Some thought was given to entering the contest as a rover, but due to the significant setup and teardown time as well as the lack of good equipment to use while in motion, I had to operate in the single operator category. The location was a favorite rover site of mine in FN22, my home gridsquare. The antennas were at 1940+ feet above sea level with a downward slope in all directions, plus there was no foliage in the immediate area. The weather was great with a strong southerly breeze to keep temperatures in the 60's. There was occasional receiver desensitivity from commercial radio installations on the hilltop, but not enough to ruin the sprint (and I forgot to turn my preamp off to improve my receive during the 3 or 4 "desense" episodes).
Band enhancement contributed significantly to the enjoyment of this sprint. I started a few minutes late but operated right through to the end and collected 40 QSOs and 23 grids. I decided to add signal strengths to my log (shown below) since some of them were so amazing due to the moderate tropo encountered. One of the most interesting contacts was with AF1T and NS1O who were located on the island of Martha's Vinyard (FN41) which was also my longest distance reached to the east at 265 miles (427 km). The best DX to the south was K4QI / FM06 at 485 miles (780 km), also my longest distance overall in this contest. Best to the west was northeast Ohio station W8ANS / EN91 at 275 miles (443 km) and to the north was VA2LYL / FN35 at 246 miles (396 km).
Here is a list of stations I heard but was unable to work: W4XP / FM18, W3RAR / FM19, K1HC, NN3Q / FN10, and K3TUF / FN10. Also, thanks to my turning the beam through the northerly directions, I heard VE1CBC/B FN63 Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for the first time ever. I then heard another new beacon giving out the grid FM18 but didn't spend the time copying the call. Two stations I expected to hear but did not: W3SO / FN00 and W3EV / FN03. In fact, I didn't hear anyone in those two grids, nor was there any activity from FN02, FN24, FN33, and FN44.
BAND QSOs QSO UNIQUE STATES CANADIAN PTS. GRIDS PROVINCES ------------------------------------------------ 144 40 40 23 9 1 --- Claimed score = 920 ---
EDT CALLSIGN GRID OTHER -------------------------------------------------------- 1923 W3CMP FN10 1924 KO4YC FM17 5x9 Ruther Glen, VA 1926 KB2KIR FN22 9+20 w/o preamp, 9+60 w/preamp 1927 K2OAK FN20 1928 W2KV FN20 5x9+20 1935 W8ANS EN91 5x9 North Bloomfield, OH 1940 KJ1K FN32 1942 K4LTX FM08 5x7 1944 KA1LMR FN43 5x7 1946 KF2PC FN31 5x9+10 1949 WA4PGI FM07 5x7 1951 KE2N FM18 5x8 1953 K1WHS FN43 5x9, 5x9+60 @ 2136 1955 KA2LIM FN12 5x8 off the side of his beam 1957 W4SHG/R FM19 5x7 2004 W3IP FM19 5x9 Virginia 2005 KB3HJA FN20 5x9+10 2011 K4QI FM06 5x7 Efland, NC 2012 K2LCK FN30 5x9 south Long Island, NY 2017 K3IWK FN10 5x6 2031 K1TR FN42 5x9+10 2033 WA2RQC FN23 2036 KE2DN FN12 5x9+20 2046 KC2JZK FN12 2057 AF1T FN41 2057 NS1O FN41 2104 NA2T FN21 5x7 2111 WA2FGK FN21 5x9 2115 W3GAD FN20 2121 WA3NUF FN20 2125 N2SY FM29 5x7 2126 N3OYO FM19 2127 W1LBY FN20 2134 WZ1V FN31 5x9+20 2141 WA1T FN43 5x9+10 2146 KA1ZE/3 FN01 5x9+60 2219 VA2LYL FN35 Granby, Quebec 2230 W4SHG/R FM08 5x6 2252 NG4C FM16 Elizabeth City, NC 2256 K3TC FM19 5x8
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the N2SLN rover team." |