2004 ARRL September VHF Contest
10/04/2004 |
KC0P/R
ROVERING in MINNESOTA
I had a good time with my stop and shoot rover operation in Sep-VHF contest. This is a personal best in rover to rover, completeing with N0DQS/R at 245 mi, K0MHC/R at 174 mi, and K0PG/R at 138 mi. Best DX to a fixed station was EN33xw to K0AWU in EN37ed for 235 mi. Also had a brief opening from EN43ax to the Milwaukee area where N9LLT in EN63ah was 205 mi at the end of a run of five stations and three new grids on 144.170 MHz in less than 20 minutes. It pays to advertise a route and calling frequency. I also heard NT0V in EN08 (434 mi), but I could not get his attention in the 144.200 confusion with my 50 watts and five elements on a 60 inch boom. Next time I will pound away on CW at 144.205 for 10 minutes and see if I can get his attention.
Thanks to all the Northern Lights Radio Society members that I worked from multiple grids to fill out the QSO counts. The sun was warm and enough wind to blow away the dust on the gravel roads we set up on. Scouting operating positions in the daylight ahead of time helps find the safe field driveways across the ditch in the dark. After completing with W9FZ/R on five bands from a hilltop I realized I could see stars from horizon to horizon. This is fun in September -- KC0P
I had a good time with my stop and shoot rover operation in Sep-VHF contest. This is a personal best in rover to rover, completeing with N0DQS/R at 245 mi, K0MHC/R at 174 mi, and K0PG/R at 138 mi. Best DX to a fixed station was EN33xw to K0AWU in EN37ed for 235 mi. Also had a brief opening from EN43ax to the Milwaukee area where N9LLT in EN63ah was 205 mi at the end of a run of five stations and three new grids on 144.170 MHz in less than 20 minutes. It pays to advertise a route and calling frequency. I also heard NT0V in EN08 (434 mi), but I could not get his attention in the 144.200 confusion with my 50 watts and five elements on a 60 inch boom. Next time I will pound away on CW at 144.205 for 10 minutes and see if I can get his attention.
Thanks to all the Northern Lights Radio Society members that I worked from multiple grids to fill out the QSO counts. The sun was warm and enough wind to blow away the dust on the gravel roads we set up on. Scouting operating positions in the daylight ahead of time helps find the safe field driveways across the ditch in the dark. After completing with W9FZ/R on five bands from a hilltop I realized I could see stars from horizon to horizon. This is fun in September -- KC0P
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