenges facing the new competitor is understanding the playing fi eld. Many new ops get discouraged before they’ve had a chance to appreciate how the folks at the top typically climbed and scratched their way up through many years of effort. I believe it was N5KO who said (and I’m paraphrasing), “New contesters can’t understand or appreciate what the masters are doing or why.” New contesters don’t know about the countless forgettable losing efforts that preceded the big wins. The new operator doesn’t understand the amount of time and practice involved perfecting SO2R techniques or copying CW accurately at 40 to 50 WPM. I personally became very disillusioned with contesting several years ago, primarily owing to my failure to understand the playing fi eld. It took me a while to realize that I immensely enjoyed the operating and competing, regardless of the outcome. I have learned to choose my battles carefully and now have a better understanding of what’s possible from my station. As a result, I’m a lot less frustrated and less disappointed. I’ve even found a contest or two that I can win from home. I’ve traveled for contest DXpeditions and tasted the thrill of world-class competing as a team. Now I’m hooked for life on Kirk Pickering, K4RO contesting, but it took some real effort and deeper understanding of the playing fi eld to get over the hump of feeling like cannon fodder for the big guns. Location, Location Location! It’s helpful to understand the impact that geographical location can have on a given contest operation. From the US for example, the East Coast enjoys better propagation to Europe and thus has a considerable advantage in DX contests over the rest of the country. The high bands open earlier and longer to Europe, and the low-band paths are shorter, mostly over salt water. On ARRL November Sweepstakes weekends, the place to be is often somewhere between Louisiana and New Mexico — not the greatest locations for DX contesting. My point is that different regions experience different propagation, and not all locations are created equal. There is a reason that DX contest world titles often are won from North Africa or by stations operating from “3-point” countries in the Caribbean or on the equator. These areas offer terrifi c propagation paths to the major contesting population centers. That’s why top operators go to great lengths to build stations and to compete from such areas. You’ve Got to Play to Win An interesting aspect of contest operating is that newcomers essentially compete on the same playground as the Olympiclevel operators. So what’s a beginning competitor to do? The most important thing a new operator can do is operate a lot of contests and submit a log. One way to earn a few wall decorations for the shack is to choose a contest or category that requires less hardware than a major DX contest might. Some state QSO parties offer great competition without the need for a mega-station in an exotic location. The big guns usually prefer to slug it out in the single-operator/high-power category of the major contests. SOHP is generally agreed to be the ultimate operator proving ground, so we should expect very serious competition within that category. The lowpower, QRP and single-band categories offer great competition as well, with a little more chance for a good operator at an effective station to succeed. Study the results of previous years’ contests, and see if there’s a category that might be within reach. Operate the contest fulltime or as nearly as possible, and send in your log. I’ve seen operators win some contest categories with fewer than 100 NCJ November/December 2008 35
Page 1 and 2: ■ Contest University 2008 at Dayt
Page 3 and 4: “I was struck by how clean, natur
Page 5 and 6: Editorial Our “Better Halves” T
Page 7 and 8: the presenters are entertaining —
Page 9 and 10: adio no longer budges when you’re
Page 11 and 12: The Birth of the Louisiana Contest
Page 13 and 14: Solving the Long Rotator Cable Prob
Page 15 and 16: connecters to the chassis. Replacem
Page 17 and 18: their sunrise enhancement using the
Page 19 and 20: Simplifying the Four-Square The fou
Page 21 and 22: optimum phase angles for the curren
Page 23 and 24: Tips for Tuning a Full-Size 160 Met
Page 25 and 26: Figure 5 — The sidebands show abo
Page 27 and 28: Figure 10 — The VSWR = 1.03 at 18
Page 29 and 30: NCJ November/December 2008 27
Page 31 and 32: NCJ Profi le: Bob Naumann, W5OV Tis
Page 33 and 34: Workshop Chronicles As Plato and ot
Page 35: mostly runs stations at these times
Page 39 and 40: Contesting on a Budget That Very Fi
Page 41 and 42: RTTY Contesting Just two years ago,
Page 43 and 44: Results: 2008 West Coast Regional R
Page 45 and 46: Results: July 2008 North American Q
Page 47 and 48: Call Sign Score QSOs Mults QTH Team
Page 49 and 50: Shortwave Listeners (SWL-ers) have
Page 51: MORE DEALS THAN YOU CAN SHAKE A STI

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