[NLRS] W0ZQ/R & Rovermania IV

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

Here are the number of QSO's from each grid in the chronological order that  
I activated them (I was in EN34 three times).

EN44     51
EN43    49
EN33     40
EN34    41
EN35     32
EN25    34
EN24     36

QSO   Grids
222      53     11
432      65     13
902      27       5
1.2G    49      12
2.3G    27       6
3.4G    25       5
5.7G    17       2
10G     20      5

283  QSO's, 1,878 QSO points, 59 grids + 7 grids activated, equals 123,948  
points.
 
Soapbox:
Two of the primary reasons why I like to rove is to enjoy the open country  
and to work long haul DX.   There is nothing like watching the wind  blow the 
grass or tall corn while eking out weak signal QSO with EN72, etc,  etc.   This 
weekend I experienced neither.   On Saturday, in  the middle of a moderate 
drought, I saw somewhere around two inches of  rain.  I'm not sure if it was 
conditions, or the rain, but I never  felt loud on 222 despite graduating from my 
usual four element yagi to a seven  element yagi.   902 was Dr. Jakel, Mr. 
Hide, as sometimes it worked as  expected, then other times I couldn't hear the 
other station despite good  signals on 1296 ..... water in the coax or looper 
?   With all the  rain, I had trouble deploying the 5.7 and 10G equipment.   I 
had  planned on SOME rain, so I had wrapped the stuff in plastic, but little 
did I  know that water would get into my keyer and take it out.   OK, plan B  
was to disconnect the key and touch the center pin of the mini-connector to  
ground ala a straight key for keying.  Well, then the sub-connector shell  
filled with water and shorted out, keying all the time.   OK, plan  C.   I took 
the straight key that I use on my 902 and up system and  plugged it into the 
5.7/10G IF rig and I was back in business ..... for one  Q.   My straight key, 
the ultimate backup, is mounted on a wooden  block.   The wood block got wet in 
the rain and yes, it shorted out,  and it would key all the time.   In the end 
I was down to two wires  that I stripped the insulation off of and was 
touching those together for a  makeshift straight key.   In addition, I was soaked, 
a bit chilled  (air temp never was warmer than 63 degrees), and it was at 
about this time that  I stopped having as much fun as I usually do !   The good 
news is that  it wasn't hot like it can be in August, and there were absolutely 
no  bugs.   
 
Did I mention the propagation conditions ?   They stunk  !!   Yuck.   Even 
short path contacts were a struggle and  the usual big gun stations were way 
down.    All in all, this was  one of my most difficult contests.
 
So OK, I got that out of my system.  There was some good  news.   Working 
K0AWU on 10 gigs from EN33 was a hoot.    Despite the poor conditions I had good 
success working KB9TLV, W0GHZ, N0KP,  KM0T, K0AWU, K0CJ, KA0PQW, N0VZJ, and 
K2DRH from a number of stops.  I was  able to make some Q's with fellow rovers 
KC0P, KC0IYT, and WA0VPJ.   I  heard W9FZ right at the start of the contest, 
but never again, most likely a  case of one zigging and the other zagging.    
 
Saturday evening at about 8:00 pm I was just north of Zumbro working the  
guys and keeping an eye on this big black cloud that was about a mile  away.  The 
bottom of the cloud was moving left to right, but the whole  thing was 
getting closer ..... hmmmm.   I tried to set up my 5.7 and  10G, but the rain caught 
me (again) big time and I drove most of the way  home in heavy rain that at 
time slowed the traffic down to 20 mph.   What happened to the drought ?
 
Sunday morning was wet, misty, but no rain !!!!    Out to  EN35 only to find 
my usual spot high in corn this year.   With  the ethanol demand, there is 
much more corn out there  !     As a result I had to drive around to a few other 
spots  to get shots in the various directions.   After that it was over to  
EN25, then EN24, and with the last 30 minutes back in EN34 to catch up on the  
microwave bands.   Sunday was a much more fun day even though  propagation 
continued to be poor.   
 
In summary, many thanks to all the fixed stations who followed me around  and 
had patience with me.  I apologize to those who I may have missed ....  it 
was a bit of a battle out there with the weather and the corn  !    Thanks to 
K0HAC/R, WA0VPJ/R, and KC0P/R who gave me some  nice multipliers.   
 
Next year, Rovermania V,  the sun is going to be shining and  we will be 
working tropo.
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ/R



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