[NLRS] K9ILTR/R June report

[ADUHAWK at comcast.net]

The K9ILT/R 88 Degree Dash established a new record for us.  Our 143,936 points beat our previous best by just about 100%!  There were several factors that contributed to the result.  First the 6 meter fun we all experienced was a major factor.  Secondly, our North/South route saved us from burning lots of time traveling across grids from east to west.  Finally, and a question that should be answered in future roves, since we no longer operate as a family rover, we take about half the time to work the same number of stations as we did in the past.

We drove to the EN51/61/60/50 corner to start, working E skip on 6 all the way down.  When the gun went off we were rockin' and rollin'.  We usually work well into WI from this spot, but there was hardly anyone there.  I wonder why?  We moved among the grids and -- in a first for us -- we left the spot on schedule to head north through EN61 to EN62.

The Mt. Trashmore golf course was open, and since the weather was a little iffy with wind and light rain there was plenty of room to move around in the parking lot.  We went wall to wall contacts from this great spot, working the Maritimes, VE2, VE3 and all over the FM and FN fields.  EN62 wound up being our most productive grid.  We arrived in EN63 right on time and set up in Upper Lake Park in Port Washington.  It's a beautiful spot high above a picturesque town on the Lake Michigan shore.  We stayed untill 10:00 PM CDT after making lots of great 6, 2, 222, and 432 contacts in the 400-500 mile range, with K8GP in FM08 on three bands being the most memorable.  

We overnighted in the Driftwood Inn, a Mom and Pop establishment full of fishermen from Minnesota.  I don't know, but I seem to recall that when we lived in Minnesota (sigh) and went over to Wisconsin there were hardly ever any MN license plates.  I don't know if it's against the rules, but seeing all of those big Minnesota boats in the parking lot I guess that there musn't be anyplace to fish in Minnesota.

Anyway, our hosts were interested in our antennas.  If you're going to Port Washington, and you don't need to stay in a chain hotel, the Driftwood is a good find.

We were out early Sunday morning, stopping for breakfast in town and then running back up the hill to the park.  Conditions across the lake were even better.  We worked lots of our regulars: W9GA, KB9BQA, K2DRH, WB9Z, K2YAZ, K8EB and many others. 

We shoved off for Manitowoc in EN64.  It's another great spot right on the lake, but without the height advantage.  Lots of great Qs.  We took off inland for EN54, and High Cliff State Park. Does that sound like a rover destination or what?  On the way, we came upon a hugh tower on a hilltop at the far west end of EN64.  We took note of it for future reference, and stayed up there for a little while.  When the time came we drove back down to head for EN54.  Bob, K2DRH asked us to go back to EN64.  We turned around and made the 10 mile trip.  We were rewarded with Qs on all six of our bands not only from Bob but also from his better half Fran, N2KMA.  The family station is alive after all!  

We made it to the state park, and found a spot at the head of the Bridle Trail.  There was a nice parking area among the horse trailers (and other equine products) and we used to to full advantage.  A ham/bird watcher came upon us and we had a visit.  He and his bird watcher partner pulled out their heavy duty cameras and took pictures of our antennas.  It's always interesting to find a verteran ham who has not operated weak signal vhf who is amazed that we had just made a QSO a couple of grids over.

We dropped down to EN53, along the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago making lots of contacts as we went.  The clock expired while we were in EN52 back in Illinois.  We had hoped to make EN51, but it didn't happen.  It was fortunate for our rover bonus that we had made on contact from EN51 at the very beginning of the event.

The funny thing that we saw this time was a flat bed truck with a Port a Potty on it.  It was headed north on Route 12 in southern Wisconsin at about 60 mph.  It had a 50 foot trail of toilet paper flying in the breeze.  Must have been two-ply.

We have a family reunion on the weekend of the CQWWVHF, so if we do anything at all it will be very limited.  We will see you all in Bloominton for the Central States Conference and Rovermania III.

Our top five stations worked were: WB9Z (39), KC9BQA (28), 
W9GA (26), K2DRH (24) K2YAZ (19)

544 QSOs, 832 points, 173 mults.

73, Tim and Pat
The K9ILT/R 88 Degree Dash Team