I finally got the rover rig assembled and on the road. I drove an hour before
sunrise on Sunday morning and arrived at my favorite 2200' elevridge top.
Raised the mast and called a quick CQ on 144. Got an immediate reply from W5RCI
in EM44. Not bad for no prop (per the Hepburn page) and 150 watts. I moved to
50 mhz and 2 locals promptly called me and asked me to QSY to 1296. Wow!
Locals on 23cm. Great.
Went back to 144 and called CQ again. WA9KRT/4 responded. Don was home in
EM87 visiting family. I was jealous. He was at 3200? in one of the rarest grids
in the mid south.
K8TQK tail ended Don and Bob and I immediately qsy?d to 903. My new 60w xverter
works fine. I found Bob right away. We completed a cw qso. I was pleased to
find my frequency readout agreed with Bob?s (his calibration is traceable to
K4TO). Good deal!
Things got quiet around 9am so I started to tear down. As I moved the rotator
to due north before I lowered the mast, I heard K2DRH on 144. I scrambled to
reconnect the mike and moved the beam more toward Iowa. Bob and I qsy?d ed to
222 and tried 903 but no go. Good to hear Bob from EN41 on a day when the prop
was marginal. That?s a testament to his great setup and skill. Look up his web
site and see what 40 ft of rotating Rohn 45 looks like on top of 50 feet of
Rohn 55. Fantastic!
I hope to be on next Saturday and Sunday morning from the Cherohala Pkwy, NC -
5500? and Black Mtn Ky (EM87) elev 2600?. The 2304 rig has been back at DEMI
for 4 weeks so maybe it will come back next week and I can try 13cm with some
of you?
Get those rover setups checked out! Download a free copy of CT contesting
software and get ready!
P.S. Thanks to ND3F for badgering me to design a simplier setup. I can now
park, release 6 locknuts and raise the mast to 26 ft with 10 vhf/uhf/shf beams.
Less than 10 minutes from turning off the engine key till turning on the rigs!
Thanks Brian..
John B. N8UM Oak Ridge, Tennessee _______________________________________________
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