ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes
Call: KK6MC/R
Operator(s): KK6MC
Station: KK6MC/R
Class: Rover LP
QTH: AZ & NM
Operating Time (hrs): 14
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 32 12
2: 33 8
222:
432: 6 5
903:
1.2: 1 1
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 72 34 Total Score = 2,607
Club: New Mexico Big River Contesters
Comments:
This contest was a mixed bag for me. Several high points and a few low points. I
made my my first meteor scatter contact with FSK441 during the contest, I roved
from 4 new grids, bringing my total to 53 for reverse VUCC on 2M, and there was
a small Es opening to the NW when I was in DM41. Other than that, propagation
was pretty flat. I guess this was to be expected after the cold front came
through on THursday night. Still, as always we had fun.
The winter storm blew through NM on Thursday night and we awoke with 2 inches
of snow on the ground and on the rover Friday morning, when we were to leave
for AZ. It was still coming down. As we had to travel to AZ to start the
contest, we left in a hurry, and things got forgotten. Some important things.
I need to make a check list.
We stayed the night in Tucson. I managed to bend the side elements of my PAR
Stressed Moxon in an aborted attempt to find a parking spot at a restaurant
near the University. Not a good start. At this point I realized that I had
forgotten the step stool I needed to raise and lower the antennas. Bright and
early on Saturday morning, we made a trip to Home Depot and bought a new step
stool. Still in the Home Depot parking lot, I straightened out the Moxon side
elements. It was easier than I thought. The Moxon reflector wire flopping about
had broken two directors on the 432 MHz beam in half and bent the end of a 222
MHz director. On the way out of Tucson I realized that I had forgotten the GPS,
no big deal as I had the locations mapped and marked before we left, but it did
mean that he location of contacts in motion would be less precise near grid
boundaries. Fortuantely I did not make any QSOs real close to grid boundaries
while in motion. A road atlas with the grids marked off in a highlighter is
truly a useful low tech thing to the rover, even in these days of GPS, as are
printed detailed maps of selected areas to operate with the grid square marked.
I generate these in Google Maps or Google Earth.
We got to DM31 with no weather problems except for a small portion of the road
to Organ Pipe being flooded, and started to get setup for an FSK441 QSO with
W5WVO just before the contest. We made that QSO fine for my first FSK441
contact. Then I went to hookup the 222 MHz transverter for the contest and
realized that in the rush to get out of town ahead of the storm, I had left the
PTT cord behind. Not good. The location in DM31 was suboptimal and I only made a
few contacts. Plans had changed at the last minute and I did not get a chance to
locate a better spot. Sorry to those who expected me to be louder. The next trip
will be better.
I moved on to DM32 and a much better location, working many of the guys I could
not work in DM31, I also managed another FSK441 contact to DM65, this time for
contest QSO points! I must admit that these first FSK441 contacts were a bit of
a comedy of errors on my end. On the road we made a few more contacts in DM32 en
route to DM41.
In DM41, we had a short Es opening to CN87 and CN88, so I pulled off the road
near Kitt Peak and worked a bit of that. Not too intense an opening, and there
wasn't much activity up there, I only worked 3 stations, but it was a nice
surprise for January. The observatories on Kitt PEak are an impressive sight
from down below.
On the way back to DM42 and an evening in Tucson, I realized that I had
forgotten the battery charger, so we decided to stop and get another one. We
hit a tree going into the parking lot and bent a side element of the Moxon
again. This was getting to be a bad habit. When I tried to straighten it this
time it brooke about an inch from the end. I guess it had work hardened from my
first attempt to straighten it. So I had a lopsided driven element, but the
tuner in the rig took care of that and it seemed to function OK the rest of the
contest. Given this experience, I think I will carry a spare side element in
the future.
We got up early Sunday and headed out of Tucson, working from DM42 in motion
until we got to DM51, at which time we pulled off and found a nice high spot to
operate. I worked lots of stations here, including into Las Cruces, a distance
of 190 miles.
On the road again, we entered DM52 and picked up stations in Silver City,
Tucson, and Las Cruces in motion. Down the hill near Steins, NM I found a place
to pull off near a cemetery and work into El Paso. Turning off the Interstate at
Deming I stopped about 10 miles NE of there to work into El Paso on 1296 MHz. I
was beginning to think that I wouldn't make any contacts on that band. I need
to work on antenna pointing. Then, heading N on I-25 we stopped in DM63 at
Truth or Consequences and made a few contacts in Silver City, Las Cruces, El
Paso, and Los Alamos. No more contacts and we stopped for supper in Socorro and
watched a bit of the Vikings game. Halfway through DM64 my battery died, so no
more contacts were made. We had operated form 8 grids. Not having a VHF radio,
we listened to the Vikings lose. Bummer.
With 73 contacts, this was a more or less typical January contest in the
Southwest. Thanks to all who worked me! And thanks to Virginia, official
KK6MC/r expedition photographer, wife, and driver. Without her the score would
be much lower.
Pictures of the rove are posted on the ARRL Soapbox page. - Duffey KK6MC/r
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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