Contest Saturday was reasonably active, with 76 QSOs, 37 grids, and 2,812 points, well above my full 2023 January VHF contest results. But Sunday was exceptional, bringing my score to 17,296. Here’s the breakdown.

• 6 meters          140 QSOs        72 grids
• 2 meters          50 QSOs          20 grids
• Total                190 QSOs        92 grids

Contest Scores Online

The Contest Scores Online data gives a much better overview of my results. I spent roughly 25 hours in the chair. Saturday, a few rovers helped make my day with some good QSOs on 2 meters and once in a while on 6 meters. In fact, W5TN/R put EL08 in my log early Saturday for a new grid on 2 meters. Plus, there were several XE stations on the air that evening.

On Sunday, I started out working W9RM on both 6- and 2-meter MSK144. Those QSOs were quick due to his excellent station. That put a smile on my face. But later, there was an exceptional opening to the Pacific Northwest and then an opening to the West Coast.

For good measure, ZLs started showing up in the evening. That wasn’t the best way to add QSOs to the log. I didn’t want to call anyone trying to work a new DXCC, mainly because they needed to work through big pile-ups. But I did find QSOs to the north and east on Sunday evening.

Here’s the overview of my contest hour by hour.

I did keep an eye on the leaderboard, which always helps with the motivation to stay in the chair. It paid off this time, and I could see it working. My nearest competitor was AB8M, who leveraged his Midwest location into many more QSOs and grids. Plus, he has 432 to help with more points. I’d run 432 here, but there are few operators in the area.

But it looks like he had a conflict on Sunday evening, and I eventually caught up with him and passed him. Here’s how that played out.

Of course, the online scoreboard only has a few contest entrants. So, more will show up as scores are posted on 3830 and logs get uploaded.

Tribute to Rovers

I’ve done some VHF rover operations in the past. So, I know firsthand about the slog across miles, fixing gear, and trying to make QSOs. Plus, the temperatures were near or below freezing here in Texas this year. Hats off to these rovers, who made it into my log in a big way for this contest.

• W5TN/R          11 QSOs
• KA5D/R           8 QSOs
• W5OC/R          2 QSOs

FM Attempt

During November and December, I had the idea to add a small FM transceiver and vertical to the station. My thought was to monitor all the simplex frequencies and add a few local QSOs to the log during the contest. Well, I added 4 QSOs, but that’s not worth the effort.

I did find out about a month-long FM contest in January called Winterheat. It’s all about working simplex FM contacts on VHF. I met a few people before the contest and figured out what to expect. If you’re interested, I suggest you check it out in your area.

RRR versus NIL

All the rest of my contacts were with WSJT-X, mostly FT8, but some MSK144. I always send RRR rather than RR73. At some points in the contest, the signals were one and done or perhaps two and done. I didn’t log the contact if I didn’t hear a 73 after sending RRR, which is the normal WSJT-X response. Of course, I sent RRR at least three times, if not four. But with no response, it didn’t go in the log. I’m sure that will show up in my log-checking report and with adjustments to my score.

Regarding log-checking reports, I found similar issues with lost QSOs for the June contest. That’s to be expected with digital contacts. But I also found 3 QSOs that the log checker claimed were busted calls. How that happens with WSJT-X is a mystery. One of the busted calls was confirmed in Logbook of the World.

During this contest, I also ran into those sending signal reports. That works OK if they use up-to-date WSJT-X, as it sends RR73 or RRR in response to the contest exchange. However, if they’re using JTDX, they keep sending the signal report. That means you need to switch out of contest mode to work them. At one point, I forgot to switch back to contest mode. Arrgh. At least I got QSOs into the log.

Station Setup

You can see the photo of the ham shack above. The IC-7100 runs 6 meters into an M2 6M-1K2 amplifier running 500 watts. That drives a Directive System 5-element Yagi. The IC-9100 runs 2 meters into a Tokyo Hy-Power HL-350Vdx amplifier running 300 watts. That drives an M2 9-element Yagi. Both antennas are on a 25-foot push-up mast in the backyard. I have 6- and 2-meter Par Electronics Omni-Angles in the attic. But I didn’t use them too much during this contest.

On receive, I use two Airspy R2 SDRs with SDR Console software. I also have Antennas-Amplifiers bandpass filters, preamps, and PTT relays on the front end to patch in the SDRs. Then, there’s a Leo Bodnar GPSDO to lock the frequencies of the SDRs. I also have a GPS unit to sync the clock on my computer.

As noted above, I picked up an IC-2300H on eBay for FM contacts and built a vertical for the attic. The rig and antenna worked well. But, of course, there weren’t many on the air. So, it’s probably not worth continuing with this setup.

I use N3FJP VHF Contest Logger, JT-Alert, and WSJT-X Improved for software. It’s a good setup.

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who got on the air and added QSOs to my logbook. I hope you had fun and worked new grids and maybe a new DXCC.

Here’s the result: 1st in North Texas and 2nd in West Gulf.