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[3830] MWaveFallSprnt WW7D/R Rover LP

To: 3830@contesting.com, djholman@u.washington.edu
Subject: [3830] MWaveFallSprnt WW7D/R Rover LP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: djholman@u.washington.edu
Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2018 18:38:07 +0000
List-post: <mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                    Microwave Fall Sprint

Call: WW7D/R
Operator(s): WW7D
Station: WW7D

Class: Rover LP
QTH: cn97
Operating Time (hrs): 6

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 35  Total Score = 2,083

Club: Pacific Northwest VHF Society

Comments:

There wasn't much of a turn-out for the microwave sprint in the Pacific
Northwest, but those who showed up were quite dedicated.   Last year, I roved
around two grid intersections, hitting a total of 6 grids.  This year, I planned
a more limited route taking me to only four grids, but with substantially
reduced driving time and more stationary operating time.   The plan was to start
out in Issaquah, WA at a city park at 750' the CN87/CN97 grid line splitting a
long parking lot.  This spot gives excellent reach into the north side of the
Puget Sound region, and has well-placed  holes through mountains to the south. 
Then I would proceed south to the CN86/CN87/CN96/CN97 intersection near the NW
corner of Mt. Rainier National Park.  CN97 can be accessed on a rough forest
service road at 1,900'.  Then, about 25 minutes away, the other three grids are
accessible along a 10 mile stretch of a gravel state highway (CN87 at 2,000',
CN86 at 3,050' and CN96 at 3,200').   The CN86 and CN96 spots gives me excellent
reach into much of the Puget Sound region; in fact, these locations have
provided me with microwave QSOs north into British Columbia and south to
Portland Oregon in the same contest.   It helps that I can visually point
antennas right into the face of nearby Mt. Rainier.

Getting the rover reconfigured from the 432 MHz sprint on Wednesday to a
microwave rover for Saturday is an interesting challenge.  The plus side is that
a lot of the “infrastructure” is already in place—things like a 2nd
battery, front and rear rotors and controls, coax cable routed to the front and
rear masts, GPS for displaying the current grid, etc.  Only the radio rack,
antennas, and antenna switch needed re-configuration.   Most of this took place
on Friday afternoon and evening.   The means, of course, that the pick-up truck
wasn't available for other duties in the interim. 

This year I ran three bands: 900 MHz, 1296 MHz, and 2304 MHz, using SG Lab
transverters.  The 1296 MHz transverter feeds an old, discrete component, DEM
amplifier to generate about 10 watts.  A Kenwood TK-981 covered 927.5 MHz nbFM
and an Icom IC-1201 covered 1294.5 MHz and 1296.2 MHz FM.   The 1296 MHz and
2304 MHz transverters shared an FT-857d for IF.  The 900 MHz transverter used an
old FT-290r for IF.  A 2m FM radio with a mag-mount whip antenna was used for
coordination.  In retrospect, I should have set up a 2m horizontal antenna on
the front mast to match the 2m polarization at other participants' stations. 

The rear antenna stack (which can be raised to 25' when stationary) had three
loop yagis: 12' on 900 MHz, 6' on 1296 MHz and 7' on 2304 GHz.  The front
antenna stack sits about 8' above the ground and rotatable in motion had four
10-el WA5VJB “cheap yagis”: 1296 MHz (H), 1294 MHz (V), 900 MHz (H), 927.5
MHz (V).  

My SOTA hiking buddy Josh, WU7H, stopped by the house on Friday night.  He
planned to activate a 5,500' SOTA summit in Mt. Rainier National Park during the
sprint, so I lent him a couple of HTs (Icom IC-T81A for 1.2 GHz and Alinco
DJ-G29 for 900 MHz) with printed circuit board yagis.  

The sprint started out quiet and lonely in CN97.  After 15 minutes, I heard Jim,
K7ND, on CW and we almost completed a QSO. But my 10W were not enough for him to
get my grid and complete the QSO.  The only QSO I made was on  927.5 MHz with my
buddy Doug, AC7T.  I moved to CN87 and worked Doug and had another incomplete
QSO with K7ND.  The next QSOs took place 1.75 hours into the sprint on 927 MHz
with  Barry, AC7MD, at a high point in the Olympic mountains some 100 miles
away, and Tom, KE7SW, who was about 30 miles away.   It wasn't until 2.5 hours
into the sprint that I completed the first weak signal QSOs on 1296 MHz and 2304
MHz with AC7MD and KE7SW. 

Much of the rest of the sprint was running between grids (and sometimes more
distant sub-grids) working AC7MD and KE7SW.  Stan, KG7P, showed up about 3.75
hours into the sprint, and we made easy QSOs on 900 MHz and 1296 MHz from two
grids.  We could not hear each other at all on 2.4 GHz.  

At 4.5 hours into the sprint, WU7H showed up from the summit of Elizabeth Ridge.
 We were able to complete QSOs on 927.5 MHz from CN96 and CN86, but I could not
hear him well enough on 1296.2 MHz to complete a QSO.  I heard AC7MD and KE7SW
work Josh on both bands, and I think KG7P did as well.  Five hours into the
sprint, Mike, N7KSI, popped up on 1296 MHz; I scrambled to work him in CN96,
CN86, and CN87.  

In all, I made 46 QSOs, but some of these were “dups” from different
sub-grids.  After removing dups, there were 35 completed QSOs.  I used the
NØUK's Maidenhead Grid Distance & Bearing Calculator to compute distances,
for a total of 2,083 km.

Even with the low turnout (only 6 call signs in my log compared to 9 in 2017), I
had a lot of fun and satisfaction with this sprint.  The equipment worked well
and there were no unforeseen difficulties.

After the sprint, I drove back to the paved roads and found WU7H's pick-up truck
in a parking lot.  He hauled our dual sport motorcycles for a post-sprint
adventure.  I parked the rover and Josh and I spent a couple of hours exploring
gnarly gravel roads and 4x4 trails in a nearby national forest.  We re-loaded
the bikes in his truck and caravanned to Enumclaw for pub food and a beer on the
way home.  It was an excellent close to the 2018 roving season.


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