Hi Walter,
I have been grumbling about the lack of VHF and microwave activity in the
rest of Maine for years. The State is so vast, and so un populated that making
contacts up here is always a problem. To even the scales somewhat, a few of my
friends have built up a rover station precisely to activate these rare grids
in contests. Without their efforts, our contest group would be hardpressed to
put together any good score no matter how hard we tried. It is almost the same
problem as "If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, will
it make a sound?" I could have the greatest microwave station in the country
and I (and everyone else) would never know it! All those grids are empty!
Right now, it is possible to work FN43, FN44, FN54 FN55 and FN53 in Maine
on some of the VHF bands. If you go above 144 MHz, the number drops
drastically. Our group sends out a rover (K1OR) in September. They have 11
bands and go like crazy to cover as many grids as they can. Due to the
topography and the
road situation, about 7 grids is the limit. Many of the grids are almost
impossible for me to work on the higher bands. Six meters is a problem on the
extreme northerly ones as well. The small mobile 50 MHz antennas make that band
difficult as well.
It sure would be great if there were more rovers running about in the North
woods. The problem is that they will not work very many stations unless they
put together a killer setup. Even then, the results would be less than good.
FN67 sure is far away and those pine trees sure soak up rf!
I operate many VHF and microwave sprints and seldom work more than one
other Maine station. It is frustrating sometimes.
73
Dave K1WHS (FN43MJ in sunny downtown Lebanon, Maine)
"Carrington, Walter" wrote:
> If I'm reading my maps right Maine contains parts of 13 grids. And I've
> only worked 3 of them, ever. And I'm only 65 miles from the Maine border.
> Of course I'm 365 miles from the furthest point in Maine (FN67) -- isolated
> to say the least. Ken Hargers maps show only 2 grids activated in 2002 and
> 2003.
> Are there contest rovers I've missed that can work into Mass?
> Is there interest in future dxpeditions (contest or noncontest) to
> rare Maine or Canadian Maritime grids? (Not this contest, though).
> -Walter, K1CMF
> Ashburnham, MA
> FN42bq
>
>
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