The 2025 ARRL June VHF Contest took place over the weekend of the 14th through the 16th of June.
Due to my still not having my tower up, I decided to take my show on the road and see what kind of mischief I could stir up.
The plan was to start in Green Ridge State Forest, Alegheny County, Maryland at Banner’s Overlook (FM09so20) which would give me a good vantage point to work VHF+.
I had hoped to get the Group Site 7 campsite but it was already taken when I arrived so I ended up taking campsite 67 which is lower than the ridge line.
This wasn’t really a problem since I could basically hang out at the overlook for as long as I wanted and no one would care (which is pretty much what I did).
Upon arrival I realized two flaws in my plan to run 6m through 23cm from the ridge:
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I had failed to bring an N-to-PL259 converter to connect my log periodic antenna to my 6m rig and,
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My six meter Maxon antenna wouldn’t fit on the poles I had brought with me.
That essentially meant I was going to be without six meters until I could make it back home to obtain a converter or different mast pipe.
I prefer the upper bands, anyway, so my plan was to just start with 2m and work my way up.
This is not my first time putting up my 6m-23cm log periodic antenna in the field.
I used ~16ft of mast pipe and three guy wires to anchor the antenna in the air and started making contacts.
My first contact was W3IP on 2m.
His signal was very strong as we were only ~78km (~48mi) apart with only a few bumps in the way.
We quickly made contacts on 1.25m (222MHz) and 70cm (432MHz) before returning to the contest.
With Mike in the log I turned my attention to the rest of the world and started putting contacts in the log.
Thunderstorms and rain came through in bands every few minutes which didn’t really affect the bands but certainly made me think twice about lightning.
In a lull between storms I decided to take the antenna down, go grab some food, and then set up in my campsite before it got too dark.
And that’s when it happened…
No, not lightning, but rather me.
When taking the antenna down, the rope slipped from my hands sending the contraption hurling towards the ground.
Ever seen a dead spider with its legs all curled up?
Yep, that’s what my antenna looked like on the ground.
Many elements bent, one broken.
I ended up tossing it all in the back of the truck and heading down the mountain.
That ended my 2m through 23cm run.
I had made 37 contacts on all bands but 902MHz (why was no one there) and even got a few QSYs through on FT8 to run the bands.
At the campsite I attempted to find a solution for getting my six-meter Maxon in the air.
To my surprise, I was able to get the U-bolt around the mast pipe and put it up in the air!
I’m not sure why it didn’t fit earlier but I wasn’t about to dwell on my new-found fortune and, instead, got on the air!
I put twenty-five (25) contacts in the log before shutting down for the evening and trying to get some sleep.
While six meters seemed to be fairly constant with contacts, everyone seemed to be fairly local with EL, EM, and FM grids worked.
Sunday morning I got up and drove back up to the top of Green Ridge to attempt to make contact with Dave K1RZ on 3cm (10GHz).
The overlook was socked in with fog and I was doubtful that we’d be able to make contact but with what I can only imagine was knife-edge propagation over a nearby ridgeline, I was able to pull Dave out of the mist and into the log using SSB.
I then hooked up the six-meter station and worked Dave again on voice before turning my sights to whomever else was out there.
Again, most everyone was fairly close by with FM, FN, and EN being the grids collected, but then I ran across two stations that surprised me: CT1ILT and EA8AXT.
Those two stations were very much not local and are my first European and African contacts on the band!
After putting EA8AXT in the log I packed up to head to Gambrill Mountain State Park (FM19gl02) to try my hand at working a few more 3cm contacts.
Upon arrival to the North Frederick Overlook, I noted that once again I would be working in a thick fog.
Contact with Dave was easily done, this time using CW, as his station is within eyeshot of the overlook.
I attempted to work a few others without success.
While at the overlook I put up the six meter antenna and worked a few more stations including another station from the Canary Islands EA8DO.
I also met KC3VVM who was out for a stroll along the trails.
We had a good talk before getting back to the missions at hand.
I arrived back home just in time to go watch the kid’s soccer game (they won!).
When I arrived back home (FM18rp), I set up six meters in the yard and worked a few more stations before pulling the plug.
Overall, this didn’t end up like I had hoped.
Not having the higher bands really hit hard but it was still fun overall.