11/18/2008 | AC0GI This is the first HF contest that Eric (KR0VER) and I have entered where we actually prepared. As you might guess from his call we tend to rove in VHF contests. It was nice to work from the shack with a large desk and not have to worry about power, wind, odd looks or the other stuff that comes with roving.

At first we did search and pounce, picking up a new section every contact. We ignored tonnage for about half of the contest when we discovered packet clusters. After getting the computer to switch the radio for us onto someone calling cq it was like having an 'I Win!' button. We did most of the contest with a speaker and only called back people who we could hear clearly. We could hear qsos band edge to band edge. Even with a wire antenna and 100 watts, being in the middle of the country gives us a huge advantage. All of this is very different from what we're used to, but we like it. We had a blast and we'll be back next year for sure. -- AC0GI