CQ VHF Contest 1st Day Report

[N1API]

Well today was a mixed result day. Good things happened not so good things happened.

First the good. 6 Meters open late in the day. Just after 0000 UTC the band opened. It may have opened earlier but I may have missed some of it because of of a technical problem.

First of all I'm up to 47 QSOs and 24 grids worked, 21 of them on 6 meters. The best contact was in W0ETT in DM79, that's Douglas County, Colorado, maybe a new state and a new 6 meter county for me. Nice opening and I CQed up band and got a lot of good reports. I hope that the bands are good tomorrow. I think the solar flare and solar storm are helping , At 10:15 local time we are having mid class C flare now. Too bad this did not happen earlier it may have brought California in.

The not so good thing is another MD-100 Microphone died. I was wondering why I was calling the locals and no one could hear me. I looked at the meter and there was no RF going out. After checking the cord, and other checks I determined that the base which has the amplifier in it failed. I don't know if it is the board or what even though I run it "thru" with no voice tailoring. This is the second MD-100 that failed on me. It's not like I knock them around they sit on the bench and I just pick them up when I need them for the radio I'm on. I've got an email off to Yaesu asking about repair estimates but it may cost more to ship and repair than it's worth. I've also asked if they sell a replacement base or if it's possible to wire it straight through. I wired one straight through before but this one is different, I think a later model so I don't know if I can do it. But I did find one on eBay which is about a year old and looks in good shape for $65.00 from a ham in MA and I've done a "buy it now" on that and should have it Wednesday. For now I'm able use this one by either plugging the wire directly into the microphone head and using the switch on the microphone or working VOX.

Always some issue to address! Lets see what happens tomorrow.