Ken Harker WM5R
1999 ARRL June VHF QSO Party - W5KFT M/L

Ralph "Gator" Bowen N5RZ

I was invited to operate the 1999 ARRL June VHF QSO Party with the limited multi-operator team at the W5KFT Ranch Station. The family cattle ranch is located on the west shore of Lake Buchanan, in Llano County, TX, grid locator EM00st. This is near the northern edge of the Texas Hill Country, about 100 kilometers northwest of Austin, TX.

The team this year was Bryan W5KFT, George K5TR, Gator N5RZ, and Ken KM5FA. I was the new edition to the team this year, and it was my first opportunity to operate from a big Texas station in this contest. Conditions were apparently down from 1998, when W5KFT won the limited multi-operator category. According to K5TR, the Eskip openings on 50 MHz were much weaker, and there was no significant enhanced propagation on 144 MHz and up. This was the first year that the team used a transverter on 222 MHz, and the first time they used more than 100W on 222 MHz. 222 MHz was the only band which produced better numbers in 1999 than in 1998.

I had a lot of fun.

Contest Logging was done with TR LOG contest logging software. The following reports and log were created using TR LOG's post-contest processor.

• More Contest Photos!
• Rate Sheet
• Multiplier Distribution