The September VHF contest seemed like two separate contests to me.

On Saturday I joined W6IT and W6TAI to rove in Southern California.  We started in DM12 (near Solana Beach) and then worked our way north to Buena Park for DM13 and DM03, then on to Monrovia for DM14 and DM04.  We worked on 11 bands (50 MHz to 24 GHz) as we moved through these five grid squares.  Greg and Carrie were only available on Saturday, so they drove home from Monrovia while I headed over the mountains to the San Joaquin Valley late Saturday night.

Sunday morning I met K6MI, N6MTS (with WA6OIB) and W6TE in Kettleman City.  Some of them were only available to rove on Sunday, so this plan worked.  I had brought along two extra very compact 10-band rover stations that I lent to N6MTS and K6MI.  W6TE has his own excellent 10-band rover station (11, counting his new DB6NT system for 24 GHz, which had just been returned from repairs at Kuhne Electronic in Germany).  It didn't take long to set up and check out the extra stations.  We started in DM05 and quickly worked each other.  Then we all worked multioperator station W6TV, operating fixed on a mountaintop east of Fresno, about 100 miles away.  We were amazed to see how easily the guys with the compact stations could work W6TV all the way to 10 GHz.  I worked W6TV on 24 GHz as well.

Then we moved to a nearby hilltop in grid CM95 and did everything again.  W6TV was again able to work everyone through 10 GHz and work me on 24 GHz.  Then we moved to a site near the California Aqueduct at the junction of DM06 and CM96--in totally flat terrain.  Once again, W6TV was loud and clear on all bands, including 24 GHz.  Finally, we made the 85-mile drive north to Madera to activate CM97 and DM07.  Our site in CM97 was next to an orchard--not good for microwave work.  We did manage to work W6TV on all bands but 5.7 GHz and 24 GHZ, then moved on to DM07 (with no orchard) and easily worked W6TV on all bands, including 24 GHz.

When the contest ended, we had all worked each other and W6TV from six grid squares.  I had worked W6TV from five grid squares on 24 GHz, making Pat and Rob (W6TV operators) eligible for VUCC on 24 GHz.  In the process, I had earned "reverse VUCC", an award given by the Central States VHF Society to rovers who work a single fixed station from the requisite number of different grid squares (five grid squares in the case of 24 GHz).

Counting the separate rove with W6IT and W6TAI on Saturday, I had activated 11 grid squares and logged 132 total multipliers.  I've never before done a rove in quite this way (with a completely different group of rovers each day).  It was an idea that seemed to work out very well in a situation where some people were only available to rove on Saturday, while others were only available on Sunday.

73, Wayne, N6NB