I had a blast this year attending the Central States VHF Conference in late July and the Six Meter BBQ in late September. Both events had roughly 100 in attendance. And every single one shared my passion for VHF operation.
Central States VHF Conference 2023
I was fortunate to attend this event in 2014 (Austin, TX) and 2018 (Wichita, KS). For 2023, it was held in North Little Rock, AR. I like the size of the gathering, at 100, and the number of technical presentations that often fit my operating or at least expose me to new topics like moon-bounce and microwaves.
For this event, I was also on the list as a presenter. I spoke about Valid QSOs and Online Chat. I told the audience that it felt like I was preaching to the choir. The discussion did raise some good questions and added further insight.
I had submitted a paper on the topic for the proceedings. I also provided papers on Meteor Scatter and Q65 Operation.
The event was well organized, the food excellent, and the conversations fantastic. They also provide a Rover Bowl for seeing the latest in what people are doing with rovers and in microwave portable setups. You can see some photos in the gallery.
Six Meter BBQ
This event had a similar attendance of 100 but was more focused on conversations. They did have some excellent presentations on Saturday with Joe, K1JT, talking about WSJT-X; Lance, W7GJ, talking about 6-meter EME DXpeditions; and Carl, K9LT, talking about Solar Cycle 25.
The highlight was chatting with all these people over a meal and just standing around gathering other interested and exciting ham radio operators. So many of them I’ve spent time on the radio with over the years but never met them in person. What a great time.
I’ve pulled together a few photos in the gallery. XE2OR Rafael took several pictures and shared them via VHF Chat Slack.
Nice to see you at the 6M BBQ! Great seeing everyone. I liked AB5EB’s talk about Bouvet best. Even though not directly VHF related, as a fellow Emergency Physician, I was fascinated by the challenges he and the others faced at 3Y0J.
Great to meet you in person, Jon. I enjoyed AB5EB’s deep personal insight into the Bouvet expedition. I’ve worked with Mike on many Scouting efforts. So, it was nice to see this formal presentation. I also caught up with him about his and his dad’s (AD5A) recent efforts at the WRTC. I worked FK8HA a couple of days ago for a new DXCC! 73, Jim.