[NLRS] Preparations for September VHF Contest

[tosca005 at umn.edu]

I hope that you were unaffected by the 70+ MPH winds that blew through the 
metro area early this morning. I awoke early today to the sound of large 
trees in my back yard snapping in half. With some trepidation, I ventured 
out after sunrise to view the damages. Lots of LARGE tree branches/remnants 
littering my back yard, at least one mature tree so badly damaged that it 
will need to be cut down. I was afraid to walk around to the front side of 
the house to get a look at the antennas mounted to the garage rooftop 
tower. Much to my surprise, I see no obvious mechanical damage to any of 
the antennas from ground level. No time to test them this morning, but at 
least I have reason to be optimistic that they survived the wind intact. If 
so, I expect to be on the air from home (EN34js) for the September VHF 
contest on 50 - 1296 MHz. Any rovers that want to drive to my neighborhood 
might also be treated to a QSO on 2304, 2456, or 10368 MHz, but these bands 
are not attached to the tower, so not available for routine use. (Someday, 
someday...) If there was functional damage to the antennas not visible to 
my quick inspection this AM from ground level, then I might possibly be 
able to rove, or work from home on fewer bands. Of course, all this assumes 
that I don't spend all my time in the next 3 weeks cutting up the tree 
remnants filling up my back yard...

73 de W0JT