Only a little tongue in cheek, I've read that Fargo is a very nice place to
live. Add ham radio popularity, and maybe it should be on a contester's
list of places to check out. ;-)
Jim N7US
-----Original Message-----
Hi Don:
I live in western SD, about 2 hours from the ND border. I have
considered many times to run up to a town just the other side of the
SD/ND border for a contests. Problem is the WX. The contest season
begins just as the snow begins to fly up there. I have a complete
little hard sided camper that has a killer heater, antenna ports, a High
Sierra screw driver type mobile antenna, lot's of notebook PC's etc. I
have indeed run counties from ND on CW mobile, but only in the Spring
and summer months. I do have 4WD, but towing a camper through the snow
in the middle of nowhere can be a real problem for an old guy like me.
;) You may have no idea how remote the road is from here to there. ;)
I have done extensive mountain top operating from snow capped mountains,
but again, only in the warmer months, when getting to the base of the
mountain was not an issue. And of course, I was a few years younger too. ;)
North Dakota has a lot of great folks, and a surprising number of
hams, but very few contest types I am afraid. I attend regularly
the Peace Gardens Ham Fest and meet many ND Hams. I have asked time and
time again if I could use anyone's station for a contests, but have
never gotten a reply, I guess maybe I am not forceful enough, and hate
to ask for such a favor. Still, I am not ruling out a little DXpedition
up there for any RTTY or Digital mode event. I have a campground all
picked out in Bowman ND from which to operate, but it is closed during
the RU contest. No gates or anything, but I would no doubt have to run
off of a generator, which I also have BTW. Plans for a trip like that
can change in hours as unexpected WX can roll in quite unpredictable in
those parts. Here in the Black Hills the WX is much more moderate, but
still throws the forecasters for a loop now and again. ;)
I think that you will find the most consistently hard to work state in
any contest is ND right now. That may change if a contest type person
moves in, or an existing ham finds the world of contesting interesting
enough to jump in.
Brian K7RE
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