Sunday I began making my way toward FN23 but the police and fire crews had the road blocked to allow a large number of motorcyclists to safely enter the highway from several onramps. Just then 6m began to open as the traffic had come to a stand-still. Rather than get frustrated about being stuck in traffic, I now realized I had a great opportunity to make contacts without having to watch the road ahead. I picked up a few new grids, and traffic began moving again. I finally got to my rover site, but wondered whether or not I should take the extra time to set up the full antenna system, because who knows how long the band opening was going to last. I took a risk and set up the full 3 over 3 stack on 6m and worked a few E-skip stations, but the band closed in fairly short order. I should have set up a single yagi, and then later set up the second yagi once the band closed. While the band was open, I began to notice that the paths were getting short, especially when I worked K4ZOO FM08 who was 5x7 at 382 miles, but nothing developed on 2m. I went outside with the digital camera to get some photos and noticed that the rechargeable batteries are no longer holding a charge, so no pics are available for this effort.
I got to FN22 with less than 2 hours to go in the contest, so I decided to just put up a single 6m yagi to save time (lesson learned). I started operating with exactly one hour to go and the "low fuel" light came on. So I would operate a block of 15 minutes, then run the engine for 5 minutes to recharge the battery. In the first 11 minutes I made 12 contacts and provided a new grid for 5 of them (and this was the final hour of the contest, no less). Over the next few minutes, several more folks would thank me for a new grid (as did quite a few when I was in FN23 earlier). The contest ended with a bang--my final contact was my longest on 2m (406 miles) when I worked KN4SM for new grid FM16 (and provided him with a new grid also).
Although I was annoyed at having a couple setbacks that prevented me from putting in a full effort (for a second year in a row), it was fun getting out there in more manageable weather conditions this time and making some noise. It was nice to leave the higher bands home which freed up some space on the mast for better performing antennas for 6m and 2m. Total operating time for this contest ended up being 3 hrs 11 minutes (11.8% of the contest, up a few percent from last year). The goal for 2010 is to have a rain-proof contest vehicle, put in a full-time effort, and try breaking 10,000 points. UPDATE: I received a certificate in the mail showing 1st place rover in New York for this event with a claimed score of 3,168 points.
POINTS SUMMARY
Band QSOs QSO pts. Mults.
-----------------------------------------------
50 36 36 23
144 20 40 13
-----------------------------------------------
TOTALS 56 76 36
--- Claimed score = 2,736 ---
LOG
START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CALLSIGN: N2SLN/R
CATEGORY: ROVER ALL HIGH
CLAIMED-SCORE: 2736
CONTEST: CQ-VHF
CREATED-BY: WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo 1.11
NAME:
ADDRESS:
ADDRESS:
EMAIL:
OPERATORS:
SOAPBOX:
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 0332 N2SLN/R FN12 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 0333 N2SLN/R FN12 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1416 N2SLN/R FN23 W4MAY EL97
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1455 N2SLN/R FN23 W4WA EM84
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1457 N2SLN/R FN23 AA4V FM02
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1547 N2SLN/R FN23 K4SME EM80
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1549 N2SLN/R FN23 K4QI EM85
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1550 N2SLN/R FN23 K4WI EM62
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1552 N2SLN/R FN23 W4NH EM84
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1553 N2SLN/R FN23 N4LR EM73
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1555 N2SLN/R FN23 W4APP EM87
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1557 N2SLN/R FN23 W4MW EM96
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1603 N2SLN/R FN23 K4ZOO FM08
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1617 N2SLN/R FN23 W3EP FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1618 N2SLN/R FN23 WA2FGK FN21
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1619 N2SLN/R FN23 WA2FGK FN21
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1621 N2SLN/R FN23 W2UDT FN20
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1621 N2SLN/R FN23 W2UDT FN20
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1624 N2SLN/R FN23 K1DS/R FN10
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1625 N2SLN/R FN23 K1DS/R FN10
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1628 N2SLN/R FN23 W4RX FM19
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1633 N2SLN/R FN23 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1634 N2SLN/R FN23 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1647 N2SLN/R FN23 K1WHS FN43
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1658 N2SLN/R FN23 K2ERG FN13
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 1659 N2SLN/R FN23 K2ERG FN13
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 1716 N2SLN/R FN23 K1TOL FN44
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2000 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2000 N2SLN/R FN22 K1TEO FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2001 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2002 N2SLN/R FN22 K3ISH FN21
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2004 N2SLN/R FN22 W2MMD FM29
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2005 N2SLN/R FN22 W2MMD FM29
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2006 N2SLN/R FN22 K2PLF FM19
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2007 N2SLN/R FN22 K2PLF FM19
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2007 N2SLN/R FN22 N8RA FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2008 N2SLN/R FN22 N8RA FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2010 N2SLN/R FN22 WB3BEL/R FM08
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2011 N2SLN/R FN22 WB3BEL/R FM08
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2012 N2SLN/R FN22 KE2DN FN12
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2013 N2SLN/R FN22 KE2DN FN12
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2019 N2SLN/R FN22 K1RZ FM19
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2019 N2SLN/R FN22 K1RZ FM19
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2021 N2SLN/R FN22 K1WHS FN43
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2022 N2SLN/R FN22 K1WHS FN43
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2025 N2SLN/R FN22 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2025 N2SLN/R FN22 KA2LIM FN12
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2032 N2SLN/R FN22 AF1T FN43
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2034 N2SLN/R FN22 K1KG FN42
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2035 N2SLN/R FN22 K1EM FN31
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2047 N2SLN/R FN22 KA1LMR FN43
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2050 N2SLN/R FN22 NE1B FN42
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2050 N2SLN/R FN22 K2OAK FN32
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2051 N2SLN/R FN22 K2OAK FN32
QSO: 50 PH 2009-07-19 2054 N2SLN/R FN22 AD1DX FN41
QSO: 144 PH 2009-07-19 2059 N2SLN/R FN22 KN4SM FM16
END-OF-LOG:
| If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the N2SLN rover team. |