02/01/2006 | N1KPW/ROVER Well, even though I didn't get to participate as much as I wanted to, due to my work schedule changing I was only on the air for about 8 hours, I still had fun and have to say this was a successful contest for me. First, let me say my Rover station is modest, at best. I've tried to put together a station I can run everyday, not just for contests, although I did pull my Ft-897 off the power supply and run it in the truck for 6m and 432. This was my first attempt at any 432 activity. I used the permanently mounted FT-100 for 2m. I run M2 stacked 432 HO Loops with a M2 HO Loop for 2m stacked on top of that with an Anntron 5/8 wave whip for 6m. My log only ended up with 17 contacts and I only actually activated 2 grids instead of my planned 6, but it was a success in that I actually logged a contact for everyone I heard, even on 432. I plan on incorporating a bit of vacation time into the June contest, and I made the plunge in investing in a Military Surplus portable mast/antenna to try on 6m for June. This military surplus thing just might work out pretty good, from what I've translated in the instructions from Swedish, so we'll see what happens. I'm anxious to set it up and try it out soon, and cant wait for June so I can hit all the 'good spots' I had planned to go to this time around and actually fill a log page for a change..... -- N1KPW