06/13/2002 | W3IY/R The microwave activity keeps growing, and operating
as a rover in the contests is getting to be more fun
than ever.

We had a great time in the contest, to say the least.
Thanks to all who got on, especially the guys who
kept me awake all nite running the bands from the
Va Beach area (FM16,17,27). It was awesome.

Condx were poor at the start in FM15. The 20kt
winds from the subsiding northeaster in NC were
taking a toll on propagation. A few Es QSOs on
6 were fun, but short-lived. K4EFD showed up
from the mtns in FM07 and blew my socks off on
all bands thru 10G...vy loud! We deviated
significantly from plans since wrestling up the
big antenna telescoping mast was hard labor in
the winds...I was reluctant to take it down too
quickly.

FM25 was also below average from stormy
propagation condx. By the time we got to FM26,
the wx was getting calm, and the coastal ducting
became highly apparent from the waterfront site.
I had a blast working K1TEO, K1UHF etc S9 SSB on 10G!
This propagation continued all nite thru FM16,17,
es FM27. AA2UK, K2SMN, K1GX, es others
kept us hopping. Tnx guys!!

We missed most of our schedules, as
it's just not a good idea to break off a band run
with a station, after finally getting the microwave
antennas properly trained. This contest convinced
me more than before that schedules are bad for
rovers. I think the best answer is for rovers and
stations seeking rovers to put a separate 2m rx es
antenna up, and monitor a prearranged freq.

Worked lots of stations on the lower 4 bands
in-flight...great fun, but as I got tired, I
slacked off on this for safety reasons. Working
guys is easy, but logging becomes tedious
and dangerous while flying solo.

Had a good site in FM28, but as usual, we
didn't find all the staions we were hoping for.
had good microwave runs from here with K1RZ, N3NGE,
etc.

The FM18 site near Cambridge, MD was unexpectedly
filled with 3000+ joggers doing a benefit run for
some better cause, so we left them to their resources,
and never stopped in this grid. I wanted to stop in FM18
on the east side of the bay, but the off-ramp access
to the bay has gotten too complex...you gotta plan
10-miles ahead.

FM29aa had a good take-off angle in the corn fields,
but again, missed most of the expected stations,
even though we made noise on 144.247 alot. W3CCX
was much louder from here, es we got them thru
5.7G FB.

Usually we operate from the Chesapeake bay bridge,
but the sleep deprivation and beach traffic required
too much attention after the all-nighter, so we just
listened for the most part, and stayed out of trouble.
It was awesome working K1RZ es K3DNE thru 2.3G mobile
on tree scatter, after leaving the bridge.
They sounded like Au at 55 mph!

Lots of mobile ops en route to FM19ha, where we stopped
for 90min. It was great running bands here with K9OYD/R
es W4RX. Worked W4RX on 24G with LOUD sigs hr, which
was awesome.

Then on to FM08us at 3350ft. Great site, but we got so
busy running locals, we never cashed in es gathered the
needed grids to the west. More looper repairs due to low
hanging tree parts on skyline drive. Lots of microwave
QSOs with stations in the DC area. Made another 24G
QSO hr w/W4RX. Even made some rover-to-rover QSOs from
here...a rare treat!

Made multiple looper repairs due to errant trees.
Lost the AC compressor in FM18 (it's gonna be a long
hot summer in the Intergalactic Roving Battle Jitney).
New DC power system worked great.

Totals 812 QSOs in 146 grids~~ 253K
(unchecked at this point)

Great contest~ tnx fer all the activity!
CU on the bands.
73,
Bill W3IY/R -- W3IY