Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
One of the things that makes a VHF contest so much fun is that you never know how its going to play out. One of the major factors is sporadic-e propagation which is, well, sporadic. Sometimes we get rewarded with decent propagation and sometimes we get completely skunked. In the morning, before the 2012 CQ … Read more
For 2012 ARRL Field Day, we operated from the cabin in portable style. Temporary wire antennas were tossed into the trees and the trusty Honda EU1000 generator provided emergency power. The Spousal Unit, Joyce KØJJW got on the air and made some contacts, making this a multi-op effort. We used a similar approach as last … Read more
This weekend is the ARRL June QSO Party (also known as The June VHF Contest). It is a great opportunity to get on the air and try out the VHF bands. In particular, 6 Meters usually has some fun sporadic-e propagation during the contest. It is a blast when that band comes alive with signals … Read more
The April 25th issue of Contest Update from the ARRL had this item: The ARRL Programs and Services Committee has approved a rule change for ARRL VHF+ contests effective beginning in 2013 (not this year) to create a Single-Op FM-only category (100 W max, 50/144/222/440 MHz) and a three-band Single-Op category (100 W PEP on … Read more
Usually I don’t focus on the ARRL 10 Meter contest, especially when the solar activity has been so low. However, band conditions have really picked up and 10 Meters is alive and kicking. We have quite a few new Technicians that are discovering the wonder of worldwide HF propagation with even a modest station. I … Read more
There’s lots of information spewing forth from the interwebznet. Here are a few items of interest. The amateur radio community is buzzing with excitement from the excellent propagation on the HF bands during the CQ Worldwide DX Contest last weekend. For example, see the radio-sport.net post or my post. One of our local Boy Scouts … Read more