2025 ARRL June VHF Contest!

The view to the Northwest in October when Lisa and I had a chance to visit the park!

Begin: Saturday June 14 at 1 PM Central
End: Sunday June 15 at 10 PM Central
My call will be N5ZY/R for Rover

ARRL VHF Contest Rules: arrl.org/june-vhf
Also check for my friends in OKROVER.INFO

13-June 2025: I’m at Mount Magazine testing 6m on the North face and working the East coast with ease! The only problem is that I cannot move around with even the 6m loop on top due to low hanging limbs. So I may not be switching sides due to the time involved with remove/stow, scoot, unstow/attach.

I have gain antennas and verticals but of course it’s one or the other..

Just a bit crazy in here but don’t worry I’m thinking of seeing a doctor about that.

Mount Magazine stands as the crown of Arkansas, offering not only stunning vistas but also a strategic perch for VHF contesting. My plan for the 2025 ARRL June VHF Contest is to take full advantage of this unique location. Weather permitting, I’ll be operating from both the north and south faces of the mountain, aiming to maximize contacts and provide new grid squares to as many operators as possible.

Operating from Mount Magazine presents its own set of challenges. The summit itself isn’t accessible by vehicle, so I’ll be moving between different overlooks along the roadway, setting up wherever the terrain and propagation look most promising. This means a lot of setup and teardown, but the reward is the chance to work stations in all directions and enjoy some of the best scenery in the state.

My primary goal is to beat my personal best score, and if I happen to break into the section’s top 10, that would be the icing on the cake. I’ll also be experimenting with a 3-element 6m beam—though swapping antennas means staying put a bit longer, it might just pay off when the band opens.

Of course, rover life is never predictable. From dodging tree limbs that threaten the antennas to fielding questions from curious onlookers, every stop brings its own surprises. Sometimes, explaining the “offensive-looking” rover vehicle takes more time than making contacts! But that’s all part of the adventure.

After wrapping up on Mount Magazine Sunday morning, I’ll hit the road, chasing new grids north and west before heading home. The schedule below is more of a wish list than a guarantee—rover plans always seem to change on the fly. No matter what, I’m looking forward to a weekend of radio, road miles, and Arkansas mountain air

Grid Squares – Where and when

Local Time	Grid	Lat, Lon	Elevation (Ft)	Note	Gmap Link
SATURDAY 1PM until band dies
1,3,5PM	EM35	35.17419, -93.64629	2570	North face of Mount Magazine AR	Google Map
2,4,6PM	EM35	35.16378, -93.64182	2540	South face of Mount Magazine AR	Google Map
SUNDAY 8AM to 10PM
9 – 9:30 AM	EM26	35.48581, -94.22585	430	Citizens Bank, 124 Highway 71 N, Alma, AR	Google Map
9:30- 9:45AM	EM26	35.49264, -94.24261	458	Alma Intermediate School Field & Track, 1428 Collum Ln W, Alma, AR 72921	Google Map
10:30-10:45 AM	EM26	36.05842, -94.20301	1495	S Centennial Park Ln, Fayetteville, AR 72704	Google Map
11:00-11:45 AM	Springdale Supercenter [ChargePoint] 4870 Elm Springs Rd, Springdale, AR 72762
11:45- 12PM	EM26	36.23008, -94.15453	1520	5264 Callahan Mountain Rd, Springdale, AR 72762-8235	Google Map
12:20- 12:35	EM26	36.37672405051125, -94.11471923706493	1335	Rogers Muni Airport, 139 N Airport Loop, Rogers, AR 72756	Google Map
12:40- 1 PM	EM36	36.44053659189072, -93.972538690441	1660	Water tower 14560 Blueberry Ln, Garfield, AR 72732	Google Map
1:10- 1:45 PM	EM26	36.44099721289904, -94.03179508338542	1388	Pea Ridge Nat. Military Park, 15930 National Park Dr, Garfield, AR 72732 (Telegraph Rd, Garfield)	Google Map
2:15- 3PM	Springdale Supercenter [ChargePoint] 4870 Elm Springs Rd, Springdale, AR 72762
4:30- 5:20 PM	Hard Rock Casino 777 W Cherokee St, Catoosa [Francis Energy]
5:45- 6:10 PM	EM15	35.98641544392852, -96.01012986069085	700	Comfort Inn, 12119 N Casper, Sapulpa, OK 74037-4423	Google Map
6:20- 6:45 PM	EM16	36.01003599086504, -96.04655841374262	800	Creek Turnkpike Overlook 10699 S 49th West Ave, Sapulpa, OK 74066	Google Map
7PM – 10 PM	EM26	36.07072358651628, -95.99360026170268	880	Turkey Mountain Upper Trailhead 6463 S Elwood Ave, Tulsa, OK 74132	Google Map
				Contest over!

The contest does not end until 10 PM local time Sunday. I will try to always monitor 146.52 FM but when I’m moving I will have to switch to a whip antenna.

APRS Position Beacon

I will use APRSdroid to beacon my live position.
You can see where I am using https://aprs.fi/ and searching for my callsign N5ZY.

Frequencies

For this contest we are allowed to use everything above 6m and the National Simplex Frequency may be used if not busy however for 222 and 902 I’m using transverters from 28 Mhz so my band is limited to 1.7MHz (28.0 to 29.7 MHz).

Band	WSJT-FT8 (USB)	Call Freq (USB)	QSO Freq (USB)	FM SIMPLEX	FM SIMPLEX 2	FM SIMPLEX 3
6 M	50.313	50.125	50.145	52.525
2 M	144.174	144.2	144.220	146.52	146.49	146.55
1.25 M	222.174	222.1		223.5
70 cm	432.174	432.1		446.0
33 cm	902.174 ?	902.1		902.125
23 cm	1296.174	1296.1		1294.5

Antennas

Bands	Antenna
Verticals
2 M	Whip while driving
2/70/23	Comet Base Vertical CMA-GP-95 while parked only and while the rotor is NOT in use! 6 dBi @ 146MHz, 8.6 dBi @ 446, 12.8 dBi 1.2 GHz
1.25 M	Comet CA-SUPER22 while parked only 6.6 dB @ 222 MHz
33 CM	Comet KP-20 while parked only 9.2 dB @ 902 MHz
Horizontals
6 M	Par Electronics Stressed Moxon, (50.3 Mhz) or M2 Antennas 6M-3SS beam or Par Electronics 6M Omniangle (OA-50)
2 M	M2 Antennas 2M7X (144-148MHz) 7ele 12.3 dBi
1.25 M	M2 Antennas 222-10EZ (222-226 MHz) 10 ele 14.1 dBi
70 CM	M2 Antennas 440-11X (420-450 MHz) 11 ele 13.4 dBi
33 CM	M2 Antennas 917HD (900-930MHz) 17 ele 17 dBi
23 CM	M2 Antennas 23CM35 (1250-1300MHz) 35 ele 20.94 dBi

Radios

Radio	Desc/Use
IC9700	2m, 70cm and 23 cm USB and FM
IC7610	6m
IC7300	To use with transverters
Q5 Signal L33-28hp50	Converts 10 M to 33 cm
Q5 Signal L222-28hp100	Converts 10 M to 1.25 M
Anytone	VHF Mobile

Visual Map

I’m visual.. so here is a map created using https://www.egloff.eu/qralocator/ I’ve added number to represent the order and local where I intend to be on the air. Saturday I will overnight at Mount Magazine so I will be on the air until I’m not making any more contacts, weather permitting! Sunday will be “CQ and scoot”, with a focus on being on the move to activate grids.

Zoomed out map of the grid corners in Arkansas

Mastery of none!

As you can see from my ARRL VHF Contest Rankings below I’m a newcomer to VHF contesting and rovering. It’s a fun challenge though! I hope this June I can drastically increase my QSO count and multipliers.

Yr	Mo	Category	Div	Div Rank/ALL Cat Me/Total	Div Rank/Rovers Me/Total	Score	QSOs	Mults
2022	Sep	SngOpLP	WGDiv (OK)	9/25	n/a	513	28	19
2023	Jan	ClascRovr	WGDiv (OK)	23/47	2/2	399	17	19
2023	Jun	LimtdRovr	WGDiv (OK)	51/100+	3/3	15228	157	94
2023	Sep	ClascRovr	WGDiv (OK)	7/25	1/4	4182	67	51
2024	Jun	LimtdRovr	WGDiv (OK)	14/72	4/7	15566	180	86
2024	Sep	LimtdRovr	WGDiv (OK)	6/41	2/3	4922	89	46
2025	Jan	ClascRovr	WGDiv (OK)	11/40	1/1	2366	72	26
2025	Jun	ClascRovr	DeltaDiv (AR)	?	?	37,791 (raw)	251	153

Calculated ve2dbe.com LOS Signal Map

The coverage map below is calculated from the north side and the south side of Mount Magazine using 146 MHz to a 6dBi omni at 100 watts. This map shows the reliability of a site-to-site communication WITHOUT atmospheric enhancement.

This map is the same criteria but from EM26-Centennial Park, Fayetteville

This map shows the calculation from EM26-Callahan Mountain Springdale AR

Skipping up to my last point it looks like I can reach to several metro areas from Little Rock to Springfield to Tulsa!

Post contest summary

676.67 Miles logged on the Kia for this /R trip.
Another VHF contest is in the books, and this year I managed to more than double my previous best score! Maybe it was the Topo map obsession, or perhaps it was just sheer luck that my car didn’t completely give up the ghost when the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree a few days before the event. (Rule #1: Be resilient—unlike my antenna elements after an argument with a tree limb.)

This was my first rodeo with a portable 6m 3-element beam, and that thing worked! I also packed along transverters for 222 and 902 MHz, but let’s be honest—they mostly just enjoyed the scenic ride and provided me with that soothing sound of static. Between 6m being busier than a swap meet and the weather radar & lightning strike detector demanding my constant attention, I barely had time to blink, let alone sleep or chase those elusive higher bands. I’m sure I missed out on a bunch of opportunities, but hey, I still managed to snag some 2m contacts at a whopping 1,000 miles! Who needs sleep when you have ionospheric magic and a dash of stubbornness?

This contest is the perfect excuse to geek out over maps, plan routes, and dream up wild new radio projects. Every year, it pushes me to learn more, build more, and maybe—just maybe—dodge more thunderstorms while roving from grid to grid. There’s something uniquely satisfying about squeezing into a cockpit full of radio gear, dodging tree limbs, and pretending you’re not just a little bit crazy (don’t worry I’m considering meeting with a therapist.)

My goals for next year? Keep improving, keep moving forward, keep learning, keep mentoring Technician class license holders (encourage them to try VFO mode), and most importantly—keep having fun and exploring new places. After all, if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.

Finally, a huge thank you to the organizers and log checkers who work tirelessly to make this contest possible. You’re the real MVPs—even if you do make us wait for those results! A huge thank you to everyone in the logbook as well!

2m contacts from EM35!

The maps below were created using https://www.levinecentral.com/adif2map/
I imported my ADI file then using Levin Centrals site I converted to KML and imported to Google Earth.
Note that for my position and the position of the other stations the app is picking the grid square center not the exact positions.

M2 Antennas 2M7X (144-148MHz) 7ele 12.3 dBi used in EM35 on 2m

1.25 m contacts from EM35

M2 Antennas 222-10EZ (222-226 MHz), 10 ele 14.1 dBi used in EM35 on 1.25m

6m contacts from EM35

M2 Antennas 6M-3SS used in EM35 on 6m

6m contacts from EM25

Par Electronics 6M Omniangle (OA-50) used in EM25 on 6m

6m contacts from EM26

Par Electronics 6M Omniangle (OA-50) used in EM26 on 6m

Here you can see the 6m beam, M2 Antennas 6M-3SS, before I mount it.

If your wondering, while driving in low-limb areas I would stow both 6m antennas inside the car. I used some hard-wood dowel rods to make a frame that I zip-tied to the handles on the ceiling. I recycled some abandoned political signs to act as a barrier for the ceiling fabric but eventually I was placing everything above it not below it. Here is a photo of the ‘N5ZY/R ceiling storage pocket’ with both the M2 and Par Electronics Omniangle in storage.

Grids I activated while rovering

I spent Saturday on Mount Magazine then Sunday morning I drove out looking for activity in the other planned grids. This story to be continued…

Grid	QSO Count	Note
EM25	28	Area between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, after departing Mount Magazine
EM26	39	Centennial Park Fayetteville and Turkey Mnt Tulsa
EM35	184	Mid-West Arkansas and Mount Magazine
EM36	0	Skipped several planned locations in EM36
EM15	0	Sapulpa, OK Comfort Inn Skipped
EM16	0	Creek Turnkpike Overlook. Skipped

Take away

I suspect having this contest on Fathers Day weekend is why I couldn’t find anyone on local repeaters to pull over to Simplex the few times I tried. I had verticals ready but rarely made any contacts on them, but I was so busy on 6m I didn’t have the mental capacity to work 6m DIG and 2m PH simultaneously. I was also too busy to post in Slack to coordinate other bands. I know I left some points on the table and I can improve but I needed more sleep. I was also distracted watching the lightning monitor and weather radar..