[VHFcontesting] Why do I rove? Let me count the ways ...

[John D'Ausilio]

1. It's fun
2. I like building stuff, rovers require lots of building
3. I like driving around
4. Coastal tropo
5. Working Jeff on 10 bands in under 3 minutes
6. It's fun
7. I like trying to explain to police officers what I'm doing in that
cemetery at 2:30AM in Louisa, VA
8. I love the slack-jawed look I get from passengers in passing cars
when I'm traveling in the Jitney
9. Ditto from people on front porches in certain parts of West By God Virginia
10. I like explaining that I'm not tracking
thunderstorms/birds/babyseals/whatever
11. It's fun

I started ignoring contest results outside of my own little universe,
which consists of all the other mid-north east coast independent
rovers, when the first grid-circling scores started coming out. If
your goal is to game the contest, more power to you and have fun doing
it. My main competition is W1RT/R .. my goal is always to have a
better rove than the previous ones and to continue to modify/add/hack
on stuff to that end. I've rebuilt the Jitney from the ground up twice
now, and I'm pretty happy with my handiwork (if I may say so :) ..
evidently I'll never be competitive from the standpoint of ARRL
standings, but I really don't give a crap at this point. As long as
I've got the time and the cash I'll keep it up, and when those run out
hopefully I'll find a kindred spirit to take it all off my hands ..

de w1rt/john