Spring Fling Rover Roundup Nets 737 QSOs

CVARC’s Spring Fling Rover Roundup was held Sunday April 11, along with a Zoom meeting hosted by Brad Ormsby-W6VO. It was a three-hour 2M simplex contest that allowed multiple QSOs with the same operators provided at least one of them had changed their location to another 6-digit maidenhead square. Each square you bagged, either as a rover or from home, counted as a multiplier. Several dozen people participated, and 18 submitted their scores during the Zoom meeting. Like all our VHF contests this past year, it was designed so that everyone could be competitive with any license or level of equipment.

The top scorer was Ben Kuo-AI6YR, with a whopping 100 QSOs and 17 different grids in his log for 1,700 points. He will receive the grand prize (a BLF-1215A 15AH LiFePo4 battery and charger donated for the contest by Bioenno Power). Martin Hickey-AJ6CL was second with 1513 (organizers aren’t eligible for prizes!) Andy Moorwood third with 1320 (an ARRL grab bag of goodies donated by Peter Heins-N6ZE) Paul Van Zuyle-K6PVZ fourth with 850 points. (The prize for third was a “Squeeze-to-talk” rubber chicken. Direct all inquiries to Martin.) With multipliers available to everyone, not just the rovers, the top finishers show that there is no substitute for making a lot of Qs.

Like all our past contests, it was also a chance to practice skills and learn procedures. One of the frequencies used (146.580) has always been one of the standard VHF contest/calling FXs, and in recent years has become popular as the “adventure” frequency used by people activating SOTA peaks and POTA parks. Several of our contesters were doubling up getting SOTA contacts as well, and a couple were activating SOTA peaks themselves. It was a good exercise in being polite operators and avoiding interfering with other people’s activities and event seemed to go well for everyone.

It was exciting to hear the level of activity. For three solid hours, you couldn’t get a word in edgewise-it was busy! No one can say Ventura County isn’t full of active hams. We’ll certainly be holding a similar event next spring as well.

Keith Elliott-W6KME

CallNameScoreQSOsGrids
AI6YRBen170010017
AJ6CLMartin15138917
K3CAQAndy13206620
K6PVZPaul8505017
N6ZEPeter7844916
K6CPRRon7564218
KF6JQOBill7204018
N7WLCMike7085912
W6KMEKeith5463914
N6PKZak4203014
AB6ETNorm3903013
KD6NFDCraig3252513
KN6ISMNathan3192911
KD6RCMTodd3082214
N6XEWEd2402012
AG6AGStu1601610
W6VOBrad1601610
WB6ADCWendy120158
Final results of 2021 CVARC Spring Fling Rover Roundup

One Reply to “Spring Fling Rover Roundup Nets 737 QSOs”

  1. That’s 737 QSOs from the people who submitted logs-many people didn’t, and were just participating for fun.

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