VHF/UHF band activity this past year (2007-2008) followed declining solar conditions, propagation, and the minimum marking the end (we hope) of cycle 23. While the number of logs was down, there are notable bright spots of activity with 1st place winner Bob Mathews (K8TQK) reporting an outstanding 184 band/states. Bob turned in 22 states on 432 MHz & 24 states on 222 MHz along with 30 on 144 MHz to highlight his effort. Congratulations Bob!

The second place award was captured by Ron Hooper (W4WA) with an exemplary effort in reporting 145 band states. Ron worked 15 states on both 222 & 432 MHz along with 30 on 144 MHz to round out his totals. Bill Davis (K0AWU) also passed the century mark to garner the third place plaque. Bill turned in a total 112 band/state effort highlighted by 34 states on 144 Mhz, 8 states on 222 MHz, 7 states on 432 MHz, plus an outstanding effort of 7 states on 10 GHz. Great work, Bill!

Also notable (despite the band conditions typical in the northern latitudes) is the effort of Russell Beech (VE3OIL). Russell turned in logs from three separate grids and was awarded certificates for each. His efforts included 45 band/states from EN93; 30 from FN03 & 30 from FN04. Well done, Russell!

The rovers should not be overlooked as contributing to the activity on the bands. John Kalenowsky (K9JK) turned in 32 states and Jon Platt (W0ZQ) logged 30 states as rovers. Plus, Jon turned in an additional 48 states from the home QTH.

It should also be noted that from the logs, fully 2/3rds of the entries reported activity on the microwave bands of 10 or 24 GHz.

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 2009. See you on the bands!

73

Jim Hermanek K0KFC
CSVHFS States Above Program Administrator

The 2006-2007 CSVHFS "States Above" is now in the books and retaining their positions at the top of the list for an unprecedented 4th year were Bob Mathews, K8TQK and Tony Emanuele, WA8RJF. With solar cycles continuing the decline (and, hopefully bottomed out) both Bob & Tony maintained operating results somewhat consistent with previous years. Congratulations to both!

Third place honors were shared between Charles Hooper, W4WA and Bill Davis, K0AWU. Both turned in continued strong activity over the VHF bands in spite of band conditions. Gary Mohrlant, W0GHZ was an overall close fourth!

Looking at the entire year, we see a few less total entries, but stronger results on an individual basis. Compared with the previous year, individual stations turned in more activity on several bands. Nine stations maintained strong activity on the lower bands...notably W6GMT, N4MM, N0VZJ, KB9TLV, KC9BQA, K0AWU, W4WA, WA8RJF, & K8TQK all turning in over 50 states/provinces on 50 mhz. Six stations also produced more than 20 states/provinces on 144 mhz. They were N0AKC, W0GHZ, K0AWU, W4WA, WA8RJF, & K8TQK.

The lower microwave bands showed increased activity with Jon Platt (W0ZQ/R) leading and turning in good rover results on 1296, 2304 & 3456. Five stations (K8TQK, K0AWU, W0GHZ, K0KFC & W0ZQ) reporting between 4 and 6 states on 10ghz displayed almost an average of twice the previous year's result. Increased experimentation with rainscatter mode played a large part on 10 ghz. Similar increased activity was seen on 24 ghz with Jon Platt (W0ZQ) leading the way with his rover results. Russell Beech (VE3OIL/R) turned in laser QSO activity while operating rover in FN04.

Hopefully, you've had a fun year on the weak signal bands! The promise of improving band conditions plus more operators points us toward another good year in 2007-2008. Our thanks to John Kalenowsky (K9JK) for preparing an Excel spreadsheet for tracking & entry of your operating results. If unable to access or download John's work on the CSVHF website, feel free to mail paper or e-mail copies to me as you've done in the past.

Also, our thanks to Jon, W0ZQ for monthly tracking of "states above" on the NLRS web site. Please send him your updates regularly.

Thanks for the Qs!

Jim Hermanek K0KFC
CSVHFS States Above Program Administrator