[Rover] (no subject)

[Tim Ertl (KE3HT)]

January 2004 VHF Contest

Tim, KE3HT and Sigurd KJ1K

We had another great adventure!  Started near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
(FM18 & FM19) and
made our way north to Twin Lights on Saturday and then again north to Bear
Mountain (FN21)
and Cairo NY (FN22) on Sunday.  Had to cut our trip short, skipped FN23 and
FN33, because
of problems with the automatic transmission on the RoverVan.  Weather was
cold, but no snow
or rain.

We ran two networked computers, and Tim made contacts on 50 MHz, 144 Mhz,
432 MHz and
223.5 MHz while I drove.  When stopped I operated 144 MHz, 222 MHz, 903 MHz
and 1296 MHz
and Tim operated 50 MHz and 432 MHz.

RoverLog worked great!  We synchronized our logs at each site and saw each
others contacts
in real time.  We had two encounters with the police, at Bear Mountain
because we were
illegally parked and near Cairo because the police were curious.

Statistics:

QSOs		195
QSOpts	291
Grids	  	9
Mult	 	56

Claimed score: 16296

Miles driven: 1050.3

See http://www.berkshire.net/~sigurd/RoverVan for pictures

Many thanks to all who helped, especially to My brother Frank, and his wife
Gunvor for
putting us up Friday night and my daughter Kathy for putting us up Saturday
night.

73.... Sigurd

--------------------------KE3HT addendum-------------------------
Sigurd mentioned Bear Mountain Police chasing us from a spot we parked that
had a BIG No Parking sign. Sigurd forgot to mention the Police at FN20 Sandy
hook to NYC Ferry and Yacht Basin. We also had local Security people that
visited us twice. Once they even drove underneath our beams! Police
interrupted us at FN32 (west near FN22) when we were off the road in a small
rest area on RT23 talking to N2LBT (and others). These guys wanted to know
more about us and had lots of questions but left us alone after awhile. We
had a total of three Police encounters which is not a record but was unusual
considering the time of year and locations we were at.

I learned how to play a card game called �Pay Me�. Its pretty easy to learn
but each hand is different in the number of cards dealt and the difficulty.
You should try it some time.

We had some Great fun! We left Maryland just as the Snow Storm hit Saturday
Morning.  We only saw a light dusting of snow but when I got home and saw
the news I realized how lucky we were! Good thing we left when we did. We
saw a sign about snow ahead but the storm went behind us! We were REAL
LUCKY! Sigurd had a lead foot and we out ran the storm!

We saw, and have pictures, of a Polar Bear club called the �Chilly Willy
 Cub� at FM19 at the state park there! There ARE idiots dumber than hams
Rovering in January! See Sigurd�s web site for the pictures. And before you
ask Dick, No I did not join them and take a dunk!
http://www.berkshire.net/~sigurd/RoverVan/Jan2004/09_Chilly_Willy.jpg

FN30 was the COLDEST site we visited. Near a hilltop school on top and high
up above the Twin Lights light house. It was so cold the AC extension cord
to the generator got hard. It was hard to stand outside the van for more
than a minute or two at a time. It was colder than the -35f wind chill we
had here in Pittsfield a couple of weeks ago! Think about it, we were on the
highest point there is on the tip of an island right on the sea shore. Its
was COLD!

Except for worrying about the Van we had a Great time. I am pretty sure that
next January I am not going to do this unless the weather promises to be
warmer and less of a risk of a snow storm!

Tim Ertl KE3HT/r
QSL via CBA
http://www.ke3ht.org
ke3ht@ke3ht.org