08/08/2003 | W0AMT/R The UHF contest is my favorite of the big 4 contests each year. John, KC0LBT and I had a great time. Thanks to all the stations that pointed our way when we were out in the cornfields of rural Minnesota. We were right on schedule all day Saturday and about an hour behind at the end on Sunday. It was worth the delay.

We had plenty of time to find a good shot to the East from EN24, unfortunately we didn't find a good spot till after the contest had started. At the start we worked W0ZQ on 222 and 432 ssb but had to use cw for 1296, shades of things to come. After that we moved about 1000 feet down the road and had much better signals, worked W0GHZ on 222, 432 and 1296 ssb. I am sure we could of worked Jon on 1296 ssb from there. About 1835 we drove about a mile
north and worked a bunch of contacts from EN25 with good signals, all contacts made on ssb. We got going toward EN23 right on time and on the way down through EN24 we worked KM0T on three bands.

After a drive that didn't take as long as I expected we found an ok spot in EN23 and worked several contacts. We then found a nice spot in EN33 with good views to the North-East and South-West. The weather was beautiful at our location in EN33 and we stayed there for a while hoping to work more contacts. We departed EN33 having missed KM0T, we finally hooked up about 10 miles north of the grid line inside EN34, We worked Mike in EN34 and drove back to EN33 and worked him
again

We stopped for a sandwich in Mankato and then headed back home. We worked several stations along the way North while mobile. We worked the KC0LMS / KC0QHW / KC0QHX family station on 432 from EN34 and EN35 and then again in EN35 on 223.500 FM. Nice job Russ,

We departed the cities Sunday morning about 1020, very foggy start. Along the way north in EN35 worked K0AWU in EN37, three bands, 70 miles an hour, you just have to wait till the roads turn slightly West of North. We arrived in EN36, Hinckley on schedule and worked several contacts on three bands, We worked KM0T on 222 and 432 but the signals on 1296 just were not there. We departed Hinckley on
schedule.

We worked K0AWU and W0ZQ on 1296 from EN46!! We found a hill with a clear shot to Grand Rapids and worked Bill on three bands, the other side of that same hill was all trees toward the cities. We worked several stations on 222 with good signals. We worked most of those same stations on 432 ssb but the contacts were on the weak side. At this point we had a friendly visit from a Wisconsin State Police officer and a Washburn County Sheriff, after a 20 minute delay
getting the truck pointed on the proper heading we hooked up again with Jon and worked on 1296 cw, signals were weak but readable. 115 miles through some pretty thick foilage, very cool.

We departed EN46 about 45 minutes late and worked 3 contacts while mobile in EN45, sorry we didn't get a chance to work more stations in EN45. We wanted to finish the contest in EN35 with a good shot into the cities. We stopped on top of the hill in Saint Croix Falls and worked many stations till the contest was over.

And I was worried that it would be a slow contest. -- W0AMT