1. VHF Contesting Scott Honaker – N7WLO

2. Scott Honaker - N7WLO2 Why Contesting? Emergency preparedness Familiarity with equipment Operating practice Competitive need Challenge

3. Scott Honaker - N7WLO3 Why VHF? More about location than station – even playing field Cooperative contest More relaxed Less band “fighting” No awkward antennas Everyone can play – available to all class licenses

4. Scott Honaker - N7WLO4 Rules - Classes Single operator (high/low power) (Limited) multi-operator Rover Single operator portable (QRP)

5. Scott Honaker - N7WLO5 Rules – Grid Points Maidenhead Grids –1 degree latitude x 2 degrees longitude –Either 4 or 6 character designator –Covers the whole world –Seattle is CN87, Bellingham CN88 –Vancouver, BC is CN89, Portland is CN85 1 Grid point for each grid contacted per band 1 Grid point for each grid activated

6. Scott Honaker - N7WLO6 Maindenhead Grids

7. Scott Honaker - N7WLO7 Rules – QSO Points Modes (CW, SSB, FM) –Most activity is USB on/near call channel –A QSO is same points regardless of mode –No additional points for additional modes Bands –6m to light –Higher bands worth more points Exchange – Call and grid square Score = Grid pts x QSO pts

8. Scott Honaker - N7WLO8 Equipment - Radios Multimode (CW, SSB, FM) – most activity is SSB Multiband - 6m, 2m, 220, 440, 1.2 gig FM OK 2m and up IC-706MKIIG, FT-100(D), FT-817, TS- 2000(X) Don’t forget IC-T81s, TH-F6A, etc. Transverters

9. Scott Honaker - N7WLO9 Equipment – Antennas Loops Beams – Planars - Dishes Horizontal polarity Verticals only useful on 2m, 222, 446 Arrow, Cushcraft, M2, KB6KQ, Par Mast/rope, telescoping masts, park-on mounts, etc.

10. Scott Honaker - N7WLO10 Facilities Car Camper Truck Tent Trailer RV Rodger KK7LK on Mt Anderson

11. Scott Honaker - N7WLO11 Rover Vehicles

12. Scott Honaker - N7WLO12 Mapping Delorme Gazetteer – Identifies grid squares and good operating locations Topo data is critical for finding good operating locations or route planning GPS – Can provide antenna bearings Locations scouted on –http://pw1.netcom.com/~n7cfo/locations.htmhttp://pw1.netcom.com/~n7cfo/locations.htm Radio Mobile software –http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.htmlhttp://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html

13. Scott Honaker - N7WLO13 Locations Altitude Access to population centers Unique grid squares Accessibility – rover Beware of “populated” hill tops – may need intermod filters

14. Scott Honaker - N7WLO14 VHF Propagation Modes Sporadic-E –Most common on 6m Troposcatter/ducting –Most effective on 6m through 70cm –More common in summer, near water Aurora –Works late at night on 6m and 2m –Point antenna north

15. Scott Honaker - N7WLO15 New Modes Not too common - yet PSK 31 –Similar noise immunity to CW –Easily run on most laptops –http://aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.htmlhttp://aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.html JT 44 with WSJT –Copy up to 30dB below the noise floor –Computer clock and radio freq must be accurate –Not real-time, must be scheduled/arranged –http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT/http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT/

16. Scott Honaker - N7WLO16 PSK 31 Frequencies HF BandFrequencyVHF BandFrequency 160 M1807 KHz6 M50.290 MHz 80 M3580 KHz2 M144.144 MHz 40 M7070 KHz1.25222.070 MHz 30 M10140 KHz70 cm432.200 MHz 20 M14070 KHz33 cm909.000 MHz 17M18100 KHz 15M21080 KHz 12M28120 KHz Most PSK 31 is USB

17. Scott Honaker - N7WLO17 VHF During Field Day VHF/UHF QSO counts are notoriously low The vast majority of QSOs are voice FD scoring gives 1 point for voice, 2 points for CW and 2 points for data QSOs Typical VHF QSOs might be 80 – all voice If 50% added soundcard modes, we get 5 points per station rather than 1 point 80 points becomes 240 points This doesn’t count QSOs now possible with PSK/JT44

18. Scott Honaker - N7WLO18 Strategies Make noise Pay attention to 6m band openings Track rovers and the bands they have Identify big stations with multiple bands Use CW/PSK/JT44 for extra QSO points Bring as many bands as possible Scan 2m FM simplex channels and 446.000 Check out http://www.pnwvhfs.orghttp://www.pnwvhfs.org

19. Scott Honaker - N7WLO19 Monitoring Activity 50.125 – 50.200 MHz USB 52.525 MHz FM 144.200 – 144.250 MHz USB 146.580 FM and 2m simplex (not 146.520) 225.500 FM or 222.100 USB 432.100 – 432.120 MHz USB 446.000 MHz FM 1294.500 FM or 1296.100 USB

20. Scott Honaker - N7WLO20 Additional Field Day Info Use HamScope/MixW/WSJT to make CW/PSK available to all operators – it all loads on the logging machine Arm the GOTA station with VHF and multimode software Anyone not operating should be contacting the VHF and GOTA stations Use down-time for JT44 contacts – while continuing to monitor other frequencies

21. Scott Honaker - N7WLO21 Have Fun!