Contesting – Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club

February 3, 2019February 3, 2019

The Adventures of Pete and Woodie at the January 2019 VHF Contest

During the third weekend of January, Pete Heins-N6ZE and Woodie Woodward-WA6WDY spent 16 hours roving around SoCal to have fun…and that’s what they did!

Pete Heins-N6ZE/R holds a 23cm (1294.5 MHz VJB Cheapie Yagi) and an ALINCO DJ-G7 triband FM handheld atop a ridge in the Santa Monica mountains (DM04qb) on Saturday of the January 2019 VHF Contest. VHF/UHF propagation conditions to the San Diego area (Grid DM12) were what one would normally expect during summer months: 10 watt VHF/UHF stations with only whip antennae were easily worked. Best distance worked was with K6PFG (DM12mt) at 130 miles. The temperature inversion which produced the enhanced summer-like conditions is clearly in view behind N6ZE and just above the water surface of the Santa Monica Bay. (Woodie Woodward-WA6WDY is wearing the “Radio” T-shirt. He frequently roves with Pete.) Note that two years ago, during January ‘17 VHF Contest, typical winter propagation conditions existed and no San Diego stations were heard.

Pete and Woodie entered the ARRL’s January 2019 VHF Contest in the “Rover” category because they utilized six VHF/UHF bands: 6 meters on 50.125 MHz USB & 52.525 MHz FM; 2 meters on 144.200 MHz USB and various FM Simplex frequencies from 146.52 –> 146.61 MHz; 135 centimeters on 223.5 MHz FM; 70 centimeters on 432.1 MHz USB & 446.0 MHz FM; 33 centimeters on 927.5 MHz FM; and 23 centimeters on 1294.5 MHz FM.

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019

CVARC Winter Field Day

CVARC hosts several portable operating events each year.

The first event this year is Winter Field Day, January 26, 2019, from 10 AM to 4 PM at Dos Vientos Park Picnic Pavilion, 4801 Borchard Road, Newbury Park.

CVARC has reserved the pavilion from 8 AM to 5 PM, so please plan on setting up no earlier than 8 AM. (We may want to use this venue again, so we don’t want to anger the Recreation and Parks Gods.) We’ll have pizza and drinks available around lunchtime.

January 2, 2019January 7, 2019

Summary of N6ZE/K1FJM ARRL September 2018 VHF Contest Operation

For many years, I have been a fairly active VHF/UHFer and particularly enjoy operating in VHF/UHF Contests and like to encourage others to do the same. Knowing that many local area hams have been licensed for just a short period of time or have never participated in a VHF/UHF contesting event, I traditionally clog local ham radio chat rooms with announcements for these operating opportunities.