[NLRS] NEWS FLASH - Rover-to-Rover Contact made between MN and IL in 432 MHz Fall Sprint

[John (JK) Kalenowsky, K9JK]

This just in...KC0P/R and K9JK/R completed a contact at a
distance of approximately 466 km in the 432 MHz Fall Sprint on
the evening of Wednesday, October 6th, 2010.

K9JK/R, John or "JK" as many call him, was running an "old
faithful" FT-100D, driving a TE Systems 4412G "brick" amp (80-90
W CW, 60-70W on SSB voice peaks...not sure if the brick is
"soft" or if the FT-100D's drive is low...will have to check
that. ALSO the pre-amp in the brick is NON-functional so that
was FT-100D "ears") to a 17 foot boom Yagi (K1FO style, 25 
elements?) mounted on his Rovermobile and raisable to about 13 
feet above ground when not moving.

"Conditions did seem slightly enhanced, possibly from it having
been a relatively warm and sunny day, at least in the
Northeastern Illinois area, but I was still surprised, though
pleasantly, to hear anyone from that far away, let alone another
Rover. We were 5 up from the calling frequency...Important
Message HERE from the Jiu-jitsu Kid (JK) Rover: "Grasshopper is
wise to tune around and check for signals away from the Calling
Frequency AND to rotate antenna!"). I believe that other
stations that heard us trying to complete gave us "room" around
there...THANKS! While I was able to copy Mel, KC0P, on SSB
throughout, though we had to wait through some deep QSB, I had
to switch to CW to get my info through but he copied and
confirmed correct info just fine, after I heard an initial
confirmation of 'EN43-something' for my grid. I *think* Mel's
wife Carol, N0HZO, was out there, too, as I believe I heard her
calling me briefly before a fade that stayed faded and I had to
get moving again to be able to make it back up to the NW
Suburban Chicago area before the contest ended from where I was
down just a little southwest of Kankakee when we completed the
QSO. The spot where I was is not what I consider an
"exceptional" spot, though it is relatively high among the
fairly flat terrain around that EN50/51/60/61 Grid Corner, about
1/2 mile north of 42N and a mile east of 88W. This was
definitely my longest DX for this Sprint."

Hopefully Mel (and Carol) can share "their side" of this story.

We return you now to our regular programming.

73, JK