[NLRS] W9FZ/R UHF Rovermania Travelogue

[Bruce Richardson]

I had a great time in the UHF contest.  Rovermania II was the motivator for
me.  I've participated in the UHF contest sporadically over the years.  With
the added dimension of RM, I see the UHF contest as one of the "must do"
events of the year now.

I think I had unreasonable expectations on what average conditions will
allow.  Based on earlier experiences, I expected to be able to work KM0T
from Central Wisconsin.  So I picked a rove that would bring some RM
activity to the eastern side of the NLRS region.

I planned for 8 grids and I'm glad of that. It gave me adequate time to work
most everyone I was going to work from those locations.  I recommend EN
43/42/52/53 and EN 54/55/45/44 as fine areas that provide adequate access to
the activity centers of Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago and all those in
between.

I worked with WA2VOI, N9DG, K0PG, and WD9BGA to find adequate spots in
southern Wisconsin near Dodgeville.

Here's how it went.
I departed the Twin Cities on Friday afternoon to get to the farm and load
the antennas.  In the morning, I was on the road by 9am in order to get to
the grid corner, eat lunch, gas up, and scout spots for EN52.  For EN43, I
took the spot offered by K0PG (County Z intersection with Hwy 23 north of
Dodgeville) and improved it a bit by asking the farmer in the field if I
could park on his driveway right at the peak of the knoll for about 3 hours.
He said sure, no problem.  I got to the site early and was set up and warmed
up. I beamed the Twin Cities CQ'ing early tyring to get some system checks
but nothing was heard.

As most of you recall, it was beautiful weather that weekend.  Clear and
sunny and the temperature "just right"--which actually means a bit cool for
that time of year.

Next I operated from EN42 which is in front of the Trucking company just
north of the KC97 tanker at the Don Q Inn.  What you're parked on is an old
runway that is decommissioned.  This is on the north edge of Dodgeville.

For EN52, I found a place south of Ridgeway on County T.  I asked a farmer
if I could use a farm lane of his for endless turning and pointing. He said
no problem.  This was late afternoon into the evening.  Highlight was
working K9CVC on 10 GHz.

For EN53, WD9BGA gave me a spot about 3 miles north of his place which is
just north of Barneveld, WI.  It was a road intersection and it was quiet
"enough" for traffic.  Highlight was working N0HJZ on 10GHz from here.  I
stayed longer than my scheduled time because I was having fun.  Conditions
improved and I worked into EN82 when things picked up.  I could here fixed
stations working stuff to the east that I couldn't hear so I wonder if
antennas being close to the ground were keeping me from hearing things.
Obviously, rovers try to use geographic height to be an equalizer.  So I
stayed too late and didn't end up leaving till  0100 local.

The original plan was to drive in the middle of the night and not sleep.
Well, while driving, I got sleepy and HAD to sleep. I think I took about a
90 minute nap.  But this contributed to putting me behind schedule on
Sunday.  I like being on schedule--and stayed to it VERY well on Saturday.
Sunday, everyone seemed pretty understanding as I slowly caught up with my
schedule.

Sunday morning found me in EN54, then EN55, then EN45, and finally EN44.
I've found spots within 3 miles of the grid corner that allow me to relocate
to the next grid quickly and easily.  Highlights were working K2YAZ, K9CVC,
and N0HJZ on 10 GHz from this area.

I got tired and cranky on Sunday morning. Nothing too bad from my view,
however.

There were MANY highlights--mostly in the repetitive Q's that reliable
operators supplied.  MANY thanks to KC9BQA, N9DG, W9GA, K2DRH, W9UD, W9OBG,
N0KP, W0GHZ,
K9CVC, and N0HJZ for the MANY qso's. And thanks also to KA0PWW, N9TZL,
K0FQA, K0AWU,
KB9TLV, and WO9S for providing some unique grids.  Only worked two other
rovers: WB8BZK/r in  EN62 and K0SM/r in EN10.

I had a good time and got a good dose of radio and highly recommend
Rovermania and these 8 grids in Wisconsin to anyone.

Here's the score:
Band		Q's	Qpts	Grids
222		81	243	14
432		91	273	18
903		32	192	6
1.2		39	234	6
2.3		9	108	3
10G		6	72	3

Rover				8

Totals	258	1122	58

Grand Total		65076

Looking forward to RM III and I'd be willing to do the same set of grids
again.
Bruce Richardson W9FZ