12/23/2008 | KC0P/R Planning, cooperation, and a lot of time devoted to the task
yielded a lot of fun and lots of contacts. This year I joined
the Northern Lights Radio Society high speed Rover Pack for
all four days. I managed 34 setups, 22 different stations and
300 QSOs. In August we were roving in SE Minnesota and NE Iowa.
This was familiar territory for me as I have scouted it many
times and knew many real good spots that are High and Open.

Most of our contacts were to the NLRS fixed group on Buck Hill
EN34ir in South Minneapolis but we also worked Charlie N0AKC at Elk
Mound, WI EN44dv and Mike KM0T EN13vc in Sioux Center, IA for my
best dx of 346 km across flat land. On Sunday forenoon a white
Buick came down the road with a big red ribbon on the grill. The
lady said "there were UFOs reported around here last night. Are
you looking for them"? When Jon W0ZQ tried to explain microwave
contesting her eyes glazed over and she said, "I think I will
continue on to Church".

In September we moved to SW Minnesota and E. South Dakota to get
some height advantage from the Lake Benton Ridge (full of wind
turbines) and again High and Open. A fun time with some beautiful
vistas to the horizon. On Sunday afternoon our group of five
vehicles pulled into a small town co-op for fuel. I walked inside
and the attendant came in and said " I just pumped gas for a guy
with a compass on a lanyard around his neck". He took one look at
me and said " I'll bet you are one of them too". He was talking
about my friend John W0JT. We must have been a strange looking bunch.
Wonder what he would have said if he had seen the six of us set up
along the side of the road with our off set dishes obviously pointed
at the ground.

The plan worked well. I must have worked Dave N0KP 32 times. That
is a lot of time waiting for us to get to a new position but it
takes a lot of time on task to get the big scores and all that fun.
Thanks for being there. -- KC0P