[NLRS] 2006 10G Cumulative (long)

[WB0LJCGary at aol.com]

HI all,
 
Thanks to everyone for being on and providing lots of contacts.
 
I had a good time operating both weekends part of the rover 
pack with  Bruce, W9FZ and the rest of the rover pack.
 
The first weekend we operated in SW MN traveling between 
Montevideo and  Worthington. The rover pack the first weekend 
was Bruce, W9FZ, Donn, WA2VOI, Doug, NØNAS, Chris, NØUK,
Glenn, KCØIYT, and WBØLJC. Our goal was to find good takeoffs
by  staying on the ridge. We had good weather both days, sunny with
moderate  temperatures. We operated from 16 sites on Saturday and
18 on Sunday. Even  though we had less operating time Sunday,
we activated more sites by reusing  some of the same sites we had 
visited Saturday. Finding a new operating  site takes time. I had 
185 contacts Saturday and 160 Sunday for a weekend  total 
of 345. The weekend point total was just over 70K. The other five  
rovers also had scores in the same range. That is our best weekend 
total  so far. We wanted to try to make all of our contacts on SSB 
so we kept the  distance below 250 km. Our average distance was 
199 km for the  weekend.
 
The second weekend was originally going to have activity in two  
different areas of the state. One group planned to be active in the
Red  River Valley in NW MN. This group was going to work VE4MA
in Winnipeg, NTØV  in ND and Wally, WØPHD and Bill, KØAWU, 
who were also going to be roving the  Red River Valley. Predictions
of cold rainy weather caused this group to  revise their plans.
Bruce joined the rover pack and Jon, WØZQ, Ed, WBØVHF,  and 
Linda, KCØIJB, operated from the fixed locations near the Twin  Cities.
The other fixed operators where Bob, WØAUS, Dave, NØKP,
Gary,  WØGHZ, Don, WAØSSN,  Glenn, KCØIYT, Mel, KCØP,
Carol, NØHZO,   Chris, NØUK, Mike, KBØOZN, and Bud, WØLCP,
for his first time on the air with  his transverter. Jon, KØFQA, 
was at the fixed site but had transmitter  problems and was not 
able to operate. Some of the fixed group were on the  full time others
operated as their time allowed. Thank you all for being  there.
 
Buck Hill was the planned fixed site but rain made the ground
muddy. The fixed group operated from the Lonsdale Church site on
Saturday and from a new site in an industrial park near Flying
Cloud Airport on Sunday.
 
The rover pack consisted of Bruce, W9FZ, Donn, WA2VOI, 
Doug, NØNAS,  John, WØJT and WBØLJC. We planned to travel 
through Northern Iowa from west  to east while staying at an
average distance of 200 km for easy SSB Q's. We  planned to
start in the Worthington area on Saturday and end the day near  
Mason City. Sunday we planned to travel east from Mason City to
NE Iowa  and then go north into SE MN. 
 
The weather forecast for last weekend was for rain over Iowa 
and MN. We  were prepared for the rain and expected the wet 
weather to slow down the Q  rate. We got lucky. There was only
a little lite mist on the rovers early  each morning. The rest of 
the day, both days, we had pleasant temperatures  and sun. 
However it was very windy, especially Sunday. I had my dish, 
with a 15 pounds of transverter attached to the feed arm, blow over 
while sitting on the ground with the dish at 90º to the wind. 
20 + MPH winds were the norm. There were gusts that were 
even stronger. The fixed group had it's share of strong wind both 
days.  I think I can speak for everyone in saying that we will 
take wind over rain any day, even a strong wind.
 
We got a late start Saturday. It was raining at Lonsdale so the
fixed  group called a hold for an hour. After the hold the rover pack
made it's way  to the Mason City area while activating 13 sites.
Along the way we also  worked Mike, KMØT, 6 times. I had 
132 contacts for the day. 
 
Before setting out Sunday morning we looked at the weather 
radar. The  rain had passed the Mason City area but was still
pretty heavy in eastern  Iowa. To stay out of the rain we decided
to skip the Eastern Iowa part of the  route and to travel back west.
We operated from some of the same sites that  we had used
Saturday. We activated 13 sites and worked Mike
a number of  times. I had a couple of visits from Murphy.
The broken power cord to the IF  rig was a quick fix. The loss
of receive sensitivity wasn't something that I  could overcome.
I could hear the other rovers but couldn't hear anything  from
the fixed site. This cost me over 30 contacts at the last three  
rover sites. 
 
For the second weekend I had 216 contacts for just over
43K  points.  I was able to make a 24 GHz contact with
John, WØJT, so I will  be in the UP category.
 
My contest totals are 561 contacts with 23 unique stations
for a total  of 114, 097 points. Both the point total and number of
contacts exceed my  totals for last year.
 
I had a good time both weekends. Thanks to the rest of the rover
pack,  especially for their concern when my transverter broke. The
current version  is not field repairable, version 2 will be. To the fixed
ops thanks for  braving the wind and rain.
 
What do we do next year to increase everyone's point total?
I still want  to see us send in 10 or more scores over 100K.
 
73, Gary WBØLJC