Last March Bill W7QQ wrote about his 76GHz adventures in AZ with mw luminaries W5LUA and VE4MA. Tony W8ZR has an article in the 2^nd Quarter 2019 issue of DUBUS detailing the same operating activity. Picture of Bill on White Tanks mountain included.

 

Congrats Bill !!

 

73,

 

Bob K5WO

Thanks. I was really beat when I got home sat night. It seemed like a good trade at the time. Towards the end of the opening, the TX stations, W5PR and K5QE,  were coming in, and I thought the opening might expand there, but it didn’t ‘t, so I left. I got home after 1100 as it was.

James Duffey KK6MC

Cedar Crest NM

On Jun 10, 2019, at 16:27, Keith Morehouse <w9rm@...> wrote:

Jim, you missed very little those last 45 minutes on 6M...

-W9RM

Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO

On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 4:21 PM James Duffey <JamesDuffey@...> wrote:

Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   6:   183    72
   2:    46     9
 222:    26     5
 432:   32     7
-------------------
Total:  345    93  Total Score = 34,845

Thanks to the Sunday evening Es, I had the best contest here in several years. Having just returned from a 7 week/7000 mile road trip I decided to take it easy and just do a limited rove with the easy DM64/DM65/DM74/DM75 Moriarty convergence the first day and a more ambitious westerly rove the second day if I felt up to it, which I did. I did not operate in motion as I didn’t even try to convince Ginger to come along. 

The contest started with a brief, two QSO, Es opening, but it was mostly locals the first day, but they were plentiful and I ended the day a bit better than I expected for a no Es contest. Made a couple of nice long haul QSOes though, several with K5LA in El Paso and W9RM up in Olathe CO. Particularly nice were the SSB QSOs with Keith from DM74. It was encouraging to hear all the local activity, especially on the higher bands and I was encouraged to hear two new rovers, W0AMT/r and WA6BJH/r. AA5PR was also out, but I don’t think we connected. 

I felt OK the second day, so I set off for the more ambitious westerly route
consisting of DM54/DM64/DM55/DM56/DM66. The westerly route gave me a chance to work N1AV and WA7XX in AZ which was nice. The day started pretty much like the first day, although there was a small Es opening in the morning, but I think I missed most of it while in motion and trying to connect with the AZ guys.

I was using APRS, and my map from Sunday is attached. 

The contest was really made for me on Sunday evening when 6M opened to everywhere and I was in DM66, a rather rare grid in the contest. I had 130 6M QSOs the last hour and a half and a max hour in that time span with 102 QSOs. I was about 3 hours from home in DM66, so I pulled up stakes and left with 45 minutes left in the contest, but the band appeared to be dying with few responses to my CQs and no new stations on the band. And the prospect of a three hour drive home along NM550 seemed daunting.

<image1.jpeg>

James Duffey KK6MC

Cedar Crest NM

Dave - We will miss you too.  When (if?) you come out for the Duke CIty Hamfest the VHFers can all get together for lunch.

James Duffey KK6MC
Cedar Crest NM

> On Jun 10, 2019, at 16:09, David Hollander <n7rk@...> wrote:
>
> Wish I was closer.
>
> Have fun.
>
> Dave N7RK
> --
> Dave Hollander N7RK
> Arizona Tube Supply
> http://arizonatubesupply.com
>
> Ham Radio Page
> http://n7rk.com
>
>
>

Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   6:   183    72
   2:    46     9
 222:    26     5
 432:   32     7
-------------------
Total:  345    93  Total Score = 34,845

Thanks to the Sunday evening Es, I had the best contest here in several years. Having just returned from a 7 week/7000 mile road trip I decided to take it easy and just do a limited rove with the easy DM64/DM65/DM74/DM75 Moriarty convergence the first day and a more ambitious westerly rove the second day if I felt up to it, which I did. I did not operate in motion as I didn’t even try to convince Ginger to come along. 

The contest started with a brief, two QSO, Es opening, but it was mostly locals the first day, but they were plentiful and I ended the day a bit better than I expected for a no Es contest. Made a couple of nice long haul QSOes though, several with K5LA in El Paso and W9RM up in Olathe CO. Particularly nice were the SSB QSOs with Keith from DM74. It was encouraging to hear all the local activity, especially on the higher bands and I was encouraged to hear two new rovers, W0AMT/r and WA6BJH/r. AA5PR was also out, but I don’t think we connected. 

I felt OK the second day, so I set off for the more ambitious westerly route
consisting of DM54/DM64/DM55/DM56/DM66. The westerly route gave me a chance to work N1AV and WA7XX in AZ which was nice. The day started pretty much like the first day, although there was a small Es opening in the morning, but I think I missed most of it while in motion and trying to connect with the AZ guys.

I was using APRS, and my map from Sunday is attached. 

The contest was really made for me on Sunday evening when 6M opened to everywhere and I was in DM66, a rather rare grid in the contest. I had 130 6M QSOs the last hour and a half and a max hour in that time span with 102 QSOs. I was about 3 hours from home in DM66, so I pulled up stakes and left with 45 minutes left in the contest, but the band appeared to be dying with few responses to my CQs and no new stations on the band. And the prospect of a three hour drive home along NM550 seemed daunting.

James Duffey KK6MC

Cedar Crest NM

MIke,

At some point when you and I are in the same place at the same time, remind me to tell you the story from the 2019 June VHF contest where I was listening to you and Bill on 222.1 MHz chatting away.. S9 on my meter. 
It was so loud I thought it was locals off the back of my antenna "in the way" of me being able to hear you all.. until Bill signed with his call.

Only some 350 ish miles away over some serious mountains.   ;-)

Nice to work many of you there in NM, and the a new goal to pick up the rest in Sept going forward.    The NMchat page was helpful - minus the odd "logout" that was happening often.

 - Jay N1AV

DM43ff 50MHz - 10GHz (minus 3 GHz)

On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:04 PM Mike WB2FKO <mph@...> wrote:

No, did not get RHR during the contest.  I heard you talking to him at
some point, but he was gone or inaudible by the time I had the beams
pointed north. Only a wire 250 mW on 1296; pretty incredible.

Nice to get K5LA in DM61 on both 2 and 222.  We were both QRP for the
latter with big mountains in the way, but piece of cake with FT8.

Worked W7D/R in DN10/11 and DN20/21 using meteor scatter on 6 and 2.
That's 2 new ones on 6m and another 4 grids for me on 2m; surprised how
quickly it went on 2m but really shouldn't be. Those guys drove halfway
across the country to activate some rare grids and brought plenty of
horsepower to make sure it was worth the effort. See attached photo from
their Twitter feed.  They are even doing mobile MS on 6m and I worked
them that way in DN81 on Friday morning before going to work. VHF grid
chasers should be aware that they will be setting up in many rare and
semi-rare grids on their way back to Iowa this week.



On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Bill wrote:
> Well done Mike,
>
> I finished with 229 Q points and 105 grids for 24,045 total.
>
> I had a good time and didn't take it too seriously.  It was a good
> opportunity to learn MSK144 and FT8 as I had nobody else around to do
> it.  Reflecting what Keith W9RM had to say and my experience with you,
> I may have some disconnects in my log:  I set the logbook reminder in
> WSJT  and logged a QSO anytime that popped up.  Some times that
> happened before completing the loaded messages, so I am confused as to
> what it takes to complete on FT8.  No problems on MSK144.  I didn't
> use any spotting service on digi; Ping Jockey or other and that gave
> me some periods when I saw you and others working when nobody answered
> my CQ.
>
> I was not able to get WSJT-x and N1MM to quit fighting over the radio
> interface so it was pretty uncomfortable to bail out of a  digi run to
> finish logging in N1MM.  Also did not have the 6 and 144+ computers
> networked and that became pretty cumbersome as well.  My fault.
>
> I put up a 432 yagi on a 20 foot pole because Keith wanted a Q but it
> was far more useful than that. I worked 5 stations in Phoenix as well
> as Keith on 432 and used it for contacts with Duffey as well.  Longest
> was K7KMR west of Phoenix at 400.3 miles, CW with 50 watts on both
> ends.  I'll send a note for the web site posting for that one.  Worked
> all those guys on 222 and 144 as well.
>
> The new Elecraft amplifier was used on 6 meters and I ran it at about
> half power on digi modes.  That power setting was used to keep the
> temperatures down and avoid the high fan setting. It's a great legal
> limit phone amplifier but not up to the task on digi modes for 6
> meters.  It'll probably be OK on HF.
>
> I worked four rovers, the ones you mentioned as well as WA6BJH/r. 
> Good to see that many in NM.  There was another briefly in the NW
> corner but I wasn't able to hear him.
>
> Good to hear K5RHR on.  Did you work him?  He asked to work on 1296 so
> I had a wire antenna and placed it just outside. We worked on 1/4 watt.
>
> All in all, pretty fun.
>
> 73 Bill W7QQ

Jay, too bad we didn't hear you on 222.  That would have been a nice one.  I'll see if I can fix the chat logout problem.  It's on my to-do list.  Mike

On 6/10/19 3:14 PM, Jay wrote:

MIke,

At some point when you and I are in the same place at the same time, remind me to tell you the story from the 2019 June VHF contest where I was listening to you and Bill on 222.1 MHz chatting away.. S9 on my meter. 
It was so loud I thought it was locals off the back of my antenna "in the way" of me being able to hear you all.. until Bill signed with his call.

Only some 350 ish miles away over some serious mountains.   ;-)

Nice to work many of you there in NM, and the a new goal to pick up the rest in Sept going forward.    The NMchat page was helpful - minus the odd "logout" that was happening often.

 - Jay N1AV

DM43ff 50MHz - 10GHz (minus 3 GHz)

On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:04 PM Mike WB2FKO <mph@...> wrote:

No, did not get RHR during the contest.  I heard you talking to him at
some point, but he was gone or inaudible by the time I had the beams
pointed north. Only a wire 250 mW on 1296; pretty incredible.

Nice to get K5LA in DM61 on both 2 and 222.  We were both QRP for the
latter with big mountains in the way, but piece of cake with FT8.

Worked W7D/R in DN10/11 and DN20/21 using meteor scatter on 6 and 2.
That's 2 new ones on 6m and another 4 grids for me on 2m; surprised how
quickly it went on 2m but really shouldn't be. Those guys drove halfway
across the country to activate some rare grids and brought plenty of
horsepower to make sure it was worth the effort. See attached photo from
their Twitter feed.  They are even doing mobile MS on 6m and I worked
them that way in DN81 on Friday morning before going to work. VHF grid
chasers should be aware that they will be setting up in many rare and
semi-rare grids on their way back to Iowa this week.



On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Bill wrote:
> Well done Mike,
>
> I finished with 229 Q points and 105 grids for 24,045 total.
>
> I had a good time and didn't take it too seriously.  It was a good
> opportunity to learn MSK144 and FT8 as I had nobody else around to do
> it.  Reflecting what Keith W9RM had to say and my experience with you,
> I may have some disconnects in my log:  I set the logbook reminder in
> WSJT  and logged a QSO anytime that popped up.  Some times that
> happened before completing the loaded messages, so I am confused as to
> what it takes to complete on FT8.  No problems on MSK144.  I didn't
> use any spotting service on digi; Ping Jockey or other and that gave
> me some periods when I saw you and others working when nobody answered
> my CQ.
>
> I was not able to get WSJT-x and N1MM to quit fighting over the radio
> interface so it was pretty uncomfortable to bail out of a  digi run to
> finish logging in N1MM.  Also did not have the 6 and 144+ computers
> networked and that became pretty cumbersome as well.  My fault.
>
> I put up a 432 yagi on a 20 foot pole because Keith wanted a Q but it
> was far more useful than that. I worked 5 stations in Phoenix as well
> as Keith on 432 and used it for contacts with Duffey as well.  Longest
> was K7KMR west of Phoenix at 400.3 miles, CW with 50 watts on both
> ends.  I'll send a note for the web site posting for that one.  Worked
> all those guys on 222 and 144 as well.
>
> The new Elecraft amplifier was used on 6 meters and I ran it at about
> half power on digi modes.  That power setting was used to keep the
> temperatures down and avoid the high fan setting. It's a great legal
> limit phone amplifier but not up to the task on digi modes for 6
> meters.  It'll probably be OK on HF.
>
> I worked four rovers, the ones you mentioned as well as WA6BJH/r. 
> Good to see that many in NM.  There was another briefly in the NW
> corner but I wasn't able to hear him.
>
> Good to hear K5RHR on.  Did you work him?  He asked to work on 1296 so
> I had a wire antenna and placed it just outside. We worked on 1/4 watt.
>
> All in all, pretty fun.
>
> 73 Bill W7QQ