[NLRS] RoverMania VII

[w0zq at aol.com]

Hello NLRS land
 
It will be just a blink of the eye and the August UHF contest, aka, Rovermania, will be on top of us.  This is the 7th year that the NLRS has sponsored Rovermania where the goal is to 1) have fun, 2) activate the bands above 222, and 3) have fun.  Did I mention have fun?

How successful have we been with Rovermania?   Well, come to Central States in St. Louis and hear a little bit about it during my W0AUS presentation, but here is a teaser.   
   * Since our first year with Rovermania (2004) we have seen a growth in logs in every year except one (2007 was a down year).
   * 1994 and 1999 saw the most logs at 250 with both years driven by special causes.  Last year, 2009, we had 244 logs with no special cause and only six away from tieing the record.
   * In 1994 (one of the record years) there were 10,557 contacts made on 222 through 24 GHz.  In 2009, with six fewer logs to count from, there were 16,039 contacts, or a 52% increase.  222 saw a 60% increase while 902 saw a 210% increase - both of these bands are fantasitc bands for roving.   The band with the most growth was 10 GHz with an increase of 750%.  

Does any of this sound like a dying contest?   More logs, more Q's, more bands, and more fun..... a lot of this is due to our push here in the Upper Midwest with Rovermania.   

Lets take a local look.  Last year we had the #1 MultiOp (W0AUS), the #1 SOHP (KM0T), and our area helped propel lots of the Upper Midwest SOLP guys into the national standings (#1 K2DRH, #3 KC9BQA, #5 W0UC).  NLRS had the most number of logs of any club (31) followed by the Badger Contesters (16).  Just between the NLRS and the Badger Contesters, we had 47 of the 244 total logs, or nearly 20%.  Did you know that in addition to the 64 home stations that W0AUS MultiOp worked, that they also worked another 27 rovers?   Yup, 27 rovers !    Wow.  Now, some of those rovers were single band only guys with one or two bands, but they were rovers and this is what Rovermania is all about.   

So mark August 7 and 8th down in your calendar for Rovermania VII and start some planning.   Rovermania starts and stops with me and you, the operators of Rovermania.  The UHF contest is 222 and up and is just 24 hours long - 1:00 PM Saturday to 1:00 PM Sunday.   Paul, W0UC, has established a public spread sheet for all of us to use, fixed and rover stations.  You can find the spread sheet at 
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=tjtonXez1qc1USDj7PWKCaw&hl=en#gid=0    .   I see data entered already from W0ZQ/R, W0UC, K0AWU, N0EDV, and KM0T.  And while we emphasis roving, we need fixed stations too .... everyone who gets on, makes some contacts, and sends in a log is a part of Rovermania.  

Thinking about roving?  With its 24 hour format and 222 and up, its easy to put together a 222/432/1296 rover and do some hill topping.   Looking to add a band?  222 and 902 are awesome bands - as good or better than 144 and 432, and VJB's CheapYagis work very well.  Rovers can generate very effective signals on 222 through 902 as height above ground that effects take-off angles is much less of an issue than it is on 50 and 144.   
 
Also remember that the NLRS offers the NLRS Limited Rover Award for this event - you can be famous - our definition of a limited rover is three bands or less (not four bands or less like the ARRL Limited Rover).  Can this award stay in NLRS land, or will someone somewhere else win?   You can find the full rules for the NLRS Limited Rover Award at http://www.nlrs.org/LimitedRover/index.htm .   

73, Jon.
W0ZQ/R