• 6 meter Par loop
  
• 2 meter 4-element end-mount yagi
  
• 222 Directive Systems DS222-8 8-el endmount yagi
  
• mobile whips for 6m & 2m

This June contest was the most physically challenging contest in which I've participated. With a "Bermuda high" weather system located to the east and rotating clockwise, moisture from the southeastern states was being pumped into the northeast, causing daytime temperatures over 90�F and nighttime temperatures in the 70s. During the day the haze was so thick it looked more like a constant fog. High temperature records were broken almost daily at Binghamton and Syracuse, NY. These factors, combined with my black rover vehicle with no air conditioner, a larger-than-usual horsefly and deerfly population, and my constantly rearranging my plans in order to dodge thunderstorms (vehicle is not waterproof in rover mode), made for a tough outing. But two bottles of water and two bottles of Gatorade later, I finished only moderately dehydrated, mission accomplished.

It was all worth it, since I later discovered that I beat all three scores from the previous year combined. Operating time was 10.5 hours out of the 33 hour contest. With the price of gas being what it was ($2.24/gal), I picked one of the most fuel efficient trips from my list of predetermined rover routes. This route would allow me to activate fewer grids and spend more time in each one--I activated FN21 & FN12 Saturday and FN22 & FN23 Sunday, all from sites I've used in the past.

My best DX was on the band with the highest gain antenna: When I was in FN23, I worked K8GP (FM08) on 222 over a 393 mile (633 km) path. I did hear K8ROX (EN80) on 2m and tried several times to call, but he never heard me. That would have been a distance of 447 miles (719 km).

QSO points obtained from each activated grid:

GRID	QSO POINTS
FN21	18
FN12	32
FN22	50
FN23	44

A NOTEWORTHY CONTACT:

When I got set up in FN23, I noticed an S9 modulated carrier (some type of noise being generated from nearby buildings) and it made several KHz of 6m useless on either side of 50.133 MHz. All of a sudden I was tuning past that spot and thought I heard voices buried underneath the QRN, so I went back to check it out. Much to my surprise it was someone calling CQ contest. "Surely someone local," I thought. Well, it turned out to be K8GP with 5x9 signals stepping on the carrier from 393 miles away (on my single loop just above the car roof). Astounding! Thankfully, they also heard my reply, since there were only 10 minutes to go in the contest.

POINTS SUMMARY

Band   QSOs    QSO pts.    Mults.
----------------------------------------------
50      47        47        14
144     51        51        20
222     18        36         9
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS 116       134        43
                            +4 grids activated
                           ---
                            47


        --- Claimed score = 6,298 ---