01/29/2007 | KB3NMQ/R Thanks to everyone that made QSOs with KB3NMQ/R. This was Matt KB3NMQs first contest, and judging by the way he talked about it, I think he had a great time. Matt actually brought a book along with us, thinking we would contact four or five stations from each grid that we activated. He was surprised to find that our self-imposed two-hour time limit for each grid went past quickly as he worked them one by one, band by band.

For 2 meter and 432 MHz we used a dual band portable log-periodic up about 28 feet on a Kanga Pole that was attached to the vehicle using some PVC plumbing parts and the roof rack. This enabled Matt to spin the beam and kept the scratches off the vehicle. On 6 meters we operated a Buddy Pole in the horizontal dipole configuration. All bands were worked via the Icom 706 MIIG.

We activated the following grids: FM19, FN10, and FN20.
The band activity was as follows: 50 MHz- 46 contacts, 144 MHz- 35 contacts, and 432 MHz- 18 contacts.

Matt was very impressed when we contacted upstate NY on 6 meters, but that excitement was short lived when he nailed a Connecticut station on 2 meter side band.
What a great time! Hope to catch you all in the spring!
73, de Rodney N3XG (BTW that is my CRV that is QRV in the pics) -- N3XG