6:50am — S5 rain static @36F. Contesting is Fun.
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Woke up too early and heard hard rain. When it let up for an hour or so, slid out to the shed and fired things up. Heard several eastern powerhouses on 6, and worked a pair, after a few repeats. Now have about 170w on 6, so I’m marginally better at that early morning game. Found a fellow in Holland, MI on 2 and 6 before the rain set in. Radar looks like this rain’s gonna go for a while, so now I wish I was back in bed, LOL. We still have a few scruffy inches of snowcover, but it’s taking a beating.
Thinking back on y’day, there were a number of fun things. I worked a new station K0VSC out of the Baraboo area. Nice signals up on the bluffs. Talked a while and found out they were into this website and it motivated them to get started. Hearing that in a contest keeps me going. They’re far from the only new ones. N9LB sounds good from just south of Madison on 6, 2 and 432. I have no idea how many new ones are on from Illinois. A lot.
N8KX from SW MI was traveling in Chicago, and took HT’s up 200′ in some building. He was plenty strong on 4 bands, but the highlight was working him on 223.500 FM. When he was vertically polarized, he was “only” S3. Then he rotated it 90 degrees to match my horizontal pol. and he came up to 30-40 over S9.
Worked another Chicago-area guy on 144. Asked him about 6, and he said, “I doubt it”. Said “let’s try anyway.” He was actually S1/S2 with a vertical whip in his attic. We had a good laugh over that one.
W9FZ/R was 40 over on 432 when he was in his first grid about 2pm, over a 100-110 mile path. S9 peaks on 902. Can’t tell you how many guys to the south were S5, S7 on 6 and 144, but 20-30 over on 432. Little surprised I didn’t run into anybody south of EN41/51/61, but it’s only January. Sometimes it’s tough getting past the N ILL wall of activity. You do better sliding well away from 144.200 and finding your own clear air. Problem is finding others who will also tune away from near .200.
Got north just before 4pm, and found K9JCZ who went out at the last minute to a flat location just east of Green Bay. Hoped we could do the yak-yak thing and find some business. Did work a fellow from EN65, Upper MI on 6. Know N8LIQ EN56 was out there somewhere, but haven’t connected yet. Last night about 10-11pm, both K9KL and KA9BXG were on from the GB area, so it pays to keep an ear up there. Got ND9Z EN54 on the lower 4 bands last night, too.
Still killing time, the rain static is murder. Every now and again, I hear “Echo Mike four-one” on 6 thru the noise, but no point in calling until they come up. At least it’s getting light outside.
Only MN worked so far was W0VB — always very strong on 144, but super light on 432/222. Found K0SIX thru K9MU’s courtesy, but Vince and I about pulled our hair out just to make it on 6 and 2. Gave up after about 5 minutes of failure on 222. No IA heard, nor have I gotten into Detroit or any part of OH. Still want to call that way when the band quiets down. MI worked includes K2YAZ, W8MIL, K8MD and N8CC.