September 2000 QST

By Bill Wageman, K5MATGrid Chasing:Fixed or Mobile?Whether you’re chasing VUCC grids from the comfort of your homeshack, or handing out grids from the most forlorn peak in the Rockies—beware. Playing the grid game from any angle is highly addictive andperpetually rewarding. Now that you’ve been warned, let’s get started!hen the ARRL instituted theWVUCC program I thought it wasa silly approach to an operatingaward. It’s plenty easy to achieveon 6 meters, and here in the Rocky Mountainarea—where tropo is essentially nonexistent—it’snearly impossible on anyof the higher bands. So, I avoided gettinginvolved in such a frustrating project. Iinitially saw the whole thing as a wasteof time and an essentially futile pursuit.After all, I had WAC and CW WAS on6 meters, with a few states and two countrieson 2 meters. I really didn’t need anotherworld to conquer.Forget grids, I thought—they’re so artificial.And besides, there are plenty of otherfun ham radio pursuits.I actually did forget about grids until afew weeks later when a friend mentionedthat he was going to try to help Fred, W5FF,by working him from DM71 on 6 meters.My friend wanted to try a contact with me,too, on 2 meters. Because I lived near thenorthern boundary of DM65, a 300-milecontact seemed almost impossible. Steve,KB5GY, traveling to the boondocks in WestTexas, could run only 25 W to a small beam.He would also have to carry a car batteryup a long hill to see in my direction. Hewanted the exercise, though, so I said I’dgive it a try.Fred, W5FF, has a big 2-meter stationand I was sure he would be able to workSteve. He graciously offered to relay betweenus if we had any difficulties. Stevewould call Fred, and Fred would alert meto listen down in the noise. At the appointedtime I was listening on 144.2 MHz and, sureenough, I suddenly copied KB5GY callingW5FF on CW. I wasn’t born yesterday, so I30 September 2000Bob, N5EPA, braves the arid environment of grid square DM38.answered Steve right away and we completedour exchange before Fred even gotto his operating position.That did it! My snooty attitude towardgrid hunting went out the window in a rushof adrenalin. I’ve been hunting grids eversince!The Lay of the LandThere are 22 grids that are wholly orpartially in New Mexico, but many of themhardly have any residents, let alone hams(particularly hams equipped for 2-meternarrowband operation). That said, those 22grids would still be a great start toward theVUCC 100 if only Steve could be convincedto travel to them with his rig. Buthe’d hardly want to spend hours of drivingand many bucks for gasoline only to put upwith what would probably include manyfailed schedules. Or did he feel the sameadrenalin rush that I had? Could it possiblybe even more fun to work from a raregrid instead of working it from home?I think the person handing out the gridsis actually having the most fun, at least partof the time. Flat tires, lightning storms, highwinds and equipment problems cause minorinconveniences, but the payback isworth the process. I was the only guy whoworked Steve (besides Fred) on that firsttrip, but better planning would have probablynetted much better results.When Steve set out that day there wasprecious little activity on 6- or 2-meter SSBin New Mexico. But for most of his latertrips (to grids that Fred wanted on 6meters), the summer sporadic-E season frequentlyallowed for HF-style pileups withops who didn’t even know why Steve was