08/09/2009 | W0AUS We had talked for years about putting together a large multi-op to see if we could compete (or beat) the large multi-ops on the east coast. This year we decided to go for it!

Planning began about six months ago with my goal of a million points. Our site would be Buck Hill Ski Area in Burnsville, MN in grid EN34ir. The 500 foot "mountain" would be the perfect spot for a multi-op. People stepped forward to help build a station on the hill and others stepped forward to go out roving. Our team on the hill would be Tom, K0TAR, Ron, KA0RYT, Rich, N0HJZ, Dave, N0KP and Paul, WA0RSE.

Our station was no "super station" but featured modest power, medium sized antennas and short feedlines. The ski hill would be our tower. The pictures show how big our station was (not)!

The set-up went well and we were ready to go at the start. There were 13 rovers active at the start and the first hour was very hectic as we turned the antennas round and round to try to work everyone. Signals were not loud as propagation was only so-so.

As the contest progressed, we got into a good rhythm. We'd find the next rover or fixed station and pass them up the bands. The hardest "pass" was from the 432 station to the microwave station, located about 50 feet away. You'd hear a yell "W9FZ/R now in EN52 going to 902.100, heading 140 degrees." We got pretty good at passing stations!

The weather went from warm at the start to quite cold in the evening. The wind kicked up and the temp dropped. In the middle of the night we had a low of 51f with a wind of about 20 mph. We all wore every piece of clothing we had plus some blankets! All this clothing and it was August! This was nuts!

As morning dawned, the weather and activity started to warm. More rovers were out on Sunday and the QSO count started to improve. The last hour was hectic as rovers squeezed in one more grid and new fixed stations got on the air. What a blast!

In the end, propagation made things difficult but we were able to work stations from EN08 to EN01 to EN60 to EN74. 400 miles was about the best we could do.

How did we do? The million point goal wasn't going to happen due to the poor propagation. One thing we knew - the old Minnesota record of 86,000 points had been blown away! Our remaining question - was our score going to be enough to contend with the east coast?

When the dust settled, we had 471 QSO's and 198 grids for a claimed score of 531,036 points! If I figure right, this is the 8th best multi-op score ever! Not bad for a small station in the Upper Midwest!

We need to give a big THANK YOU to the rovers!! They got out in the field, drove a whole bunch of miles and provided us with a lot of QSO's. The rovers gave us 349 out of 471 QSO's or 74.1%.

We worked 27 rovers: K0HAC, K0MHC, K0PC, K0PG, K9ILT, K9JK, KB0NES, KC0IYT, KC0OIA, KC0P, KC0PMW, KD0ABR, KE3QY, N0DQS, N0EDV, N0HZO, N0QJM, N0UK, W0IS, W0JT, W0ZQ, W7XU, W9FZ, WA0VPJ, WA2VOI, WB0LJC and WB8BZK. Thanks to all of you!!

This great score was the result of months of planning and a total team effort from the entire Upper Midwest. Thanks to operators in the Northern Lights Radio Society, Badger Contesters, Chippewa Valley VHF Contesters and Society of Midwest Contesters for their help!

See you next year! -- N0HJZ