Deteriorating band conditions brought about by minimal solar conditions resulted in fewer entries for the CSVHF "States Above" awards this year. But, despite the fewest sunspots recorded in the past 100 years, Bob Mathews K8TQK managed to equal his past scores and capture the top spot for an unprecedented 6th year with 182 band states. Bob is well on his way to claiming dominance by working states/provinces utilizing band conditions others have written off. Bob's effort was accomplished by using every band between 50 Mhz and 10 Ghz. He turned in strong performances on 6m and 2m, plus outstanding scores of 23 on 222 Mhz and 22 on 432 Mhz. This was closely followed by 16 band states on 1296 Mhz. Well done, Bob !

Second place honors went to Bill Davis K0AWU who turned in 126 band states He included strong results on 6 and 2 meters plus an outstanding 8 states on 10Ghz.

Gary Morlant (W0GHZ) gathered in 87 states/provinces to capture the third place plaque, which included contacts on each of the VHF/UHF bands plus an outstanding 5 states on 10 Ghz.

Unique to this year's awards was an entry from the DXpedition team of Arliss Thompson W7XU, Holly Thompson, N0QJM, and Ed Gray W0SD. Together the team operated as the TZ6EI VHF expedition from Mali, Africa. The team activated 6 meters working 546 uniques including 22 North American stations. Their efforts garnered special recognition from the society for promoting an extraordinary VHF operating activity. Well Done !

We're looking forward to the return of better band conditions plus more logs and activities as we now turn upward on the cycle into 2010. See you on the bands!

73

Jim Hermanek K0KFC
CSVHFS States Above Program Administrator