08/04/2008 | K2DRH Wow, what a difference a year makes. This UHF contest had really excellent propagation for almost the entire contest. It was really hot and dry on Saturday. Conditions to the north were really good and kept building all afternoon. Successful runs with stations and rovers up to 300 miles away were commonplace and extended out past 400 miles on all bands up to 3456 as the evening cooled off. While afternoon runs with station at further distances usually stopped at 1296, making skeds for later definitely paid off and the higher bands could usually be worked then. I finally went to bed well after 2AM with over 100K points in the log because there just werent any more stations left to work. I worked several of the Rovermania rovers, but once again W0ZQ/R and W9FZ/R were there where they said they would be pretty much when they said they would be and the most consistent. Having a schedule, listening frequency and the six digit grid locations ahead of time I was able to point right at them on 432 made getting their attention a lot easier. For me, thats as good as being able to use APRS! With Bruce and John we swept all the bands we had in common in all the grids they visited on Saturday.

I got up again before 5AM and started working stations again almost immediately. W9FZ/R was right there and ready and we swept again. The band wasnt as good to the north as it was the night before, but the conditions to the south and the east were way better. I worked K8MD, K3SIW and WW8M to the east over 300 miles on all bands through 3456, sometimes 30 and 40 over! Then the rains came. A big slow moving thunderstorm shut me down for an hour right in the middle of the best UHF band conditions I think Ive ever seen in a contest. I missed W0ZQ/R in a new grid out about 300 miles because I had to be off the air. Things cooled off a lot to the north and east after it moved through, and K2YAZ in EN74 and I struggled to work up to 3456. But the enhancement stayed good to the south. I found N8UM in EM85 up to 1296, W4ZRZ in EM63 (600 miles) and K4XR in EM64 up to 1296, and worked AG4V in EM55 (450 miles) up through 3456 (3456 was on SSB)! And while W9FZ/R and I swept all bands in all grids for a second day in a row, I missed W0ZQ/R completely in two grids due to the thunderstorm and conditions. As the day wore on the enhancement got weaker and by the last hour of the contest it was pretty dead. I worked only two stations in the last hour, W9FZ/R on 5 bands and K9LQZ in EM68 for a new grid. But it was a great contest and I almost doubled my previous personal best score.

73 de Bob2 -- K2DRH