Boy, I sure missed — nearly so anyway — the CQ WW VHF contest this weekend. I seem to do so little operating these days that I hadn't checked to see what was coming up contest-wise on VHF. I usually find out about the big HF contests, but this one slipped up on me.
I've only made a few contacts, but operating this morning reminded me of why I enjoy 6-meter so much — during a contest, it's good to be “DX!” This grid just isn't that common, contest or no contest, and it's surprising the number of folks who haven't worked it. Nearly every contest QSO this morning has usually ended with “thanks for the new grid.”
The band has quieted down and not much happening. A few minutes ago I worked a guy in DM79, but he was the only signal on the band. I'll have to keep the rig on and lightly squelched to perhaps know when the e-skip returns. That's how I heard was alerted to the contest this morning — I left the IC706 on all night, and I was hearing some off-frequency signals breaking the squelch. For a while I thought it was coming through on the FT-2000, so it annoyed me mostly! I later noticed the spectrum scope didn't show any signals whenever I heard the audio break thru. The station I tuned in was in FN41, and he was running quite a pileup from out west. Of all the contacts the guys in FN41, 31 and FN42 were making, most were further west.
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My radio enjoyment is being plagued by some hashy interference through most of the daylight hours. It's pulse type of hash that lasts for just over a second, then off for about a half second, then back on. That repeats ad nauseum all day long. I hear it from 80-6 meters, and its quite strong on 75, 40 and 20. On 40 its nearly S7 to S8. In fact, I'm hearing it on 6 meters right now.
The sound reminds me of the electrical noise the motor in a mixer or vacuum cleaner makes. While the family was out of the house yesterday, I shut off power to the house, circuit by circuit, but didn't find the source. At this point I'm wondering if it is outside the house.
The noise is similar to that of a cell phone charger or wall wart type charger. The only thing I haven't done yet is to disconnect everything on the circuit the shack is on. There may be something here in the shack I'm overlooking. I'm going to look for it while the thought is fresh in my mind … I'll let you know what I find.
UPDATE: I turned off everything in the shack that I could, but heard no change in the noise. It seems to disappear late in the evenings … I'll have to double check that. Perhaps there's something else in the room, but I'm doubtful. The 6-meter band is no longer active, I'll check it before the contest period ends in a few hours.
73 de KY4Z … dit dit ….