201201.html

2012 ARRL January VHF SWEEPSTAKES
16 Logs Received
Revised 2012-05-22

Callsign	Score	ARRL Section	Category	Bands	QSOs	Points	Grids	Rover Grids Activated	PNW Grids Activated	PNW Grids Worked	Operators
K5QE*	814968	STX	Multi-Unlimited	ABCDEFGH	1348	2376	343			3	see below
N7EPD	13489	WWA	Single-Op High	ABCDEFGH	172	287	47		CN87	11	N7EPD
K7CW	5396	WWA	Single-Op High	AB	142	142	38		CN87	20	K7CW
KD7UO	4521	WWA	Single-Op Low	ABDF	114	137	33		CN87	16	KD7UO
KE0CO	3250	WWA	Single-Op Low	ABD	102	130	25		CN87	11	KE0CO
WW7D/R	2768	WWA	Rover-Limited	ABCD	147	173	16	4	see below	5	WW7D
WA7KVC/R	2398	WWA	Rover-Limited	ABD	103	109	22	6	see below	9	see below
K7ND	2184	WWA	Single-Op High	ABCDEFGH	41	104	21		CN87	4	K7ND
KI7JA	2136	OR	Single-Op Low	ABD	78	89	24		CN85	5	KI7JA
N7DB**	1452	OR	Single-Op Low	ABCD	59	66	22		CN85	7	N7DB
K7AWB	1408	EWA	Single-Op High	ABCD	60	64	22		DN17	6	K7AWB
K7YDL	1248	OR	Single-Op Low	ABCDF	68	96	13		CN85	6	K7YDL
K7HSJ	882	OR	Single-Op Low	ABCDEF	36	49	18		CN94	4	K7HSJ
KL7YK/R*	580	AK	Rover	ABCDE	40	58	10	2			KL7YK
VE7DAY	480	BC	Single-Op Low	ABCD	27	32	15		CO70	7	VE7DAY
K7HPT	130	EWA	Single-Op Low	ABCD	19	26	5		DN17	2	K7HPT

* = PNWVHFS Member operating outside the Society region. Not eligible for PNWVHFS Awards.
** = Not a member of PNWVHFS. Not eligible for PNWVHFS Awards.

Band Codes: A - 50 MHz, B - 144 MHz, C - 222 MHz, D - 432 MHz, E - 902 MHz, F - 1.2 GHz, G - 2.3 GHz, H - 3.4 GHz, I - 5.7 GHz

PNWVHFS AWARD WINNERS
Certificates at the PNWVHFS Conference in October 2013
Rover-Limited - NW Division: WW7D/R
Single-Op High Power: K7AWB - EWA, KI7JA - OR, N7EPD - WWA
Single-Op Low Power: VE7DAY - BC, K7YDL - OR, KD7UO - WWA

SOAPBOX

WW7D Rover-Limited: Grids activated CN87 CN88 CN97 CN98

Tough contest for a rover because of the uncharacteristic heavy snow during the week before for Western Washington. Only managed to get stuck once--took an hour to dig out (in between QSOs, of course).

WA7KVC Rover-Limited: Operators WA7KVC and WE7X, Grids activated CN76 CN77 CN78 CN87 CN88 CN97
Rod WE7X and Barry WA7KVC went roving around Olympic Peninsula coastline on January 21-22 during this ARRL January 2012 VHF Contest. Our goal was to activate the remote lowland coastal grids in the state during the VHF contest. This is the dead of winter so other possible destinations that involved "hilltopping" or the rugged Pacific Northwest mountainous inland grids was still digging out from snowfall, ice storms, downed trees, mudslides, widespread power outages and closures. To set the stage, you should realize that Rod's home had been without power for two days before the contest, and their neighborhood was still dark when we returned. Barry's home had power restored just before we left. Our plan to target the "warmer" ocean coast was mostly successful -- at least it didn't rain all the time during our trip. Sometimes it snowed for awhile instead. I love the banter when calling from the CN78 coastline: "CQ CQ, CQ Sekiu, CQ from Sekiu, CQ to Sekiu, and CQ everywhere else". All hams should have a chance to visit a place that can generate so much mind-boggling confusion. During the 650-mile drive, our constant companions were rain, cold, wind, squalls, snow and fog. But it was fabulously scenic. Photos and route and more exciting highlights are at http://www.wa7kvc.com. Barry WA7KVC (with a big thanks to Rod WE7X for all his great help!)

KL7YK Rover: Grids activated BP41 BP51
May not be one of the big guns even up here in Alaska but I get out and try to provide contacts for the other players up here. No grand 6m openings, only a little thermocline ducting on VHF. Was cold, day started at -11 degrees F but warmed up to 5 above. Did plant a 6m loop in the snow berm for that band since I was rover. It worked rather well for local contacts, was 6 feet above the snow.

KD7UO: This was more like Field Day conditions! Big ice storm meant no A/C mains, ran the first half of the 'test on a genset. But made the best of it and as always, a lot of fun!

KI7JA: Having blown my 80 amp pwr supply, I could not run my SSPA's. So, only low power this time. An opening to AZ and NM on 6M made this contest fun.

VE7DAY: I enjoyed the contest even though I didn't make many contacts.

K5QE Multi-Unlimited: Grid EM31 Operators K5QE, K5MQ, KN5O, W6XD, N5NU, K5AIH, WN2E, N5YA, K5YG, N5KDA
We made a serious effort to maximize our Q count and grid counts for this contest. Saturday started out with a great 6M opening. For us, this is unheard of!! Jason-N5NU had an hour with over 200 QSO's made on 6M. This was really exceptional in January. Sunday saw spotty 6M propagation with some DX. We made good use of meteor scatter on 6M and 2M during the late night hours. We installed 5.7G and 10G for this contest, but it did not work at all. Murphy must have been sitting on the little dish. Otherwise, no station problems. 2M EME contacts were down this time to about half of normal and 432 was a total loss. However, we made a new record score for K5QE in the January contest, so we have to be happy with the results.