Ken Harker WM5R
2005 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes - N5XU (WM5R, Op.) SOLP

I stopped by the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club station N5XU to drop off some QSTs, and decided to make a few contacts. The VHF/UHF gear at the station has been largely unused for the past couple of years, and some things are starting to break. The Yaesu FT-726R had problems switching back to receive after transmitting, and it no longer keys the 400W 144 MHz amplifier, so I was limited to 20 watts on that band (and having to toggle power when I concluded a transmission to get my receiver back.) The fuse holder in the DC power cable on the 60W 432 MHz amp broke some time ago and has never been repaired, so I was limited to 20 watts output there as well. On 222 MHz, the 400W amplifier and transverter seem to be working fine, but the Realistic HTX-100 used as an IF rig isn't putting out any power any more. 50 MHz was working fine at 100 watts out, but there was almost nobody around for the contest to work.

In a half hour of active operating, including a lot of CQing on three different bands, I could only work one member of the local VHF/UHF weak signal club (in contrast, I worked two operators active in the local HF contest club.) It seems like since that weak signal club was founded, the members have stopped operating VHF contests, which makes any but the June contest or the 50 MHz Spring Sprint a lot less interesting, and the main reason I've stopped taking the January or September contests seriously.

Contest Logging was done with TR LOG contest logging software. The following reports and log were created using TR LOG's post-contest processor.

• The Contest Log