[NLRS] kc0iyt/r June VHF

[Glen Overby]

Wow, What a contest!  Here's the breakdown:

	155 QSOs, 489 miles driven, 25+ gallons of gas
	3.15 miles per QSO, 0.016 gallons per QSO, $1.34 per QSO
	0.025 miles per point, 0.0013 gallons per point, $0.011 per point

	My measly score 19,512

Here's a few pictures:
	http://reality.sgiweb.org/overby/ham/2006-JuneVHF/index.html

I don't have _nearly_ the Qs or grids that others, but it was still an
adventure.  I guess my mistake was not going far enough up the 6m band, and
not sticking with calling CQ until I got responses.

One of my goals was to activate enough new-to-me grids to finish working
some metro area stations on 2.4ghz for a 10-grid VUCC-R.  I didn't
accomplish any of that.

I started contest prep on Friday by renting an F150 from my local
"rent-a-rover" [name of establishemt witheld for my safety].  I built the
tripod mount and did a test fit of the antenna tripod and the radio gear.
Everything looked good!  Saturday morning I loaded all my equipment and
was ready to leave earlier than I had planned.

The drive to Menomonie, WI was relatively uneventful.  After stopping for
lunch, I drove to my first site in EN45.  This was a location described by
w9fz.  I took a few wrong turns but I think I ended up in the right place.
I'll never really know, because I forgot my GPS at home (yes, along with my
sanity).  It was an isolated area surrounded by trees to the west, but
okay views to the east.  It was nearing contest time, so I decided
this would have to do.  I set up antennas and found some folks going through
pre-contest contacts on 144.200.  I quickly hooked up with k9mu and we ran a
couple of bands; I was happy to see that my loops on 432 could hear him well.

The contest open was really slow; soon after I discoverd that 6M was open.
I jumped into the mess, keeping a casual ear to the 2M frequency I said
that I would be on.  It's tough breaking pileups with a dipole, but I did
get a few comments like "you sound good, for a rover".  Uh, thanks, I
guess :-) The lack of gain ment a lot of missed contacts, but the one I was
happy to miss was with a black bear that caught my eye in the rear-view
mirror!  Apparently he decided, like the other locals, to avoid the nut
with the antennas.

I worked from EN45 and EN44 in the area north of Menomonie, then headed in
to the twin cities.  After going up Knapp Hill, I started hearing chatter
out of the twin cities on 144.200... then there was someone from a strange
grid.  Did he say FN?  I heard N0KP and W0GHZ get really excited about it so
I could only conclude that this was correct.  I worked him while _westbound_
at 65mph (speed checked by the WI State Patrol).

After hearing a couple of other FN?? stations, I knew I _needed_ to get off
the highway.  I took the Baldwin exit and headed north to EN35 (thinking that
"another" EN34 call wouldn't be as tasty).  I stopped hearing anything
but local chatter.  I drove around for 10 miles without finding a safe
place to stop and headed back towards I94.  I then started hearing the FN
stations again!  But I never got through to any more of them.

I had a lot of noise on all my microwave bands.  An evening diagnostic
session pointed a finger at my 1296 transverter producing noise that was
picked up by the other transverters.  I didn't remove it, but left it in
"jail" for the rest of the contest.  It _again_ was exhibiting S9+ noise
levels.  I need to go diagnose it further, but I susupect an LO from one
of the other bands may be getting in to it.

I was also having power problems.  My marine battery (RC 135 minutes)
couldn't power both my 2M rig and 2M amplifier at the same time.  I ended
up with a W4RRT battery booster on each, but with the amp's booster also
doubling with the transverters.  I also had to readjust the 2M antenna's
T-match since it's SWR was not good.  I found that I was hearing a lot more
stations with the amp's preamp on, even though the noise floor was louder.

Sunday started out a bit late, but not bad.  Then I made an unplanned stop
to work some locals in EN34.  I was concerned by not making contacts above
902, but I continued on to Beauford anyway, picking up a bad headache enroute.
I arrived late for EN24.  I found a pair of field entrances on TWP 361 north
of CR10 that provided a decent place to operate from.  The terrain appeared
relatively flat and open in the immediate area.  I think it will be corn
puragory later this year.  I only operated for 45 minutes, and didn't
deploy 6m.  I should have made a place to mount the 6M antenna so it wasn't
sitting in the truckbed.  I found W0ZQ in EN43 but only worked him on a
couple of bands.  I could hear a few people in the twin cities, but couldn't
get their attention.

On my way to the EN23 site I used last year, I missed the turn and went
further south to what Google Maps says is TWP 62.  I was going to just turn
around, but the take-offs looked just as good as the other place, so I
decided to try it.  It was a gravel road, and there wasn't much traffic.  
When moving further east, I passed a grove of trees and the grid line at
the same time.  I was still a considerable distance from the nearest
residence so I decided to stay there.  I think this could work as an
EN23/EN33 spot.

While in EN23, my headache worsened and I started feeling sick, so I tried
taking a nap with the antennas pointed in the general direction of the twin
cities.  After a while, I heard a call, and found W0GHZ and N0KP looking
for me.  Great!  We worked all common bands, leaving no explaination why 2304
and 3456 weren't working earlier.  I wish I had tried my 432 halos to see if
I could hear them from there.  I think the answer is 'no', but it would have
been nice to try.  I'm still looking for a way to not miss folks.

I didn't continue on to EN32/EN22.  Instead I drove home, took a nap and
went to the I35E & Cliff Park&Ride.  Its sort of a hole, but Cliff Road has
good views to the north and west so I "only" need to get the antennas up 20'
to take advantage of that.

Glen, kc0iyt