06/30/2007 | KD5IKG My daughter and I had planned on roving from New Orleans to Memphis and back south again through Alabama to activate some grids for the contest. Had a hitch mount fabricated, set up the radio with battery, MFJ Intelli-tuner, switches, and spent some time and effort to get the engine noise out, But our old friend Mr. Murphy stuck his hand into our plans.

I got a transfer from Mississippi to Texas and had to go house hunting on my only "free" weekend. We loaded up the kids and went to Texas to look for a house. Had to drop the kids off at ther Grandparents house for a Texas summer school session since all their credits did not transfer. We had three hams in the car for the trip. We were popular with the contesters. The kids had a blast activating each grid on the way. The lucky contester picked up three "rover/mobile" calls in multiple grids as we travelled.

Too bad there is not an exception to the rules for "family" rovers, my wife could have joined in and we would have been giving out 4 rovers per grid! We since the rules don't allow multiple hams in the rover catagory, we just handed out grids and contacts without worrying about submitting a contest log. Maybe next year there will be a family rover catagory and the whole family will go rovering! The youngest should have her ticket before the next contest. But that will be a north/south trip because the grids change a lot more frequently that going east to west.

73 de KD5IKG and family -- KD5IKG