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VHF/UHF Contesting.
June was busy for Darrell and I, we ran the June VHF/UHF Contest and then ran the VHF/UHF Satellite station for Field day. The June VHF Contest from on top of Rocky Butte was fun as usual but we lost all our 2-Meter contacts due to a crashed computer disk. Propagation was sporadic but Darrell managed to bring in some South West stations and we even nailed down some Baja California and Mexico stations on 6-Meters.
We had about 58 contacts on 2-Meters in 8 Grid squares before the computer disk crashed. Thankfully the 6-Meters log was OK because Darrell nailed 60 contacts in 12 grid squares, his best score to date on 6-Meters. 432-Mhz wasn't as good as last time but we got a few.
Participation was great we had a lot of operators come up and run the station for a while and it got a little crowded in my small motor home. In that thing two is comfortable and four is a real crowd.
The following people operated on Rocky Butte.
Bob Jones- KC7BRJ, Darrell Graham- KC7AOI, Chuck Parker-KC7PDI, Josiah Barber KD7GXG, Denny WB7UFJ, John Sovell KD7ERU, Pete Rodabaugh W7PR, Glen Jones KC7MBM, Eric Stephenson KK7VE
Field day 2000
We had a few contacts on 2-meters, one station from Pendleton-Oregon, was a surprise, he ??W7PL?? came in real strong and sent greetings to Craig KA7ZDD. Nice to get messages from friends even during a contest. Not many station were running 2-meters during Field day and contacts were far and few between. Why don't more stations come up on VHF/UHF on Field day? The H.F. bands aren't the only ones that will be needed during an emergency and this is an emergency drill?
6-Meters was sporadic again with a few openings into the South West, not as many contacts as the VHF contest but the Field day location isn't as good for VHF as Rocky Butte.
Darrell and I Nailed a Satellite Contact for the 100 bonus points. We contacted KA7EFU, a Club station In Billings Montana. A thrill to accomplish but anticlimactic afterwards. Once you have made the bonus contact it doesn't make much sense to keep fighting for Satellite
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