This January the Pacific Northwest (and the rest of the
country if some bands open :-)
is in for a treat...
The "Enterprise II" is going for a rove!!!
However, due to limitations imposed by the ARRL rules for
VHF contesting, with the current confirmed personnel
scheduled to be on board, the vehicle will be running 3
separate callsigns... As of this writing I have not
determined which callsign will be used on which bands
yet... that remains to be fought over by the operators on
board...
but this will allow simultaneous operation on a minimum of
three bands at once.
Hypothetical situation follows:
Operator One, KE7V, could operate the 6 and two meter
stations.
Operator Two, N7EPD, could operate the 222/432 station.
May drag along his 5760/10368 gear and run that
possibly...
Operator Three, KB7DQH, likely would operate 903, 1296,
2304, 3456, 5760, and 10368.
I may be able to snag the services of a fourth individual,
as yet unlicensed, to help with the driving, possibly
logging as well... dunno if this individual would be
available or not.
The scheme suggested above should evenly divide the
workload among three licensed hams...
especially since KB7DQH would be driving... but not
operating while driving.
When stopped at points likely to provide good microwave
propagation, these bands would be placed on the air.
As it stands now, the Enterprise II is capable of operating
all bands thru 1296, with single Yagis on each, WHILE
MOVING... although antenna azimuth would be in the
direction of travel.
When stopped, these antennas can be elevated and rotated by
the radio operators, either with the supplied rotators, or
manually by hand where that may be more convenient or in
case of rotator failure.
The route would take these three "co-located rovers" thru
CN88, 78,77,76,86,and 87 on day one, possibly down the
highway into CN85. From there, if the WX is ok, over the
Cascades thru CN95, into DN05, then North into DN06, CN96,
CN97, and home thru CN87. Or something like that...
It will be most interesting having three stations operating
simultaneously from one vehicle, in "friendly" competition
with each other...
If you are dazed and confused, take a look at the photos of
the vehicle on either the ARRL website, (ran it as a "one
man show" in the ARRL UHF contest, and 4 photos taken by
either W7USB, or K7AWB, were posted in the "soapbox"... )
or the Pacific Northwest VHF Society webpage
(www.pnwvhfs.org) in their 2004 annual conference photo
section. Must be at least 3 or 4 there also.
I look forward to lots of stations to work...
Should be lots of fun.
73 es gl,
Eric
KB7DQH
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|