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Weak Signal VHF by Tim Marek - K7XC
My Background

My Background

I started out as most hams did back then, as a novice on 40M CW. Using a Johnson Viking xmtr with a VF-1 VFO & a National NC-300 rcvr I worked my first QSO. I was so nervous I was shaking and at the end of an hour all I had was the man's callsign and that he was in CA. I was sweating so badly by the time I was done I had to take a shower!

My Beginnings as a "VHFer"

Looking for something new, I decided to try operating the 1991 June VHF QSO Party. Borrowing a friends IC-211, grabbing a straight key and 5/8 mag mount I hooked it all up on the seat of a mid 80's K-Car and drove to the Lake Tahoe overlook above Incline Village NV. From there with just 10 watts I worked on CW 300 miles to "CM96" which turned out to be over 200 miles away!

Eureka, I found it! I was like a new novice all over again, so excited at what I had just done that I drove to Auburn CA, traversing 3 grids and at the "Foresthill" exit I parked in Raleys back parking lot, which overlooks the San Juaquin Valley, and worked all the way to Fresno (DM06) and heard Los Angeles (DM04).

That was all it took, I was hooked! from that point on I have endeavoured to improve both my station and skills, never looking back.

After being active both from home and portable for over 10 years, I have worked quite a few grids from the various different locations, earning 6M VUCC from 4 NV grids. My recent goal of obtaining VUCC on 222 Mhz has been achieved. With the help of AE7DX/R, K7DAE/R, KC6ZWT/R, KR7O/6 and a couple of strong Aurora sessions here are the totals so far...


Grids Worked Per Grid/Band
As Of 11/10/07


  From   50 144 222 432 1296
 --------------------------
DM09  532 188  51  57  6
DM18  194  57  10  20  0
DM19  213  43   1  15  0
DM27    9   1   0   0  0
DM28   10  12   0   0  0
DM29   29   3   0   0  0
DN00   95  20   3   7  0
DN10  182  29   0  11  0
DN20   12  11   0   4  0