This wasn't the greatest contest for me in terms of score. I had to work on
Saturday but did manage to get to the truck for an hour during "lunch".
Economic realities prevented me from taking a long trip so I just worked the
local 6 grids near my QTH. The strange thing to me was that I had about the
same limitations in January, but still managed a better score. I thought 6
meter openings would make up for limited drive time. It didn't.
Speaking of 6 meters... that turned into a real frustration. On Saturday
(from the parking lot at work), it was going pretty well into TX and FL.
Unfortunately, I had to get back to work. That night, it was still decent,
but not jumping like it had been. Stations would fade in and out so rapidly
that I couldn't make contacts with as many as I could hear. I managed a few
Q's from FM17 and 07.
Sunday, I drove to Hogback Overlook on Skyline Drive with brief stops in
FM09 and 19 on the way. Hogback was a big disappointment. There was no E
skip and local activity was WAY down. I was at the same spot in January and
worked pile-ups with locals.
There were a few highlights. We heard the VP9 station in FM72 while
driving. We pulled over and extended the 6 meter moxon and finally got
him. We also stumbled into a 4 way QSO with 3 other rovers. The distance
between each of us was considerable, but we all make all the contacts on my
4 bands except I couldn't hear the most distant two on 432. It was a neat
bit of camaraderie between rovers.
Finally, the last hour was spent in my truck parked in the yard next to the
house. My wife (K4LIG) and I made one finaly effort but this time, with gin
an tonic in hand. In the last 5 minutes, we found KO4YC in FM17. He was
the only FM17 station I found and we worked him on all 4 bands, finishing
the log with 4 mults. That's always fun!
In all, it was a disappointment as far as score. Activity wasn't great and
our route was short. Still though, we had a great time and made memories.
73
Steve
K4GUN/R
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