Here are suggestions and information for VHF contests from various sources:

The contest 'exchange' is what the other station expects from you when you make a contact. For the January Sweepstakes the exchange is just the grid square and optionally, signal strength (usually 59, especially on FM) but it can be the actual reading too. The grid square for the western Massachusett area is FN32 (usually given as Fox November Thirty Two). Northern Connecticut is in FN31. For an explanation of grid squares and to find out what one you are in check out http://www.arrl.org/locate/gridinfo.html or look at a map at http://www.levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php (a really cool site).

Frequencies: Contest contacts on repeaters are not allowed. Also, the national 2 meter calling frequency, 146.52 MHz, is off limits. Popular 2 meter FM frequencies for contest contacts are 146.49 MHz, 146.55 MHz, and 146.58 MHz simplex. Frequencies for other bands and modes are:

• 70 cm: 446.00 MHz simplex
• 6 meter FM 52.525 MHz +/-
• 6 meter USB 50.110 MHz - 50.200 MHz
• 2 meter USB 144.100 MHz - 144.300 MHz

Suggested operating times: With normal VHF propagation conditions most contacts will be relatively local. To maximize the number of contacts for everyone it has been suggested that as many western MA stations as can do so should try to operate during the first few hours of the contest, starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and again on Sunday morning after the nets, starting at 10 a.m. If you want to take advantage of possible unusual propagation you might then want to just leave your radio on at other times, monitoring one of the popular frequencies while you do other things, and ready to get back on the air if you start hearing activity or stations you haven't worked yet.

The official rules for the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes are online at http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2010/jan-vhf-ss.html

The following hints are from a series of articles written by KC9BQA on "Promoting VHF/UHF in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest" at http://kc9bqa.com/?p=1677

Call "CQ Contest", don′t wait for the other person to pick up the mic. Also turn your squelch down. Noise is part of VHF/UHFing; you don′t want your squelch high because you cover up the weak signals that may be a distant grid you haven′t worked yet. With squelch lower, you also minimize calling over other light stations, which makes you a better operator.

When VHF contesting, expect lots of weak signals. Embrace them. The weak one may very well be a station in a distant grid. Try to work everyone you can hear. Expect to be asked for repeats. Don′t worry about it. Take your time. Speak clearly, use standard phonetics and get the Q in the log. If someone seems a bit impatient, explain to them that you are just getting started. After a few contests, it all makes sense anyway. Gotta start somewhere. January contest is a good one to get your start in.

Use headphones. You′re going to need them to hear the weak ones. Cans make a big difference. You should see me crossing two sets on my head, while I listen on 144 in one ear, and 6 meters in the other. Friends have, and they just smile and walk away.

If you have your squelch too high, you may not hear light stations working each other, and then you may QRM them when you call CQ Contest. This happens anyway in a contest and hey, we all make honest mistakes. Nobody should jump down your throat over it. If it seems like maybe you made a boo-boo, don′t stress over it. Just chalk it up to experience and move on. I know it′s harder than heck for a new operator to feel comfortable calling CQ Contest into a dead band. But try it out anyway. Even if you feel foolish calling 3, 5, 8 times in a row and nobody comes back to you, keep calling CQ. Sure you want to tune around and respond to the ones you hear calling CQ (they call that Search and Pounce). But when you hit a lull, that′s a good time to put YOUR call out there.

To find contacts, start on 144(SSB/CW)/146 (FM) MHz. Also call CQ on 50(SSB/CW)/52 (FM) MHz as well. And you can even squirt out a few calls on 222/223.

But don′t bother calling CQ on 432.100/446.000. I′ll explain why. In VHF contests, you find folks for an initial contact on the most popular bands, where everyone′s hanging out. That′s 2 meters and 6 meters. Once you′ve found a station, you then want to work them on as many bands as you have in common. This is called "running the bands". The more bands you work them on, the more contacts and points you score. Always ask a station if they have any other bands you can work them on. Say you hear me calling on 144 and you respond with your callsign. I give my grid square, you give yours, we roger the info, put the time in our logs, and then I ask you if you have any other bands. You say you have 6 meters. I look at my 6 meter rig and try to find a frequency that is empty. I say to you, "OK, let′s meet on 50.140 on 6 meters. If we have a problem, we’ll come back right here where we are on 2, OK?" So off we go to 50.140. If we make contact there, we exchange our calls and grids again, enter them in the log and I ask you again if you have any other bands. You say you have 222 or 432. We check 222.100 SSB/CW or 223.500 FM to see if anyone′s busy there, and it′s open. We make contact on 223.5, enter the info in our logs, and then agree to meet on say 432.100 or 446.00, depending on your rigs and antennas. At this point, we’ve run 4 bands and I thank you very much and say 73, good luck in the contest, blahblah. You probably don′t have 900 or 1296 MHz because those aren′t beginner bands.

Then I go back to 2 meters or 6 meters and start looking for new contacts. I don′t start calling for new ones on 432. It is a good idea to ask if anyone else has followed us up to 432. That happens sometimes and it′s a neat coincidence when it does. You can work anyone on any band, in any order. That′s fine. But... the custom with VHF contesting is to call CQ for initial contacts on 2 meters or 6 meters. If you spend all your time calling up on 70 cm or 223, you′re going to be missing most of the action.

See also: Contesting: Why and How for the Beginner

-- Al Woodhull, N1AW, rev. 1/22/2010