[NLRS] N0HJZ/R Trip Report

[N0HJZ at aol.com]

Hi All -

Just got up from a loooong nap.  I was beat after this trip and I didn't even 
make it the entire time.

I knew that I would be a "support player" by going out into the EN00 grids.  
I knew I wouldn't be able to work many people but I really was disappointed at 
my signal.  I moved from grid to grid quickly and that may have limited my 
QSO count.  Being in the support role, my goal was to help everyone elses 
multiplier count and not to generate a huge score.  I hope I helped everyones score. 
 My score is nothing to talk about.

I started off in North Dakota in a warm air mass that kept me sweating for 
the first hours of the contest.  It's been a few years since I roved last so I 
had to get reintroduced to the millions of black flies  that visited my van at 
the first few stops.

Propagation was OK from the EN05/06/15/16 corner.  I worked a few stations in 
the Twin Cities, KM0T and W0ZQ/R & KC0IYT/R.

I then hopped on Interstate 29 and really made good time headed south before 
going west again into the EN03/04/13/14 corner.  I had a lot of people drive 
by my locations  at this corner and kept slowing down to look.  Lots of young 
guys driving by slowly and it kinda spooked me.  I got ahead of schedule as I 
wanted to operate from the grids but not spend too much time after dark in an 
unknown area.

I left EN13 towards midnight and drove east for a while.  I got in a two hour 
nap at a rest stop.  I got up and headed to the Beauford corner.  There was 
tremendous lightning when I arrived and I hung out for about an hour.  I 
decided then that I was beat, I had put on all my "unique" grids so I packed it in.  
I operated in the morning from EN34 but just wasn't awake enough to drive 
around until 1:00.  My appologies to everyone for the missed Q's.

My totals are:  133 Q's and 35 mults (including the 9 grids operated in).  My 
final score is only 13,965 points.  My final mileage is 745 miles.

A fun idea and great coordination was needed.  I did get to work about five 
other rovers.  I hope we have some huge scores and some new grids for everyone. 
 This would be a fun concept to try for a September contest.  The pile-ups on 
2M would be worth it!  I'd rove again but it's too tough to do it alone.

73 All!  It was fun!
Rich N0HJZ