Back on VHF After a Long Break: Winter Contesting and First 6m Contacts
It’s been a while — a long while — since I’ve participated in a VHF contest. In fact, the last time I hit the bands for a VHF event was back in September VHF 2018. After such a long break, it felt great to jump back in and give it another go.
This time around, I decided to step things up a bit. I actually put in the effort and got a small station together for the contest. I set up a 3-element Yagi for 6 meters on a 10-foot mast and a 3-element Yagi for 2 meters on a 12-foot painter’s pole. Nothing too fancy, but it did the job. Both antennas were simple enough to raise solo, even in the less-than-ideal weather.
Speaking of weather — it was cold. No snow, but brutal temperatures that barely cracked the double digits, with wind chills dipping below 0°F. Not exactly the most comfortable conditions for portable ops or roving, but we made it work.
The real highlight of this contest was getting my brother W0EGT involved. Neither of us had ever made a contact on 6 meters before, so this was a first for both of us. Hard to believe I’ve been a licensed ham for nearly 10 years and had never touched 6m until now. Better late than never, right?
We submitted our logs just to see how we stacked up against the competition — especially within 0 call land and here in Missouri. To our surprise, we didn’t do too badly at all. We ended up placing 14th and 15th in the region. Not bad for a cold weekend, some simple antennas, and two guys trying 6m for the first time!
This was a great reintroduction to VHF contesting, and sharing the experience with my brother made it even better. Looking forward to doing it again — maybe with slightly warmer weather next time.
73!
| 1 | SO3B | K0PHP | MO | 1,008 |
| 2 | SO3B | K0VG | MN | 868 |
| 3 | SO3B | WD0BGZ | NE | 744 |
| 4 | SO3B | N0AT | MN | 480 |
| 5 | SO3B | KF0LKJ | MN | 384 |
| 6 | SO3B | WB0LJC | MN | 294 |
| 7 | SO3B | W0UC | MN | 222 |
| 8 | SO3B | W0VC | MN | 196 |
| 9 | SO3B | W0LMS | MN | 186 |
| 10 | SO3B | WA0VPJ | MN | 112 |
| 11 | SO3B | W0SEI | MN | 110 |
| 12 | SO3B | KB0HNN | MN | 77 |
| 13 | SO3B | K0DJD | MN | 64 |
| 14 | SO3B | W0EGT | MO | 56 |
| 15 | SO3B | N0RVS | MO | 40 |
| 16 | SO3B | KJ0P | MN | 30 |
| 17 | SO3B | KB0NAV | CO | 24 |
| 18 | SO3B | W0IZ | CO | 4 |
In Missouri we got 2nd and 3rd place. Not too many people contesting or sending in their logs.
START-OF-LOG: 3.0 CONTEST: ARRL-VHF-JAN CALLSIGN: N0RVS LOCATION: MO CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED CATEGORY-POWER: LOW CATEGORY-BAND: VHF-3-BAND CATEGORY-MODE: ALL CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED OPERATORS: N0RVS @N0RVS CREATED-BY: WA7BNM WEB2CABRILLO 2.07 HQ-CATEGORY: Single Operator, 3 Band HQ-GRID-LOCATOR: EM37IE QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-18 1917 N0RVS EM37 K0PHP EM38 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-18 1939 N0RVS EM37 W0AAV EM37 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-18 2132 N0RVS EM37 K5VR EM26 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 1719 N0RVS EM37 WE9V EL94 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 2114 N0RVS EM37 KA5PXK EM37 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-20 0004 N0RVS EM37 AC5K EM37 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-20 0037 N0RVS EM37 K5CM EM25 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-20 0041 N0RVS EM37 KA5PMV EM26 END-OF-LOG:
START-OF-LOG: 3.0 CONTEST: ARRL-VHF-JAN CALLSIGN: W0EGT LOCATION: MO CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED CATEGORY-POWER: LOW CATEGORY-BAND: VHF-3-BAND CATEGORY-MODE: ALL CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED OPERATORS: W0EGT @W0EGT CREATED-BY: WA7BNM WEB2CABRILLO 2.07 HQ-CATEGORY: Single Operator, 3 Band HQ-GRID-LOCATOR: EM37IE QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-18 2257 W0EGT EM37 K0PHP EM38 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 0231 W0EGT EM37 KA5PMV EM26 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 1722 W0EGT EM37 WE9V EL94 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 1917 W0EGT EM37 K9YY EM59 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 2116 W0EGT EM37 KA5PXK EM37 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-19 2210 W0EGT EM37 WQ0P EM19 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-20 0005 W0EGT EM37 AC5K EM37 QSO: 50 DG 2025-01-20 0036 W0EGT EM37 K5CM EM25 END-OF-LOG: