[NLRS] 10 GHz contest, Northern Rovers

[Jon Platt]

N0AKC, K0CQ, N0QJM, W7XU and myself roved from Norfolk, NE to Ainsworth, NE on Saturday.  As reported by others, regional conditions were above average with our longest QSO of the day made with K0AWU at 491km.  Notable mention goes to N0KP who we worked on EME quality CW at 459km.  I also made six 24 GHz Q's with Radar Hill, the longest at 122km.  We made a total of eight stop.  See the table below.  
 
On Sunday our group travelled together in the morning until we reached Valentine, NE when Charlie and I headed south while Arliss/Holly and Jerry doubled back headed towards home.  No 24 GHz Q's on Sunday, and the best distance on 10 GHz was 241km.  We anticipated that Sunday would be slower, so no surprises.  The Nebraska sand hills are very poor for roving as roads are few, safe places to operate from few, and the crest of most hills are false crests with more hill above you.  
 
Lessons learned (i.e., opportunities for next time!).
1.  Being the northern group and in-between everybody, my concern about being overloaded in coordination came true. I had many phone calls and texts while also setting up and tearing down two dish systems. My apologies to those that I missed or appeared to ignore.  Next time I think I will put Barb in charge of cell phone traffic and have her run a known-active-calls check sheet from each stop so that we can split the duties of multiple coordinate as well as running Q's.  When you are working one or two directions, this isn't as big of a problem, but this time it was due to the multiple requests (I guess that's a good thing on 10 GHz !).
2.  Anyone who has roved in corn country knows that finding a shot in one direct is probably, two directions possible, and three or more directions impossible.  One has to make decisions on horseback about what the land gives you.
3.  Regarding coordination, I wonder if we could make use of W0UC's regional contest spotting page.  That may be more effective than so many incoming cell phone calls/texts, plus it gives others vision as to who's working what.  
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ
 
 
------ Saturday -------

Sent    Rcved    10GHz    24GHz
EN12hh  EN24xk   359km
        EN10pj   220km
        EM39hc   491km
        EN03sb   122km    122km
        EN11xu   122km
        EN21ci   169km
EN12di  EN03sb   100km    100km
        EN10pj   233km
EN12bi  EN03sb    92km     92km
        EN21ao   179km
EN02vi  EN03sb    81km
        EN21ci   229km
EN02si  EN21ci   248km
        EN03sb    81km     81km
        EN24xk   426km
        EN10kh   253km
        EN21fa   284km
EN02pl  EN24xk   436km
        EN03sb    68km     68km
EN02ko  EN24xk   459km
        EN03sb    75km     75km
EN02fn  EN03sb   105km
        EN00wk   277km
 
------- Sunday --------
Sent    Rcved    10GHz    24GHz
EN02cn  EN03sb   122km
        EN00fl   232km
DN92xn  EN03sb   141km
DN92tq  EN03sb   162km
DN92tr  EN00co   241km
DN92rt  EN03sb   172km
DN91tv  DN90uq   134km