[VHFcontesting] Where's Maine?? (Future dxpeditions?)

[DAVID C. OLEAN]

Hi Walter,
    I have been grumbling about the lack of VHF and microwave activity in the rest of Maine for years. The State is so vast, and so un populated that making contacts up here is always a problem.  To even the scales somewhat, a few of my friends have built up a rover station precisely to activate these rare grids
in contests. Without their efforts, our contest group would be hardpressed to put together any good score no matter how hard we tried. It is almost the same problem as "If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, will it make a sound?" I could have the greatest microwave station in the country
and I (and everyone else) would never know it!  All those grids are empty!
    Right now, it is possible to work FN43, FN44, FN54 FN55 and FN53 in Maine on some of the VHF bands. If you go above 144 MHz, the number drops drastically. Our group sends out a rover (K1OR) in September. They have 11 bands and go like crazy to cover as many grids as they can. Due to the topography and the
road situation, about 7 grids is the limit. Many of the grids are almost impossible for me to work on the higher bands. Six meters is a problem on the extreme northerly ones as well. The small mobile 50 MHz antennas make that band difficult as well.
    It sure would be great if there were more rovers running about in the North woods. The problem is that they will not work very many stations unless they put together a killer setup. Even then, the results would be less than good. FN67 sure is far away and those pine trees sure soak up rf!
    I operate many VHF and microwave sprints and seldom work more than one other Maine station. It is frustrating sometimes.

73
Dave K1WHS  (FN43MJ in sunny downtown Lebanon, Maine)

"Carrington, Walter" wrote:

> If I'm reading my maps right Maine contains  parts of 13 grids.  And I've only worked 3 of them,  ever.   And I'm only 65 miles from the Maine border.  Of course I'm 365 miles from the furthest point in Maine (FN67) -- isolated to say the least.  Ken Hargers maps show only 2 grids activated in 2002 and 2003.
>        Are there contest rovers I've missed that can work into Mass?
>        Is there interest in future dxpeditions (contest or noncontest) to rare Maine or Canadian Maritime grids?  (Not this contest,  though).
> -Walter,  K1CMF
> Ashburnham, MA
> FN42bq
>
>
>   ----------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting