The 2016 June VHF contest came and went over the past weekend. It was the first contest since moving out here to AZ where I planned to get on, if even for an hour or two. No yagi antennas in the air, crappy coax, no preamps, no amplifiers.. Just a basic HF + 6M station with a 6-40M vertical and a EFHW hung at about 8′ off the ground.
Needless to say I spent all my time in the shack on 6M. The vertical was at least 9 db down from the EFHW, even at 8′ off the ground.
Basically, with the opening on Sunday morning, if I heard them, I could work them, even with the marginal antenna, how height and 70W out of the 1200DX. The first opening to DM43 ended about three hours after it started, and I was happy with the results – especially with what I had to work with, as compared to back in FN54 with the multiple towers, pre-amps, hardline, etc etc etc.
I ended up with about 50 stations worked in a few hours, with the ONLY station that I was not able to work being Lance, in Montana- W7GJ “Grape Juice”, as he had a TON on stations calling him. I bet his score was off the hook on this band.
A lot of the local big 6M stations ended up working in the Caribbean as well as Europe during the contest, so the bands were great at times.
Out of the 50 stations worked, I ended with 9 new states and about 20 new grids.. A fun time and the first real “contest” that I was able to play around with all the settings on the 1200, and putting the N3FJP software through the paces. Next year, if everything goes to plan, I will either be MH (MotorHome) rover for a few grids – or have the tower up at the house and be able to work a bit more. Time will tell.