Gil, KM4OZH, always competes seriously in the ARRL VHF/UHF contests. This September, he achieved a personal best and placed 2nd in raw scores in the Limited Rover category. In this category, he had to be mobile and was limited to the 6M, 2M, 220 MHz and 440 MHz bands. On the road he mostly operated FT8 and mostly FM on his return to Manassas.
At one point, Gil was about to quit. He was in a new grid and needed to change his grid in the WSJT-X program for FT8. He kept typing in the new grid number, but nothing changed. He put out a call for help on the Warrenton repeater and got no help. He then got in touch with Ron, K3FR, and Ron was able to reach Andy, K1RA.
Andy found the problem.
Gil had increased the font size in the application on his laptop so he could read it easier as he drove. However, the increase in font size had caused the application’s OK button to go off screen. After a quick adjustment, Gil was back in business.
Gil usually does a circuit in Pennsylvania, but the propagation forecast had showed that state as all black, meaning very poor propagation. Gil had noticed that the Virginia Beach was all red, meaning excellent propagation. With only 2 hours of sleep, Gil drove towards the southeast and stopped in Williamsburg. There were no new stations. Gil had chased propagation and the propagation had changed. Gil did not have internet in his car. He will probably have it next contest.
Despite these setbacks, Gil accumulated lots of multipliers and then came back to Manassas on Sunday. He received a lot of help from both OVH club members and FARA club members. Each station that worked him on each of the 4 bands gave Gil 330 points. The 220 and 440 contacts count more than the 2M and 6M contacts.
Here is the honor roll of OVH stations that helped Gil and the number of contacts they made. Stations with more than 4 contacts worked Gil in more than one grid.
AK4XR 4
K3FR 4
KE2N 4
KG4NXT 4
KG4TVM 4
KK4BZ 10
KK4ZUU 2
KM4GDX 2
KG4CAX 2
W4HJL 2
WB4TT 16
Gil never stops improving. For the January contest, Gil will have a new 220 amp and upgraded 440 antenna. He believes that there are two high spots in other grids that stations in Manassas might be able to hit with an HT. Lets help Gil again next contest in January. He is still aiming for the top spot.
