EME  and  Contesting

One of my newer passions in Amateur Radio has been EME. This stands for Earth Moon Earth (Moonbounce) and consists of bouncing your signal off the moon at VHF frequencies in order to make contact with other countries.

Most EME takes place at VHF frequencies - 144MHz, 432MHz, and 1.2GHz. More and more hams are beginning to try moonbounce on the 6 meter band (50MHz). I am off EME at the moment but have worked 64 countries and 21 zones on 2 meters (144MHz) with my most exciting contact with Peter 1 Island - 3Y0X.

I began my career by being a DX'er and continue to chase DX.  My competitive spirit directed me to radio contesting almost immediately after getting my license. Much of my international travel has revolved around contests.  I have met some great folks around the world because of my contesting activities and doors have opened for me because of it. 

Contesting tests your skills and abilities at processing information quickly.  Technology continues to evolve and can add to the thrill of the hunt.  For me, I still like entering the Single Operator category with no assisitance from packet, skimmers etc.  I find it fun to work the bands without the extra assistance.  In multi-op contesting though, I do like having the technology available in helping our contest efforts.