Hi folks-
KX9X/R 6m Spring Sprint 2007
ARRL Section: IL
Grid QSO's Mults
EM59aa 5 3
EM58ax 4 3
EM48xx 4 4
TOTAL 13 10 Score = 130
Equipment: Icom 706 MkII @ 70 watts, homebrew 6m
dipole made from 2 CB whips on a mast @15'. Power
supplied by an emergency car starter backup battery.
Comments: This was my first-ever attempt at a rover
operation. I had just gotten the emergency power pack
and thought it would be a good trial run, so I could
get a better guess how long the thing would last me.
Conditions were bad...best "DX" was W9RM in EN52. I
heard a 5 ping in for a bit, and I hear a 4 ping in
for a bit, but no enhancement at all.
I had found a chunk of country roads that circled
within a 1/2-mile of the meeting point of EM48, 49, 58
& 59. Setup and teardown weren't so bad; I could QRT
from one grid, break down, move, set up in the new
grid & QRV within 15 minutes. The only people I ran
into were clearly the ones that lived in the farm
houses around there. Most drove by, obviously curious
at this stranger to their neck of the woods with a
vertical antenna mast bungee-corded to the SUV's
luggage rack. I smiled & waved every time, and most of
the time I got a friendly wave back. I left each grid
about 10 minutes till th top of the hour, and was QRV
again in my new grid by 4 or 5 after the hour.
In EM59, I just pulled over the edge of the country
road as best I could. EM58 found me at the mouth of a
VERY long driveway. EM48, however, found me in a
church parking lot in the middle of nowhere,
overlooking a corn field. It was getting dark, and
there was nobody in the parking lot. After about 20
minutes, a minivan pulled into the parking lot. A
middle-aged woman was driving. She saw me and stopped.
It sat there for a second, and I waved. She pulled
U-turn and left. About 10 minutes later, the minivan
was back, this time with her husband driving. They
pulled into the parking space closest to the side door
of the church, and as they got out, I greeted them and
apologized for scaring her. I said I was a ham and "we
were doing an emergency preparedness exercise
tonight." Sighs of relief.
That experience, coupled with the lack of good prop,
gave me second thought of continuing to the next grid.
It was already dark, I was in the middle of nowhere,
and my planned operaing location in EM49 was another
church parking lot. I didn't want to freak anybody
else out, so I decided to just pack it in.
It was certainly fun, but I really don't enjoy
frightening people like that. I'm curious how more
experienced rovers handle this problem.
Looking forward to the June VHF contest
from...somewhere! No grid expeditions for me this
time, so I'll find a place to operate close to my
apartment QTH.
73,
Sean
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