01/04/2010 | W9FZ/R Why Midwest Mania!? At Central States VHF Society conferences, Id talk to other VHFers from the central or southern part of the Central States. They lamented that sometimes contest activity is low in their areas. In the northern part, roving and activity levels are generally quite healthy. Also, there are population centers like Minneapolis-St Paul, Milwaukee, and Chicago. In the Great Plains of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma population is sparser. Population centers at Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City help with Kansas City actually a potential hot bed of activity.

Ive been roving for over 20 years now and am working on awards through the Central States VHF Societys Reverse VUCC/r program. On my drives to CSVHFS conferences in Wichita and Colorado Springs, I saw the beauty and great vistas of the Great Plains. I repeatedly thought what great horizons for VHF/UHF! Ill have to rove here sometime! In prior conversations, Dave KA0KCI/R and Mel WR0I/R, whom have both roved in Kansas for many years, tried to warn me that activity levels are low and I should not expect much.

Well, if activity levels are that low, I planned on just counting on working the few stations that exist from 10 grids instead of the normal 8 that I like on a contest weekend. I hoped to work KB0HH (EM06), WQ0P (EM19), N0LL (EM09), and KM0T (EN13) repeatedly. Unfortunately, KM0T was not on for the contest at all. Further, since I was going all that way (out of my normal stomping grounds), I also figured a little promotion couldnt hurt. I felt that if I beat the bushes and encouraged any and all VHF stations in the Great Plains to get on for this one, I might make a few more Qs. Additionally, it occurred to me that states to the east and west of the Great Plains dont spend much time pointing to that area because of perceived low activity. So my goals became two-fold. One, encourage as much indigenous activity in the Great Plains (OK, KS, NE, SD) and then give operators in the states surrounding a reason to point out into the Great Plains and find more activity than normal. And ideally, operators from Iowa and Missouri might actually work across the Great Plains to Colorado.

I looked through contest results over the past few years from the Great Plains and some of the surrounding states. I developed a list of callsigns to contact via email. I whipped up a website at http://www.w9fz.com/midwestmania09/ to promote this particular contest. I called it Midwest Mania because of the ARRL Midwest Division. The idea caught on! Fixed stations said theyd be sure to be on the air. And Rovers! Duffy, KK6MC/R from New Mexico pledged to depart his normal stomping grounds and join the fun. WD5AGO/R, AF5Q/R, KA0KCI/R, WR0I/R, KB0QGT/R, KD0S/R, W3DHJ/R, KR5J/R, and KR0VER/R stepped forward with Rover plans as well. I was pleasantly pleased with the response before the event even happened.

I spent the night before the contest at the KB0HH Bunkhouse. Great hospitality, food, and fun to see the shack and antennas. Had good talks with Dave KA0KCI/R and Mel WR0I/R who were all set to hit the road on their roves.

So howd it go? Better than I could have ever hoped. Rain moved through OK and KS right up to contest time making many of the roads quite muddy. Some of the Rovers had to cancel their plans. I was BUSY! I ran eight bands. Only N0OY ran 10GHz with me. I worked lots of stations from all over OK, KS, NE, and IA. I was so busy that I never really banged away CQing in directions like Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, or Denver. I activated ten grids (EM08, EM18, EM19, EM09, EN00, EN10, EN11, EN01, EN02 and EN12). If I had to do it again, I might stick with 8 grids. I was quite pleased with the distances. I had a fair number of RovertoRover contacts and none of them were orchestrated or over trivial distances. Duffy KK6MC/R was worked multiple times on 120 and 180 mile paths. I swept KB0HH from all 10 grids on 6 bands (ok, minus one 2.3 Q). I swept N0LL on all five of his bands. Thanks Larry for being there! Many other stations were in the log MANY times (W0LGQ, WQ0P and others come to mind) and I appreciate their looking for me on multiple stops. I think activity levels were downright good. Conditions were decent within the region but I wouldnt say there were any openings. One highlight was working down to K5SW (EM25) and N0IRS/p (EM24) from EN00.

From what I hear, basically, the events success was from much increased indigenous activity in the Great Plains. In fact, fixed and rover stations remained so busy working each other in the Great Plains that not that many stations outside of the area worked into the Great Plains. Nor am I aware of much success of stations working completely across the Great Plains. I could hear the fun in the fixed stations voices as I worked them from multiple stops. We ALL were having fun!

I highly recommend the Great Plains for roving! Its easy! Great horizons and not too many trees.

Havent made any plans yet for Midwest Mania 10, but it could happen. This trip was along the 98th parallel (Id recommend it to anyoneIll gladly share the spots I found). My next trip will be on a new and different parallel. -- W9FZ