2016 ARRL January VHF Contest

Callsign	Score	ARRL Section	Category	Bands	QSOs	Points	Grids	Rover Grids Activated	Grids Activated	PNW Grids Worked
K5QE*	105780	STX	Limited Multi-Op	ABCD	419	516	205		EM31
K7ATN/R	42834	OR	Unlimited Rover	ABCDEF	406	726	59	9	see below	13
WW7D/R	38286	WWA	Limited Rover	ABCD	537	709	54	10	see below	17
KE7SW	13650	WWA	SOHP	ABCDEFGHI	168	273	50		CN87	15
K7YDL	13360	OR	SOHP	ABCDEF	233	334	40		CN85	16
N7EPD	13348	WWA	SOHP	ABCDEFG	177	284	47		CN87	14
KD7UO	9560	WWA	SOHP	ABCDEF	170	239	40		CN87	17
KE0CO	9400	WWA	SOLP	ABCDEF	135	235	40		CN87	13
KD7TS	6494	WWA	SOHP	ABCDEFGHI	88	191	34		CN87	7
KE7IHG/R	5832	OR	Rover	ABCDE	127	162	36	4	see below	13
VE7JH/R	4089	BC	Rover	ABCD	115	141	29	2	see below	12
K7ND	3328	WWA	SOHP	ACDF	61	128	26		CN87	9
KG7P	3288	WWA	SOLP	ABCDEF	82	137	24		CN87	7
K0JJ	3151	OR	SOHP	ABCDF	100	137	23		CN85	10
N6ZE/R	2325	WWA	Unlimited Rover	ABCDE	76	93	25	3	see below	6
K7CW	2325	WWA	SOHP	A	93	93	25		CN87	18
K7GEN/R	1856	OR	Rover	ABCDEF	70	116	16	2	see below	3
KE7MSU/R	1820	OR	Rover	ABCDEF	53	70	26	3	see below	10
VE7AFZ/R	1562	BC	Unlimited Rover	ABCD	66	71	22	2	see below	10
KB7ME	1560	WWA	SOLP	ABCD	65	78	20		CN85	10
WA7ZWG	1540	WWA	SOLP	ABCD	61	70	22		CN88	9
K7SMA	754	OR	SOLP	ABD	48	58	13		CN85	6
N6KW	728	WWA	SO3B	ABD	40	52	14		CN87	7
WA7TZY	558	WWA	SOHP	CDF	26	62	9		CN87	5
KX7L	540	WWA	SO3B	ABD	39	45	12		CN87	7
KE7KQA	432	EWA	SOLP	ABCD	27	36	12		DN06	5
VE7DAY	392	BC	SOHP	AB	28	28	14		CO70	11
KD7PY	330	WWA	SOHP	A	33	33	10		CN87	10
K0VIZ	270	OR	SO3B	ABD	22	27	10		CN85	6
K7BWH	225	WWA	SO3B	ABD	23	25	9		CN87	4
VA7FC	209	BC	SOP	ABD	17	19	11		CN79	5
KG7CFV	205	OR	SO3B	ABD	39	41	5		CN85	2
K7HSJ	91	OR	SOLP	ABCDF	8	13	7		CN94	3
KF7CQ	49	ID	SOHP	A	7	7	7		DN13	2
WB7BST	40	WWA	SOHP	F	5	20	2		CN87	2
N6FM	9	OR	SO3B	AB	3	3	3		CN73	2
N7DB	4	OR	SOLP	A	4	4	1		CN85	1

* = PNWVHFS Member operating outside the Society region. 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

2024 PNWVHFS Award Winners

Certificates at the PNWVHFS Conference in October 2016

Limited Rover: WW7D/R - WWA
Rover: VE7JH/R - BC, KE7IHG/R - OR
Unlimited Rover: VE7AFZ/R - BC, K7ATN/R - OR, N6ZE/R - WWA
Single-Op High Power: VE7DAY - BC, KF7CQ - ID, K7YDL - OR, KE7SW - WWA
Single-Op Low Power: KE7KQA - EWA, K7SMA - OR, KE0CO - WWA
Single-Op 3-Band: K0VIZ - OR, N6KW - WWA

Additional Information

K5QE Limited Multi-Operator: Operators K5QE, N5YA, N5NU, WQ5S, AE5VB, KE5VKZ, AF8Z, K5MQ, N5KDA, VE3WY, W5LD

K7ATN/R  Unlimited Rover
Activated grids: CN73 CN74 CN75 CN76 CN83 CN84 CN85 CN86 CN95

WW7D/R Limited Rover
Activated grids: CN76 CN77 CN85 CN86 CN87 CN88 CN95 CN96 CN97 CN98

I had a blast roving around the Pacific Northwest. The full story can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ww7dJanVHF2016

KE7IHG/R Rover
Activated grids: CN76 CN84 CN85 CN86

VE7JH/R Rover
Activated grids: CN78 CN88

N6ZE/R Unlimited Rover
Activated grids: CN87 CN88 DM03
Each VHF contest provides different challenges, achievements, and a chance to get together with other VHFers. The January ARRL VHF Contest presented some unusual challenges due to "Murphy" providing many hours of problems!

My grand plan was to activate 4 grids on 5 bands so as to qualify in the Rover (Unlimited) class. During my drive from my primary QTH in DM04ne to the Los Angeles International Airport for my flight to Seattle, WA, I transmitted on 6m, 2m, 1,25m, & 70 cm from the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA. During my 10 minute operating period, I heard nothing from my location near Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA (DM04), about one half hour into the contest. This was Murphy's first appearance of the weekend.

I operated for a few minutes from the LAX Airport Parking Lot (DM03): I made two local 6 meter QSOS and two 2 meter QSOs before going to the departure gate to get on the plane to Seattle. I made no attempts on Saturday night to operate while enroute from Sea-Tac Airport to my Whidbey Island QTH in Freeland, WA.

I got up early Sunday to work attempt to work WW7D who was participating in the Summits On The Air (SOTA) Program from atop 1200 foot Mt. Erie, some 30 miles to the North of Freeland. I could visually see the mountain top. Darryl WW7D had decided to spend about 30 minutes as WW7D/SOTA so that he could provide a mountain peak on the 4 lower VHF/UHF bands as well as 903 MHz (33 cm). Despite 40 degree temperature & bit of wind, I was determined to make a rare 33 cm FM QSO. I succeeded in making contact with WW7D/SOTA on both 33 cm & 6 m, but failed on 2 m, 1.25m, & 70cm. However when Darryl changed equipment to become WW7D/Rover, we completed on the four lower VHF/UHF bands.

To complicate my contesting efforts, Murphy struck with glee for the rest of the contest period: Wind chill was unpleasant as mentioned earlier, BUT additionally: I could not open the squelch on my ancient 100 watt 2 meter entire contest period, so I ended up using an FT817 & whip while standing outside of truck and holding the radio, logging, and trying to stay warm. On Sunday, I sat inside my truck and used the FT817 with an external 5/8 mag mount. The Anderson connector for the rig mated poorly during entire contest and I continually lost power to radio! My best rig was for 6 m: an FT100 @ 100W & with a 1/4 wave mag mount. (2 m & 70 cm section of the radio has been inoperative for several years.) For 223.5 MHz (1.25 m) FM: I used an ALINCO DJG29 and rubber-duckie whip: It was a handheldat all times. Hint: Don't try to program the radio during a contest! On the 70cm band, I also used FT817 & the 2m 5/8 whip on Sunday: I could sit inside the truck and be out of the weather, but the 2 m 5/8 whip performed very poorly when used on 70 cm! (I used a Madol telescoping whip on Saturday, but had to wave my radio around in the cool breeze!. 903 MHz (33 cm): I used my ALINCO DJG29 with whip as a hand held radio at all times. Other than using 100 watts on 6 meters, my transmitted power level on 2 m, 1.25 m, 70 cm, and 33 cm never more than 5 watts and whip antennas were the only choices available. (A poor antenna is better than no antenna).

K7GEN/R Rover
Activated grids: CN85 CN95

KE7MSU/R Rover
Activated grids: CN84 CN85 CN86

VE7AFZ/R Unlimited Rover
Activated grids: CN89 CN99

KX7L SO3B WWA
No propagation to speak of, and some new S9 line noise here, but still had fun working the locals and the rovers.

KE7KQA SOLP EWA
I had a great time, Lots of fun Hilltopping on Saturday with great weather. Best DX was VE7JH/R on all 4 bands.

VE7DAY SOHP BC
Slowest contest in quite a while.

K7BWH SO3B
It was fun to work the Puget Sound locals and try to reach the rovers on my FT-897d from home. My operating time was very limited.