06/24/2008 | KC0IYT/R I roved to 8 grids with 10 bands (6m - 10ghz) during this contest.
I was not suprised when there was a 6m Es opening, and almost
everyone abandoned the "high bands". Luckily, a few people left
their 2m rig tuned to my "home" frequency and left 6m to work me
when I got to a new grid.

The factors in choosing where I roved to were to operate from two
new grids on 2304 to complete a Reverse VUCC (from the Central
States VHF Society) and activate the relatively rare grids near the
Twin Cities (MN) to help out local contesters.

I started at the EN22/EN32/EN23/EN33 grid corner in North-West Iowa.
This area wasn't flooded like eastern Iowa is, but there was still
water standing in the fields. I got the two new grids on 2304 that
I was looking for, but not until trying two locations in each grid
(I know, VUCC isn't supposed to be easy).

I activated two grids there, then drove north to activate EN23 & EN33.
Sunday I went to EN35 on the north side of Minneapolis (902 and up is
"rare" in EN35) then out west for EN24 and EN25. I finished the contest
in EN34 back in the twin cities.

For 6m, I used a dipole on a DK9SQ mast, but never fully extended
the mast because of the wind. With only 100W I wasn't much of a pile-up
breaker.

The totals were: about $100 in gas, about 500 miles driven
at 25-27mpg and 4 dozen pictures. -- KC0IYT