Guys,
I think moving the date from where it was last year is
a great thing to do. Oftentimes, noise from a vehicle's
ignition system or air conditioner (hash) or fuel pump
can drive you nuts and limit your ability to hear. To
sit in a hot car, off the side of the road because one
can't run the engine and the air conditioner is not
much fun. Trust me, I've done it....you sweat buckets
and your logging pages get wet with sweat. You lose
your enthusiasm quickly! Please do pick a cooler time
of year!
One other suggestion should be to allow mobiles to run
county lines. If you want to make the QSO party more
successful, you really need to make the event more
appealing to the county hunters...two counties for one
contact is an easy way to do that. County Hunters
often have efficient antennas and HF rigs already
installed on/in their vehicles. They are also used to
driving around in them while using the radio! By the
way, for HF mobile operations we typically call them
mobiles and not rovers. I think the term rover comes
from VHF contesting. I think one will find that the
most popular qso parties have lots of participation by
mobiles....many of them will be county hunters. It
does take time though to build up the participation in
an annual event.
Among the county hunter community, there are quite a
few well known contesters and dxers, both CW and SSB
operators. I personally would have been more active in
contesting activities the last few years had I not been
so busy with three kids under age 8, lots of travel for
work, and the pursuit of a Master's degree for the past
2.5 years. Things are getting better though, the
Master's will be done in three weeks....yipeee!!!
I personally have worked the counties once and am 7
counties away from having done it a second time.
Ernie KS4Q
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