06/18/2006 | N7IR We traveled to our usual portable operating spot at 7332' on the Mogollon Rim in
central Arizona. Other than a bit of wind the weather was perfect and typical for
mid-June in the Arizona high country.

The contest opened and closed with a bang out here in Arizona. The first 20
minutes consisted of an intense double-hop opening on six to the NE US with FN
and EN stations wall-to-wall. Trouble with that is they can't hear us peanut-whistles through the bedlam of first hop stations. Did manage to pick up a
half dozen or so grids that I didn't hear from for the rest of the contest.
From that point most of the rest of the contest was a steady diet of spotty Es
on six and the usual local crowd on the 2 meter and up bands. The only
out-of-state grid worked on the upper bands was DM12 on 2 meters on Saturday
around noon. Six meters didn't open well enough to actually run stations until
the last hour or so when it finally opened to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and
Louisiana. Had a decent last hour with several new grids and 23 Q's, the
highest rate for me during the contest. The final score is the second best for
me as single-op portable in the June contest.

UHF conditions were worse than normal and many of the local regulars weren't
on or had equipment failures. For the first time since I got the 23cm gear I was
skunked on that band because of the lack of activity. However the new
mast-mounted 23cm preamp worked well. I actually heard WA7JTM on a very
obstructed path from DM53 for the first time (we've been trying for the past
several contests), but they couldn't hear me. Next time they'll have a preamp
also and maybe we'll make the QSO for our first five band sweep from that
grid.

First outing for the Elecraft transverters. Amazingly quiet receive preamps on
these things. Signals pop out of nowhere to S9+ levels. Tried to get the XV432
going just before the contest but managed to misalign it and couldn't recover in
time to take it. Used the old reliable Microwave Modules MMT432S for the last
time, hopefully. Amazing that a 30 year old piece of electronics can still
compete with the new microelectronic marvels.

Looking forward to next year!

Equipment Description:

Battery powered, 10 watts PEP maximum output (read the rules guys!)

2 Elecraft K2 IF transceivers

Top Ten Devices DX Doubler

Elecraft KRC2 band data interface for 70cm-23cm IF switch

DEM 144-28DC xverter IF for 23 cm

6 Meters: Elecraft XV50 xverter and 3el M2 Yagi @ 33'

2 Meters: Elecraft XV144 xverter and 9el M2 Yagi @ 20'

135 cm: Elecraft XV222 xverter and 10el M2 Yagi @ 15'

70 cm: Microwave Modules xverter, Landwehr preamp and 18el M2 Yagi @ 26'

23 cm: DEM 1296-144 xverter, DEM amp and preamp, and 45el DS Loop Yagi @ 19'

33, 26 and 19 foot Portaple(tm) masts

73 de Gary -- N7IR