50 MHz Fall Sprint
Call: N2RJ/R
Operator(s): K2EZ N2RJ
Station: N2RJ/R
Class: Rover LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 4
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 33 Mults = 26 Total Score = 858
Club:
Comments:
Andrea and I decided to team up for this sprint once again. This time I brought
along my trusty Flex-6700. It worked out well for the most part. I'll explain
that later.
I would have loved to say that a mega opening out West helped us power through
and pick up tons of grids, but that was definitely not the case :) So at post
contest dinner, Andrea and I discussed the two types of VHF contests that
happen on 6m - those that behave like HF contests with lots of E-skip, and
those that behave like VHF contests, where you struggle to work with the
locals. This was definitely the latter.
No worries, really, as this helps us as a rover to work the locals from several
grids, which we pretty much did. In the beginning we ping ponged between FN20
and FN21, picking up a few locals, then later drove through FN20 (making
contacts enroute) to FN30 and FN31, then back t FN21. I must say that like the
microwave sprint, we had some surprises, such as going a bit lower in the
valley on the way to FN31 netted us better signals from stations in
Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Anyway, the Flex worked very well for the contest. Having a waterfall was very
nice. However I had a short on the power cables for the network switch which
caused the cable to burn and smoke up the vehicle. Thankfully this happened
AFTER the contest. We hurriedly disconnected things and rolled down the windows
to let the smoke out. No damage to the Flex or other gear. I tried to use the
Maestro initially but instead just went back to a laptop which provided a more
focused interface. I think the Maestro stays home next time. The laptop power
supply also generated a horrendous amount of RF hash which likely caused us to
miss contacts. We had to resort to disconnecting it to receive and while we had
no signals on the waterfall just left it in to charge. This is an old MacBook
which I need to replace anyway, so the battery is pretty much dead and doesn't
hold much charge. So we were between a rock and a hard place with that one.
Anyway we had fun, and I think we put up a decent score. Thanks to all who we
called and who called us!
88
Andrea and Ria
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