June ARRL VHF/UHF Contest
19/05/26 06:32
The June ARRL VHF/UHF Contest is almost here… and if you have NEVER experienced a truly active weak signal weekend, you are missing one of the greatest thrills in Amateur Radio.
This is the weekend the “dead bands” come alive.
Suddenly 50.125 erupts with signals from across the country. 144.200 becomes wall-to-wall activity. Rovers are moving grid-to-grid. Stations are pointing beams in every direction. Operators are chasing openings, tropo, meteor scatter, aircraft enhancement, rain scatter, and every tiny propagation advantage they can squeeze out of the atmosphere.
For one weekend… weak signal operators take over the bands.
And THIS is what real VHF/UHF operating was built around.
There is absolutely nothing boring about hearing a weak station rise out of the noise floor from Florida while you are sitting here in EL09 Texas fighting fading, turning antennas, tweaking gain, and trying to complete a contact before the band collapses.
One minute the band sounds empty… The next minute you are working a station in EL98 Florida that was completely inaudible 30 seconds earlier.
THAT is the adrenaline rush that hooks people on weak signal operating.
Not automation. Not staring silently at a waterfall. Not letting software do the work.
REAL operating.
Operator skill matters during these contests.
Your antennas matter. Your feedline matters. Your preamps matter. Your ability to hear weak signals matters. Your timing matters. Your operating technique matters.
That is exactly why I strongly encourage operators to spend as much time as possible on PHONE and CW during the contest and avoid parking on FT8 the entire weekend.
FT8 has its place. It absolutely does. It can be a fantastic tool for experimentation and extremely weak signal work.
But when FT8 starts replacing live activity during contests, it drains the life out of the bands.
Instead of hearing operators calling CQ… Instead of active run frequencies… Instead of fast paced exchanges… Instead of pileups and excitement…
…the bands become quiet while everyone watches software make contacts for them.
That is NOT what made VHF weak signal operating exciting. That is NOT what built this part of the hobby.
The heart of VHF/UHF contesting has always been human skill, fast operating, station performance, and the pure excitement of pulling impossible signals out of the noise with your own ears.
Some of the greatest moments in Amateur Radio happen during these contests.
The impossible contact. The sudden opening. The unexpected grid. The weak station that builds from barely audible to armchair copy. The rover you finally catch after chasing him across four grids. The station 800 miles away that should NOT be there… but somehow is.
That excitement is why many of us fell in love with weak signal operating in the first place.
So get on the air.
Call CQ. Work grids. Turn the beams. Wake up the bands again.
Dust off the equipment. Check the hardline. Sweep the antennas. Fire up the amplifiers. Get portable. Get mobile. Get active.
And PLEASE… Spend some time on SSB and CW where the real heart and soul of VHF/UHF contesting still lives.
Let’s make this June contest loud. Let’s make it active. Let’s fill the bands with signals again.
50.125 USB 144.200 USB 222.100 USB 432.100 USB 1296.100 USB
See you in the contest.
— Greg Lewis N5XO EL09 HAMsters Weak Signal Group
“Real Hams don’t need no stinking repeaters.”
This is the weekend the “dead bands” come alive.
Suddenly 50.125 erupts with signals from across the country. 144.200 becomes wall-to-wall activity. Rovers are moving grid-to-grid. Stations are pointing beams in every direction. Operators are chasing openings, tropo, meteor scatter, aircraft enhancement, rain scatter, and every tiny propagation advantage they can squeeze out of the atmosphere.
For one weekend… weak signal operators take over the bands.
And THIS is what real VHF/UHF operating was built around.
There is absolutely nothing boring about hearing a weak station rise out of the noise floor from Florida while you are sitting here in EL09 Texas fighting fading, turning antennas, tweaking gain, and trying to complete a contact before the band collapses.
One minute the band sounds empty… The next minute you are working a station in EL98 Florida that was completely inaudible 30 seconds earlier.
THAT is the adrenaline rush that hooks people on weak signal operating.
Not automation. Not staring silently at a waterfall. Not letting software do the work.
REAL operating.
Operator skill matters during these contests.
Your antennas matter. Your feedline matters. Your preamps matter. Your ability to hear weak signals matters. Your timing matters. Your operating technique matters.
That is exactly why I strongly encourage operators to spend as much time as possible on PHONE and CW during the contest and avoid parking on FT8 the entire weekend.
FT8 has its place. It absolutely does. It can be a fantastic tool for experimentation and extremely weak signal work.
But when FT8 starts replacing live activity during contests, it drains the life out of the bands.
Instead of hearing operators calling CQ… Instead of active run frequencies… Instead of fast paced exchanges… Instead of pileups and excitement…
…the bands become quiet while everyone watches software make contacts for them.
That is NOT what made VHF weak signal operating exciting. That is NOT what built this part of the hobby.
The heart of VHF/UHF contesting has always been human skill, fast operating, station performance, and the pure excitement of pulling impossible signals out of the noise with your own ears.
Some of the greatest moments in Amateur Radio happen during these contests.
The impossible contact. The sudden opening. The unexpected grid. The weak station that builds from barely audible to armchair copy. The rover you finally catch after chasing him across four grids. The station 800 miles away that should NOT be there… but somehow is.
That excitement is why many of us fell in love with weak signal operating in the first place.
So get on the air.
Call CQ. Work grids. Turn the beams. Wake up the bands again.
Dust off the equipment. Check the hardline. Sweep the antennas. Fire up the amplifiers. Get portable. Get mobile. Get active.
And PLEASE… Spend some time on SSB and CW where the real heart and soul of VHF/UHF contesting still lives.
Let’s make this June contest loud. Let’s make it active. Let’s fill the bands with signals again.
50.125 USB 144.200 USB 222.100 USB 432.100 USB 1296.100 USB
See you in the contest.
— Greg Lewis N5XO EL09 HAMsters Weak Signal Group
“Real Hams don’t need no stinking repeaters.”
