[NLRS] Rovermania VII - its here

[w0zq at aol.com]

Hello NLRS land

With the greatest of fanfare, I would like to introduce the 2010 campaign for Rovermania VII, also known in other circles as the ARRL UHF contest.  This years UHF contest runs for 1800 UTC August 7 to 1800 UTC August 8 - still just a 24 hour contest.  Please put these dates on your calendar.

Many of you will recall that in 2003/2004 that there was discussion to terminate this fun event.  Here in NLRS land the call went out for activity and Rovermania was born.  What is Rovermania?  Its pretty simple - its about throwing your 222 and up equipment in your car or truck and driving to your nearest grid corner, but its mostly about simply have some fun, perhaps trying some new things, and activating the bands on 222 and up, FM, SSB, or CW.   Since the start of Rovermania back in 2004 we have seen a steady increase in the number of logs that have been submitted, with the exception of a minor set back in 2007, to the point where 2009 had the highest total number of QSO's reported of any previous UHF contest.  Also of significance is that last years contest generated 67 rover logs, or 27% of all logs that were submited, a rover log percentage rate that is about twice as high as VHF contests.   We do help to get the rovers out !   Also last year was the big push with the W0AUS multi-op operation located on top of Buck Hill - an effort that I will presenting on at Central States in St. Louis in a few weeks.   

So, now we are starting into a new adventure with Rovermania VII.   We have a new tool to help us with planning.  Paul, W0UC, following on the success of his public access to the June contest Excel file, has provided us with similar link for Rovermania VII.   The link is 
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvU0R8d2qq2DdGp0b25YZXoxcWMxVVNEajdQV0tDYXc&hl=en#gid=0 

Please use this link to provide input to the Rovermania VII planning process.   

Also remember that the NLRS offers the NLRS Limited Rover Award for this event - our definition of a limited rover is three bands or less.  Can this award stay in NLRS land, or will someone somewhere else win?  W0ZQ/R will be out & about playing and I plan to enter my data into the spreadsheet soon.   

So here are the big questions.
1)  Who will be on from fixed stations.  WE NEED YOU.   Please provide your status in the referenced spread sheet ..... this helps rovers figure out where to rove.
2)  Who will be roving & where are you going?
3)  Any multi-op operation this year?  The club call, W0AUS, is looking for a leader to pull something together. 

Lets get the discussions going.  Last year we had 244 logs submitted - can we cross over the 250 barrier this year?   Get on, make some Q's, have some fun, and send in a log.  

73, Jon
W0ZQ