Soap Box Comments from logs and emails...

Thanks for sponsoring this again. Quite a few more QSOs than last year!

Calling CQ (or monitoring for CQs) NG. Spent many hours listening on the calling frequencies of 144.140 and 50.270. Almost nobody heard (about 4 contacts). Called for a number of hours with only slightly better results (about 8 contacts). 144 exceptionally difficult because almost nobody seemed to be on 144.140. 50 difficult because almost nobody seemed to be on 50.270, and QRN severe all week because of the outbreak of storms. Tail-ending didn't do well. Not enough contacts to be worth the effort to operate unassisted.

Tks for a very fun operating opportunity.  This is a great way to stir up interest.  I was very excited about having a good reason to work all my new friends again.  Also added state number 35 to the total which was a very special moment for me, indeed.
Thanks again for organizing us together.

Comments: 1.  Called CQ for many hours on call frequencies with little response 2.  Left machine in monitor for many more hours, only saw about 5 stations calling CQ 3.  Perhaps if we have unassisted in the future again, we should try to leave open +/- 10khz for the unassisted guys with skeds made outside this area.  Several times I was calling CQUx or CQDx on call freq's only to have a sked move to same freq or very nearby.

I had limited time to operate but I wanted to do it unassisted. All I heard or worked was you. Tailending didn't work either.

The wind in New Mexico has been terrible and this limited my rover operations substantially. Also ran FSK441 for the first time without a brick amp; the brick was another indirect casualty of the wind and no doubt cost me several QSOs. So I made all the following contacts with only 35 Watts. The wind also forced me to reduce antenna height and I used only one beam in DM75

Well, the Spring 2003 North American Meteor Scatter Rally is over. Activity seemed good to very good, and the Eta Aquarids meteor shower provided plenty of rocks -- at least in the mornings. As far as I could tell, people were having a good time making QSOs with old friends, meeting new friends, and working new states, new grids, etc.

Had a blast. Just wished I could have worked more hours. We had severe weather in the area most of the week along with a busy week at work partially due to the weather. Rocks were good for the most part, especially on 6mtrs. Thanks for your efforts so that we all may have some fun !

Almost 100% completions in the mornings on both 6 and 2m on any eastward path. No luck with with the guys in WA/OR on 2m, but 6m was a walk in the park. Three for three with WB2FKO on his rover expeditions. Mike and I have had 100% completions on all of his expeditions. I can't thank Mike enough for enduring high winds, blowing dust, antennas falling down on the car, broken amp, etc., yet he patches things up and still completes the sked!

I guess I better operate assisted next year, hi.

Really enjoyed rally , I wish I had been able to work more stations. On the bright side tonando missed new qth by 1/2 mile, still without power there but had not move in yet. I am going out 3 times a day to fill generator to keep sump pump running. Tornado also missed office 7 miles away by 3 blocks. I really can not complain when it missed all my family members houses just created a little inconvenience and a loss of sleep. Hope this logg is ok !

I got 16 points in contest so I hope I win something really BIG! Just Kidding Could not muster up enough time to operate this contest, there were plenty of good rocks in mornings and good participation from what I could see, along with a few newcomers to the pot. Good to see the Meteor Scatter community alive and well. One new grid on MS this time around but a lot of fun, and that\rquote s the main thing.

I as could not dedicate but a few days and hours to this due to
work/kids but had good results:

was fun and for a small station consisting of a Yaesu 847, 50 w on 6m and 30w on 2m, 2 ele beam on 6m and 10 ele beam on 2m @30 ft I would say not bad for the time I put in but then again many of these guys did all the work with their big stations....but little guys count on scores so hope some of you tried this

I had lots of fun ... can't wait til the next one!

I started out planning to run unassisted. Worked K9KNW unassisted but had no luck with CQ's, tailending or finding CQ's in the limited operating time I had. Did miss a couple tailends when my next 'victim' was moved to another band or when I ran out of time. Would have liked to see more unassisted ops and more random hour activity during the Rally.

BTW - first few 6m qso's were unassisted before I went the PJ route.