Microwave Fall Sprint
Call: WW7D/R
Operator(s): WW7D
Station: WW7D
Class: Rover LP
QTH: WWA
Operating Time (hrs): 1.75
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 59 Max Dist(km) = 33 Total Score = 300
Club: Pacific Northwest VHF Society
Comments:
This story begins a year ago, when HRO "found" a stock of hundreds of
Alinco DJ-G29Ts (220 + 900 MHz FM handheld) and put them on sale for under
$200. The new sale coincided with the annual conference of the Pacific
Northwest VHF Society. The sale was announced, and dozens of the handhelds
were ordered--with a few arriving in time for the 2014 Microwave Sprint held
the weekend following the PNWVHFS conference.
This year, the Microwave Sprint was somehow scheduled at the same time as the
PNWVHFS conference. I was REALLY looking forward to the microwave sprint. In
regular VHF contests, I am always a limited rover, so my microwave equipment
only goes roving for the ARRL UHF contest and (potentially) the Spring and Fall
Sprints (and portable for Field Day). Unfortunately, the Spring Microwave
Sprint is always scheduled during the same weekend that 16 states are involved
in a QSO party (eight states in the 7-call area QSO party, six in the New
England QSO party, Indiana QSO party and the Delaware QSO party). The 7QP is a
big deal out here, and I play hard in it. So the Fall Microwave Sprint is the
only Microwave Sprint I can really play in.
I was quite disappointed by the overlap. But a few days before this Sprint, I
emailed the PNWVHFS reflector and made three suggestions. First that people
bring to the conference whatever mobile, portable, or hand-held microwave gear
they have, so that we could at least play a bit in the Sprint at the start of
the conference.
The Second thing I pointed out was a public park about 10 minutes drive from
the conference. The park has a long parking lot with CN87 on the West end and
CN97 on the East end, with convenient roundabouts at each end. I mentioned
that I would rove from 7:00am to 7:45am and then leave for the conference. I
invited anyone else interested in roving to join me.
And third, I asked anyone not going to the conference to point their microwave
antennas in the direction of the conference from 7am to 7:45am on Saturday
morning.
I expected, perhaps, a couple of people would join me at the park. Instead,
seven additional rovers showed up! I came prepared with separate FM rigs
connected to WA5VJB cheap yagis on a rotatable mast, along with transverters
and amps for 903 and 1296 MHz on loop yagis. There may have been another
transverter or two among the rovers, but most people were using mobile or
handheld FM radios, including a bunch of those Alinco DJ-G29Ts.
Ham mayham ensued for that first 45 minutes as everyone tried working everyone
on one or two bands in both grids. With that many rovers, many working two
bands, it wasn't possible for everyone to work all combinations. But some of
us tried.
Besides a bunch of fellow rovers, I managed to work KE0CO, some 30 km away on
1296 MHz SSB & 927.5 MHz FM, and AC7T, some 18 km away on 927.5 MHz
FM--each from both grids. Pretty much everyone else in the Pacific Northwest
with microwave capabilities was either at the conference hotel or roving in the
parking lot with me.
At 7:45pm, we left en masse for the conference hotel for the 8:00 start of the
program. There we found even more "portable" stations in the
meeting room. There were, perhaps, 1/2 dozen DJ-G29Ts, and a few 1296 MHz
handhelds. Ray, W7GLF/R, brought in his battery-operated 1296 transverter at
his table to work people on 1296.2 MHz FM (and worked 'em again on 900 MHz FM
using a DJ-G29T). QSOs ensued during breaks and lunch up until about 1pm.
My log shows 18 "1 km" QSOs at the meeting itself, mostly for
"filling in" missing CN87 to CN87 QSOs that we didn't complete in the
park.
The one big up-side to all this was that most conference attendees knew we were
still participating in the Sprint until 2pm, and got a chuckle watching and
listening to us "rove" during our breaks and over lunch. We were
making lemonade out of lemons, to be sure, but that was some tasty lemonade!
In all, I made 59 QSOs with 17 unique calls. Thirty four QSOs were on 900 MHz
(mostly with those Alincos) and 24 were on 1296. All but 2 QSOs (with KE0CO on
1296) were FM.
Scoring details: I used 1 km for QSOs among the same 6-digit grid (CN87xn to
CN87xn or CN97an to CN97an). Using "NØUK's Maidenhead Grid Distance
& Bearing Calculator", I got 6.25 km for QSOs between CN87xn and
CN97an.
Number_worked Sent Received Distance
1 CN87XN CN87WQ 15.24
1 CN97AN CN87WQ 18.69
2 CN87XN CN87TL 26.69
2 CN97AN CN87TL 32.63
9 CN87XN CN97AN 6.25
9 CN97AN CN87XN 6.25
11 CN97AN CN97AN 1.00
24 CN87XN CN87XN 1.00
Total: 59 Weighted total: 300.07
I have to admit, the Microwave Sprint turned out to be MUCH more interesting,
exciting and rewarding than I could have imagined. Even so, I hope next year
the Sprint schedule will accommodate a major VHF+ society conference so that we
can participate in a more conventional way.
The Fall VHF+ Sprints were wildly fun this year. I greatly appreciate the
organizers for putting on a terrific event. And I thank the many people who
got on the air to make the Sprints so much fun.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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