[Rover] Rovers: Did you work FN03? No? :)

[Ev Tupis (W2EV)]

Not for nuthin', but I ran a little experiment during the September VHF
contest.  I was testing out my new 4x stack of halos at home to see how
effective they would be in nabbing grids within 300km or so of my house without
the problems associated with large antennas (leaving them for DX).  How
successful was that?  Quite, actually (but that's not the topic for this note).

I powered up using the CU2QSO strategy (APRS, reconfigured to be VHF Contesting
friendly) and let things run all weekend.  I can tell you that I know of at
least five rovers that drove within easy range of my station, but didn't make a
contact with me (none were CU2QSO active).  Knowing that FN03 has become quite
rare, I'm certain that it impacted their score.

This is a gentle reminder that the strategy works (I've nabbed rovers in the
past easily).  It just so hapens that none of those in my area used it this past
September...so many QSO's were missed (minimally...2 bands x 5 grids x 5 rovers)
because I couldn't find the rover traditionally (scan and pounce or cq and let
them find me) and none hedged that with CU2QSO.

That's a shame, really.  CU2QSO can be engaged in many ways (some require a
computer and GPS, and others actually don't [!]) by Rovers...all of which are
successful in enhancing the VHF contesting experience.  Please consider powering
up and using it in January.  Visit: http://www.BEACONet.org and follow the
hyperlinks for CU2QSO.

Ev Tupis, W2EV