[Today’s run: 1.5 miles with wife and dog (walk/run)]
I’m attempting to participate in the ARRL September VHF contest. It started yesterday at 1:00 pm and will go through today until 10:00 pm. I have been at the radio most of the time so far (10 am) except that I went to bed around 11 pm and slept until about 5:30 am.
I have contacted 6 stations so far. I think I’ve heard one or two others that I could not reach.
On the “2 meter” band there is an established “calling frequency” (144.200 Mhz). I have a low-power station, so I stay around the calling frequency. I send out my information, listen for awhile, send it again. Then I redirect my antenna and do that again.
Contests on the HF bands (shortwave frequencies) are filled with stations calling and in conversation. Frequently a busy station will have thousands of contacts during one contest. It is usual for me to have 1-2 hundred, depending on how long I am on the air. The big problem on HF is distinguishing one station from another, so narrow filtering is used.
On VHF the problem is that the signals just don’t go very far. In certain circumstances, air temperature inversions for example, the signals will travel unusually long distances. But normally they don’t.There are computer/internet sites which help to predict and discover these unusual conditions. But during the contest, if you use that kind of assistance you are a “multi-operator” station. So I have been operating in the dark for the contest, so far.
The attraction of operating during the contest is the hope that there are more people listening, and generally more people on the air during an advertised event. And that is definitely true for those places where there is a population of hams that can hear each other. Out here where I am, not so much. The closest of my 6 contacts so far was a guy up toward Memphis.
One thing that happens, once I hear someone it is like a very pleasant surprise. I would like to linger and talk to them. Sometimes I listen as they go on to contact some other station that I cannot hear.
