This year's NEQP once again started on the way home from the spring Hosstrader's Hamfest at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds in new Hampshire. Unlike last year's rain-rain-rain, the weather this year was very nice.... lots of sunshine and warm temperatures. With only a few exceptions, all of my contacts this year were "county line" contacts, essentially making each a two-for-one for everyone (including me!). Raven (KB1LXW) came along for the ride, but didn't participate in the contest... she's not into contesting at all, but she loves a nice adventure in the country!

Here are a few pictures of the "mobile shack" and some of the places I stopped to rack up a few log entries.
Click on any of the pictures for the full size images... they're pretty big though, so be patient!

The mobile operating position.
The obligatory Icom 706mkIIg, a Kenwood D-700 2m/440 w/ APRS, a vintage Garmin Street Pilot, a Toshiba laptop on a MobileDesk articutated mount.
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The back end of the WhoppoMobile on Sunday morning, before heading out for day 2 of the NEQP.
The two cheesy mag mounts are zero-gain 2m/440's. the HF antenna is a High Sierra Sidekick with a 6-foot whip.
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The first stop, just after 4:00pm.
Belknap county, NH on a hill overlooking part of Lake Winnipesaukee.
We got here just in time to catch this rainbow.
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Another view from the same place
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Raven took this shot while I was shoutin' CQ.
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Heading north on rte 16.... Hams on Ice?
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Logging a few contacts on the Androscoggin and Franklin county line in Maine.
A fair amount of electrical noise right here, next year I'll find a quieter spot on this line.
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On the Kennebec and Waldo county line for another round of contacts.
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DeLorme's mapping program thought this would be a good way to go to get to the next county line.
Now we've taken the Escalade off road plenty of times and I don't mind scratching the thing up... I did buy it to be a truck afterall, but this road didn't look too promising :-)
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That's about all the pictures we took this weekend.. big thanks to Tom (K1KI) and the rest of the organizers and contributors for putting this contest together. And once again, thanks to Paul (N4PN) for being the most frequently logged station and an overall great guy as we zig-zagged across hundreds of miles of New England highways and back roads.

73! WA1RB (Formerly KB1LXV during this contest)