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After watching DXMaps the last couple of days and through the day yesterday, it appeared we just might have a chance at some early season sporadic E. I was on the fence about the Sprint and didn't think it would be much fun if it only produced the same amount of activity that was seen locally during the previous 2, 222 & 432 activities.
It turned out there was a reasonable amount of activity, although it was limited to the upper Mississippi River valley area (Minneapolis area, eastern Dakota's and central Wisconsin to U.P. of Michigan). Some Chicago and vicinity stations were worked, but most of the more southern contacts were on ionoscatter. Some EN35 stations were well over S9 for several hours.
I went in with the intention of avoiding using FT8 unless there was no other choice. I'm still trying to decide if there exists enough SSB activity to continue serious effort on my part in the summer VHF contests. I was able to generate some action on SSB starting about 30 min into the Sprint by CQing on the traditional calling frequency. The runs were very limited, even though stations were available and, not surprisingly, nobody told me to get the heck off the calling frequency. After maybe 15 minutes on .125, I got a little self-conscious about being there and moved to .127 for the remainder of the opening. I worked maybe 60 Qs in 2.5 hours, which isn't really too good from a June or July perspective, but being a limited interest contest and having a very small Es footprint, I guess it wasn't too bad. SSB contacts became scarce with maybe 45 minutes left to go and I switched to FT8 to answer stations which were new multipliers. I never CQed on FT8 which would probably have added another 5-10 Qs. At the end, even though the entire band was empty of signals except on the FT8 "channel", digital signals were still S9+. So much for utilizing the "weak signal" capability of the mode. Also, all during my SSB 'runs', where some phone signals were 40 over 9, the FT8 channel stayed (over)crowded. It's obvious many 6M ops simply stay on FT8 regardless of QRM and signal strength, even though high run rate on SSB was guaranteed.
At the end, it was enough to keep me in the chair for the full 4 hours and to answer some of my questions about the future of contesting on 6. I think the jury decision on future participation has yet to be read, but the members are coming back into the courtroom.
W9RM 6M Spring Sprint DM58
87x43 = 3,741 4 hours Club: New Mexico VHF Society
Equipment: Yaesu FT920+KW; 7el@45' & 5el fixed at 300 deg@ 30'
As of now, 1st place high power outside 1-land
-W9RM DM58 CO Keith Morehouse
via MotoG
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Nice job Keith. I picked up some new grids in the Dakotas and in Wisconsin. I worked only phone and cw (2). I monitored FT8 and there was lots of traffic. I decided to not be part of that problem.
I think the opening for me was a little skewed from your experience as I heard you working into the Great Lakes though I could not hear anything in return. My east pointing CQs were mostly answered by Phoenix and SoCal area stations off the back of the antenna during the last hour.
It wasn’t perfect but it was fun to hear the excitement over the opening.
On May 10, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Keith Morehouse <w9rm@...> wrote:
After watching DXMaps the last couple of days and through the day yesterday, it appeared we just might have a chance at some early season sporadic E. I was on the fence about the Sprint and didn't think it would be much fun if it only produced the same amount of activity that was seen locally during the previous 2, 222 & 432 activities.
It turned out there was a reasonable amount of activity, although it was limited to the upper Mississippi River valley area (Minneapolis area, eastern Dakota's and central Wisconsin to U.P. of Michigan). Some Chicago and vicinity stations were worked, but most of the more southern contacts were on ionoscatter. Some EN35 stations were well over S9 for several hours.
I went in with the intention of avoiding using FT8 unless there was no other choice. I'm still trying to decide if there exists enough SSB activity to continue serious effort on my part in the summer VHF contests. I was able to generate some action on SSB starting about 30 min into the Sprint by CQing on the traditional calling frequency. The runs were very limited, even though stations were available and, not surprisingly, nobody told me to get the heck off the calling frequency. After maybe 15 minutes on .125, I got a little self-conscious about being there and moved to .127 for the remainder of the opening. I worked maybe 60 Qs in 2.5 hours, which isn't really too good from a June or July perspective, but being a limited interest contest and having a very small Es footprint, I guess it wasn't too bad. SSB contacts became scarce with maybe 45 minutes left to go and I switched to FT8 to answer stations which were new multipliers. I never CQed on FT8 which would probably have added another 5-10 Qs. At the end, even though the entire band was empty of signals except on the FT8 "channel", digital signals were still S9+. So much for utilizing the "weak signal" capability of the mode. Also, all during my SSB 'runs', where some phone signals were 40 over 9, the FT8 channel stayed (over)crowded. It's obvious many 6M ops simply stay on FT8 regardless of QRM and signal strength, even though high run rate on SSB was guaranteed.
At the end, it was enough to keep me in the chair for the full 4 hours and to answer some of my questions about the future of contesting on 6. I think the jury decision on future participation has yet to be read, but the members are coming back into the courtroom.
W9RM 6M Spring Sprint DM58
87x43 = 3,741 4 hours Club: New Mexico VHF Society
Equipment: Yaesu FT920+KW; 7el@45' & 5el fixed at 300 deg@ 30'
As of now, 1st place high power outside 1-land
-W9RM DM58 CO Keith Morehouse
via MotoG
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Congrats Keith, good job.
Sounds like 6 meters SSB at 50.125 opening now. I have had some direction indicator issues with my VHF/UHF antenna's rotator. Went from that to absolutely no rotation recently. Obvious now why, upper wraps of tape at the tower leg had weathered away allowing the control cable to buffet in the wind, eventually breaking the cable completely through half way up the tower. So now I am stuck with antennas pointing due west. Will need new cable and a tower climber to repair. Put up a quick and dirty yesterday to be able to monitor 6 meters. Stuck an old 6 meter mag mount quarter wave vertical on the metal roof of the ADXA club trailer and 50 ft RG-213 to it. While not much better than a dummy load, I did work AI9Z in EN46 with it and 100 watts last evening. For an improved interim antenna, I should be able to use a 5 ele on a push-up to about 25 feet with armstrong (rope) rotator. That will take some time to get done though. 73, Bob N5EPA DM64vx
On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 2:00 PM Keith Morehouse < w9rm@...> wrote: After watching DXMaps the last couple of days and through the day yesterday, it appeared we just might have a chance at some early season sporadic E. I was on the fence about the Sprint and didn't think it would be much fun if it only produced the same amount of activity that was seen locally during the previous 2, 222 & 432 activities.
It turned out there was a reasonable amount of activity, although it was limited to the upper Mississippi River valley area (Minneapolis area, eastern Dakota's and central Wisconsin to U.P. of Michigan). Some Chicago and vicinity stations were worked, but most of the more southern contacts were on ionoscatter. Some EN35 stations were well over S9 for several hours.
I went in with the intention of avoiding using FT8 unless there was no other choice. I'm still trying to decide if there exists enough SSB activity to continue serious effort on my part in the summer VHF contests. I was able to generate some action on SSB starting about 30 min into the Sprint by CQing on the traditional calling frequency. The runs were very limited, even though stations were available and, not surprisingly, nobody told me to get the heck off the calling frequency. After maybe 15 minutes on .125, I got a little self-conscious about being there and moved to .127 for the remainder of the opening. I worked maybe 60 Qs in 2.5 hours, which isn't really too good from a June or July perspective, but being a limited interest contest and having a very small Es footprint, I guess it wasn't too bad. SSB contacts became scarce with maybe 45 minutes left to go and I switched to FT8 to answer stations which were new multipliers. I never CQed on FT8 which would probably have added another 5-10 Qs. At the end, even though the entire band was empty of signals except on the FT8 "channel", digital signals were still S9+. So much for utilizing the "weak signal" capability of the mode. Also, all during my SSB 'runs', where some phone signals were 40 over 9, the FT8 channel stayed (over)crowded. It's obvious many 6M ops simply stay on FT8 regardless of QRM and signal strength, even though high run rate on SSB was guaranteed.
At the end, it was enough to keep me in the chair for the full 4 hours and to answer some of my questions about the future of contesting on 6. I think the jury decision on future participation has yet to be read, but the members are coming back into the courtroom.
W9RM 6M Spring Sprint DM58
87x43 = 3,741 4 hours Club: New Mexico VHF Society
Equipment: Yaesu FT920+KW; 7el@45' & 5el fixed at 300 deg@ 30'
As of now, 1st place high power outside 1-land
-W9RM DM58 CO Keith Morehouse
via MotoG
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Looking at the angles, the opening from central NM would probably be into far northern MN and western VE3 (Like, take off 'eh, hoser ). Little to work up that way.
One other thing I noticed about the FT8 channel - I was, of course, in contest mode. Others were not. Now, what's supposed to happen if both ends are using WSJT-X, is the Q is happily completed, whether you're sending grids in contest mode or 'funny little number' - they took care of this issue several releases ago. However, I had several instances of a guy NOT in contest mode "refusing" to sequence the Q forward when I responded to his 'funny number' report with RRR <grid>. SInce all cases originally answered with a 'funny number' greater than 5, I have to assume he was hearing me fine and he was running some other fork of WSJT-X that didn't have the fix, for whatever reason.
After getting a repeat two or three times, I just aborted the Q and moved on.
Just another thing to slow down an already slow contest mode...
-RM Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO
Nice job Keith. I picked up some new grids in the Dakotas and in Wisconsin. I worked only phone and cw (2). I monitored FT8 and there was lots of traffic. I decided to not be part of that problem.
I think the opening for me was a little skewed from your experience as I heard you working into the Great Lakes though I could not hear anything in return. My east pointing CQs were mostly answered by Phoenix and SoCal area stations off the back of the antenna during the last hour.
It wasn’t perfect but it was fun to hear the excitement over the opening.
Bill W7QQ On May 10, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Keith Morehouse <w9rm@...> wrote:
After watching DXMaps the last couple of days and through the day yesterday, it appeared we just might have a chance at some early season sporadic E. I was on the fence about the Sprint and didn't think it would be much fun if it only produced the same amount of activity that was seen locally during the previous 2, 222 & 432 activities.
It turned out there was a reasonable amount of activity, although it was limited to the upper Mississippi River valley area (Minneapolis area, eastern Dakota's and central Wisconsin to U.P. of Michigan). Some Chicago and vicinity stations were worked, but most of the more southern contacts were on ionoscatter. Some EN35 stations were well over S9 for several hours.
I went in with the intention of avoiding using FT8 unless there was no other choice. I'm still trying to decide if there exists enough SSB activity to continue serious effort on my part in the summer VHF contests. I was able to generate some action on SSB starting about 30 min into the Sprint by CQing on the traditional calling frequency. The runs were very limited, even though stations were available and, not surprisingly, nobody told me to get the heck off the calling frequency. After maybe 15 minutes on .125, I got a little self-conscious about being there and moved to .127 for the remainder of the opening. I worked maybe 60 Qs in 2.5 hours, which isn't really too good from a June or July perspective, but being a limited interest contest and having a very small Es footprint, I guess it wasn't too bad. SSB contacts became scarce with maybe 45 minutes left to go and I switched to FT8 to answer stations which were new multipliers. I never CQed on FT8 which would probably have added another 5-10 Qs. At the end, even though the entire band was empty of signals except on the FT8 "channel", digital signals were still S9+. So much for utilizing the "weak signal" capability of the mode. Also, all during my SSB 'runs', where some phone signals were 40 over 9, the FT8 channel stayed (over)crowded. It's obvious many 6M ops simply stay on FT8 regardless of QRM and signal strength, even though high run rate on SSB was guaranteed.
At the end, it was enough to keep me in the chair for the full 4 hours and to answer some of my questions about the future of contesting on 6. I think the jury decision on future participation has yet to be read, but the members are coming back into the courtroom.
W9RM 6M Spring Sprint DM58
87x43 = 3,741 4 hours Club: New Mexico VHF Society
Equipment: Yaesu FT920+KW; 7el@45' & 5el fixed at 300 deg@ 30'
As of now, 1st place high power outside 1-land
-W9RM DM58 CO Keith Morehouse
via MotoG
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Bruce Draper <bruceaa5b@...>
I worked about a dozen on FT8, all pretty strong, then a couple on phone, then called 20 unanswered CQs on CW (while the FT8 frequency was still hopping). Sigh.
Bruce AA5B
On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 2:00 PM Keith Morehouse < w9rm@...> wrote: After watching DXMaps the last couple of days and through the day yesterday, it appeared we just might have a chance at some early season sporadic E. I was on the fence about the Sprint and didn't think it would be much fun if it only produced the same amount of activity that was seen locally during the previous 2, 222 & 432 activities.
It turned out there was a reasonable amount of activity, although it was limited to the upper Mississippi River valley area (Minneapolis area, eastern Dakota's and central Wisconsin to U.P. of Michigan). Some Chicago and vicinity stations were worked, but most of the more southern contacts were on ionoscatter. Some EN35 stations were well over S9 for several hours.
I went in with the intention of avoiding using FT8 unless there was no other choice. I'm still trying to decide if there exists enough SSB activity to continue serious effort on my part in the summer VHF contests. I was able to generate some action on SSB starting about 30 min into the Sprint by CQing on the traditional calling frequency. The runs were very limited, even though stations were available and, not surprisingly, nobody told me to get the heck off the calling frequency. After maybe 15 minutes on .125, I got a little self-conscious about being there and moved to .127 for the remainder of the opening. I worked maybe 60 Qs in 2.5 hours, which isn't really too good from a June or July perspective, but being a limited interest contest and having a very small Es footprint, I guess it wasn't too bad. SSB contacts became scarce with maybe 45 minutes left to go and I switched to FT8 to answer stations which were new multipliers. I never CQed on FT8 which would probably have added another 5-10 Qs. At the end, even though the entire band was empty of signals except on the FT8 "channel", digital signals were still S9+. So much for utilizing the "weak signal" capability of the mode. Also, all during my SSB 'runs', where some phone signals were 40 over 9, the FT8 channel stayed (over)crowded. It's obvious many 6M ops simply stay on FT8 regardless of QRM and signal strength, even though high run rate on SSB was guaranteed.
At the end, it was enough to keep me in the chair for the full 4 hours and to answer some of my questions about the future of contesting on 6. I think the jury decision on future participation has yet to be read, but the members are coming back into the courtroom.
W9RM 6M Spring Sprint DM58
87x43 = 3,741 4 hours Club: New Mexico VHF Society
Equipment: Yaesu FT920+KW; 7el@45' & 5el fixed at 300 deg@ 30'
As of now, 1st place high power outside 1-land
-W9RM DM58 CO Keith Morehouse
via MotoG
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