ARRL 2003 UHF CONTEST AT KMØT
Pre Contest Prep:
The ARRL UHF Contest is a good way to get your feet wet on the UHF and up bands. This contest for myself and NØDQS was no exception. We had the 24 Ghz and Laser systems up and running, and were interested in seeing what we could do with them for the contest.
In addition, the 5.7 and 10 Ghz dish setups on the NØDQS/R were now working again, as they uncharacteristically "blew up" for no apparent reason during the ARRL 2003 June Contest. We had just got done working each other in the 10th grid and they for some reason had their receivers blown. It turned out that the IF input stages for both transverters were toasted. Best we can figure it was a voltage problem caused by a bad alternator, but we were never able to really pin it down.
Other things that needed fixing were my 3456 Mhz loopers on the tower. The recent hail or birds had squashed some loops. In fact one right in front of the driven element was really screwed up. However, I never got around to getting the tower laid over to get it fixed. Gene's rover had really taken a beating in a hail storm. Lots of loopers were demolished and required considerable time to get straightened out. In fact the hail dented hoods and bent the elements of the 1296 Mhz M2 yagi straight down! If you have one of these, you know how hard that would be to do as the length of the elements is pretty short and they are very stiff from being fairly thick!
In addition, the microwave tower with the 5.7 and 10 Ghz dishes took a beating in a recent storm. The whole assembly up top got twisted about 45 degrees. Gene came over the week prior to the contest and we had to lower the tower down and do some readjusting. After that, things were ready to roll!
The Contest:
Not much to report out of the ordinary. It was a good time and glad for all that got on! Oh - one thing was a new grid on 24 Ghz when Gene - NØDQS/R was in EN24aa for a 63 mile path! That makes 6 grids on the band to date and 6 grids worked for the contest on 24 Ghz!
Contest Summary: KMØT
| Band | QSOs | Pts | QSO Pts | Grids |
| 222 MHZ | 37 | 3 | 111 | 18 |
| 432 MHZ | 33 | 3 | 99 | 17 |
| 902 MHZ | 16 | 6 | 96 | 12 |
| 1296 MHZ | 26 | 6 | 156 | 14 |
| 2304 MHZ | 14 | 12 | 168 | 11 |
| 3456 MHZ | 12 | 12 | 144 | 11 |
| 5760 MHZ | 12 | 12 | 144 | 11 |
| 10368 MHZ | 11 | 12 | 132 | 11 |
| 24 Ghz | 6 | 12 | 72 | 6 |
| LASER | 1 | 12 | 12 | 1 |
| Totals All Bands | 168 | 1134 | 112 |
KMØT CLAIMED SCORE: 127,008
SUMMARY CONTESTS PAST
| YEAR | SCORE | QSOs | GRIDS | PROPAGATION | ACTIVITY |
| 2002 | 54,288 | 104 | 78 | BAD - WX | POOR DUE TO WX |
| 2001 | 138,312 | 184 | 136 | AWESOME | GREAT DUE TO TROPO |
I would characterize this years propagation as poor. The grid count was up, but that was due to NØDQS being in 3 more grids than last year for all the bands, and the addition of 24 Ghz and Laser. In addition, activity seemed to be pretty good as all the bands showed more multipliers than last year. Thanks everyone!
"The Rover’s Corner" ©
What can I say, the rovers ALWAYS help out. Here is the chart of Rover activity I worked:
| BAND | NØDQS/R | WØAMT/R | KB9TLV/R |
| 222 MHZ | 11 | 6 | 3 |
| 432 MHZ |
11 |
6 | 3 |
| 902 MHZ | 11 | ||
| 1296 MHZ | 11 | 5 | |
| 2304 MHZ | 11 | ||
| 3456 MHZ | 11 | ||
| 5760 MHZ | 11 | ||
| 10368 MHZ | 11 | ||
| 24 Ghz | 6 | ||
| LASER | 1 | ||
| Total QSOs | 95 | 17 | 6 |
Total Rover QSOs = 118
| YEAR | QSOS | % | ACTIVITY |
| 2003 | 118 | 70 | GOOD |
| 2002 | 71 | 68 | LIGHT |
| 2001 | 52 | 28 | LIGHT |
Rover QSOs % of Total QSOs = 70% WOW! The rovers really were necessary! This really shows that without propagation, the rovers are the only way to get a good number of QSOs out here in the Midwest.
A special thanks to all the rovers. Without contacts from them, the score would be next to nothing! Gene, NØDQS/R had a good run, no equipment problems. Jon - WØAMT/R with his co-pilot John KCØLBT had a good run as well. Good to catch them when I could. They made a real good effort to catch up to me when I could find em! KB9TLV/R had good signals as well, thanks John!
GRID CHARTS
Here are some grid charts showing the extent worked on the various bands. These where clipped from Vqlog. I was able to export in ADIF format for my contest data from VHFDX (which I feel is superior in speed and ease of use for logging these VHF contests) The data transfers very quickly to Vqlog without any problems. The neat thing about Vqlog is that it has the ability to generate graphs, maps and charts based on the QSO data.
"Snip"
As you can see, there are no grid charts at this time. They take lots of time to make and I'm running out of time! Hopefully I will update this page with the charts. However, look back to other contest writeups and see the charts, they will be essentially the same as last years contest. Check out the grid counts above and you will get the idea.
Well, better propagation next time hopefully!
73 and See You Next Contest!
Mike - KMØT EN13vc