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<DIV>Down here in Ohio we have the rover category. In Michigan there
is not, or at least not yet. Vive le difference!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do think the rover concept has a lot going for it. A couple of hours with
a dipole and anybody who cares will work that county, especially on SSB. That's
not the case with mobiles, as hard as we try! Look at what K9TM
did from Monroe county with what would be a very typical rover station.
Imagine if he had started over fresh a couple of times!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A low dipole operation will become much more fun in a year or so when 40
returns as an in-state band. One of my coolest operating experiences was as a
rover a few years back in the PA QSO Party, when I was running 150/hr on 40
SSB from Juniata county, including a number of "thanks for the last county"
qsos. Right now, trying to run guys in IL or PA just doesn't stir up the same
interest.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And with gas prices pushing $4 a gallon, a shorter trip makes a lot of
sense.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the meantime, feel free to go roving anyway. I did not wait for
the ARRL to establish a "single op - multi station" category in SS. I just
did it, and have a lot of fun doing it. The same goes for roving in MiQP.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>73 - Jim K8MR</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 4/25/2008 3:18:47 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
emorse@ford.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hank, </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Definitely talking two issues here. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rover category and how close to the county
line do you have to be to be in the county.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Rover category may be a viable category
especially if you could show that it would increase activity. I know I
worked N9NE in almost every county he parked in last weekend. Partly
because he was in the UP where we had good propagation and partly because he
spent more than 30 minutes in each county. If you could show a half
dozen rover operations that would be good for a couple hundred or so QSOs from
each of 4 counties then it would make a good case for the
category. Basically, activity begets more activity but adding categories
just waters down the activity you already have. I would look at the EOC
category. Almost every county has a Red Cross station or EOC station or
both, however I don't think that the EOC category generated as much activity
amongst the non-contest community as we were hoping. Maybe the logs
submitted will prove me wrong.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have a problem with multiple counties
though. You can't operate from two places simultaneously. It isn't
allowed by any awards programs i.e. DXCC, WAS and County Hunters. Close
only counts in horsehoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons but not in ham
radio QTH entities. I have worked the Illinois QSO party and found it
silly to work one QSO for 4 multipliers. At least that’s what they were
implying. I would reply with QSL, YOU ARE 59 MI 59 MI 59 MI 59 MI
and log the 4 QSOs. Their game, their rules. Basically, it seemed
that these stations just wanted to be a little more special than your run of
the mill IL stations in hopes it would generate the pileups they needed to
stroke their egos. From what I heard from some of those stations, they
needed a lot more practice on those pile ups too. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anyway, it’s the Michigan QSO party and you just
can't be any more special than being in Michigan, whichever county/counties
you are in. Pick a category and make your plans to operate it as best
you can.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>N8SS</FONT>
</P><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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