07/01/2007 | K0NR/R The K0NR/R rover operation was really two mountaintop portable ops disguised as a two grid rover operation (DM77, DM78). Actually, it was three grids since I worked a few stations after I arrived back home in DM79. My roving partner was Ken Wyatt WA6TTY, who supplied the camping trailer and snagged most of the 6M contacts. Ken also performed emergency, "Be Prepared" Boy Scout duty by lashing together the 432 MHz yagi when the hardware rattled loose on the drive up the mountain. (See photo.)

We had three objectives:

1. Work all the Colorado grids on 2M

2. Work lots of stations on 6M

3. Have some fun in the Colorado mountains

We did quite well with the first and third objectives....that 6M thing didn't work out so well. 50 MHz propagation was surprisingly poor for June.

On Saturday, we intended to operate from Greenhorn Mountain DM77 but the US Forest Service advised that the road was still closed due to snow. June really is a bit early for mountaintiopping in the Colorado high country. Our second choice was Cordova Pass, about 11,000 feet in elevation, also in DM77, accessible but not as good from a radio perspective. From DM77, we had to work a bit for contacts on 2M and 70 cm, making sure we were pointed in the right direction and often flipping over to CW to make the contact.

On the second day, we operated from Pikes Peak (DM78) ....high elevation with line of sight to the front range cities. Lots of contacts, lots of QRM, too many stations on 144.200 MHz. We also noted that our cognitive skills degraded at 14,000 feet...getting the call and exchange right just takes longer when your brain is short on oxygen. (At least, That's Our Story and We are Sticking to It!) The funny thing on Pikes was using the 222 MHz handheld (rubber duck antenna) to work 3 grids on FM.

We did work 14 of the 16 Colorado grids on 2M, missing only DN50 and DM57 (the NW and SW corners). DN50 was apparently not activated while DM57 had Johnny KD5LWU on the air but not having much luck.
Sorry we missed you Johnny....we really did point west a lot looking for the western stations.

Thanks to all of the stations that participated in The Great Colorado Grid Run.

See http://www.k0nr.com/blog/2007/06/work-all-colorado-on-vhf.html We had 15 of the 16 grids activated which is super. Perhaps next year we can make it all 16 !!! I'll drive to DN50 if I have to.

Special thanks goes to all of the rovers we worked (N0IO, N0QE, WY0X, W3DHJ, KR5J, KR0VER, KC0TLW) with special appreciation for K0KHZ/R (John) who helped fill our log when we were down in DM77. If you helped activate Colorado, send in your log to receive the Great Colorado Grid Run certificate, see http://www.rmvhf.org/Great_Grid.html

Except for 6M conditions, it was a fine contest.

73, Bob K0NR -- K0NR