ARRL

It was a good rove, enhanced quite a bit by the heavy SOTA and rover activity in AZ. This is my highest ever score in a January contest by a lot, and much higher than I would expect without Es, of which I heard none. After years of being the only rover in AZ it is nice to have two others around to work. After scraping 2 inches of snow off the Rover on Friday I headed out to El Paso where I stayed overnight so I would be fresh to start the contest on Saturday. I operated from the west side of the Transmountain Highway in DM61. There were lots of locals on and I also managed a QSO to Tucson. It was there my deep cyclebattery failed. I jerry rigged something together and continued operating. I continued on to DM62 and worked a few NM stations as well as Tucson. I then headed out to DM52 where I split operations between the NM and AZ sides of the border. Nice QSOes to AZ and NM stations. It was getting late by then, So I went on to Phoenix, arriving about midnight. In the morning I got a late start as I went an bought a battery so that I could use the computer to log. I headed out to the Maricopa convergence and found that although I had followed previous year’s procedures and gotten approval to operate when I called the Ak Chin Community on Friday, they denied me permission when I was there on Sunday, which cost me an additional hour of lost operating and more importantly, 2 grids. When I got on from DM33, about 1800Z, the SOTA activity had peaked but I still managed more than 50 QSOes from that location and then another 50 or so from DM43 when I moved acros the alfalfa field to operate there. It was a great pleasure to have so much activity and on so many bands after years of literally begging for QSOes in my roves to AZ. Thanks everyone! I then headed up I-17, operating from DM34 near the Aqua Fria national monument with a good path to Phoenix and still lots of people to work. I ended up the contest at a scenic overlook just below the Llowell Obsservatory in Flagstaff, DM45. I had good QSOes with Tucson, Phoenix, Gallup NM, and, at a distance of 325 miles, with W5UHF in Santa Fe, NM. Due to the eclipse, the very small scenic overlook was packed with cars, spilling over to the narrow roadway. These were not astronomical observers, but rather partiers and among them there was loud music with too loud bass, beer drinking, herbal experimentation, and judging by the steamed up windows, more than a few makeout sessions. After a frenzied run up the bands with N7GP/r, I pulled the plug when the contest ended and missed out on a few more QSOes. After a beer and a steak, I headed off to bed.