The return of K9ZF /Rover!
The 2014 ARRL June VHF QSO Party Begins 1800 UTC Saturday, runs through
0259 UTC Monday (June 14-16, 2014).
http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf
After several years of being inactive, I'm hitting the road again. Over the
last 6 months, I've rebuilt my Rover station, so it's NEW AND IMPROVED!
6 meters, FT897D, 100 watts, Moxon rectangle.
2 meters, FT897D, Mirage brick 160 watts, 17 elements. [yes, 17! I like
big antennas!]
222, HTX10, RVHFS transverter, mirage brick 130 watts, 13 elements.
432, FT897D, Mirage brick 100 watts, 18 elements.
SSB, CW, FM, FSK, JT65.
Here is the planned schedule:
1800-1900 EN71 [near Rochester and Warsaw
Indiana]
1930-2030 EN61
2130-2230 EN60 [north of Indy, around Carmel
Indiana]
2300-0000 EN70
0100-0130 EM69 [near Columbus, Indiana]
0200-0230 EM79
0300-? EM78 home overnight [Charlestown,
Indiana. EM78el]
1200-1500 EM68 [Salem, Indiana]
1530-1830 EM78 [Henryville, Indiana]
1930-2030 EM67 [between Louisville and Fort
Knox, KY]
2100-2200 EM77
The full story:
Planning a Rover route is pretty tricky. Honestly, my last few Rover trips
have been a bit of a disappointment. Activating 3, 4, or 5 grids and having
to really scrape for every QSO, even when your station is working well can
be disappointing. However, with gas at $4/gallon, the 10 and 12 grid routes
I used to plan for are just out of sight. So the key, for me, is to get
close enough to activity centers, without spending a fortune on gas. So
this time I want to try something a bit different. It always seems to me
like I should be working more stations in the Chicago metro, and Michigan
areas. The northern most grids I usually activate are EN60 & EN70. This
leaves me roughly 150 miles from Chicago, and the southern Michigan border.
Normally, I can work an "average" station at 150 miles from the Rover, no
problems. So it always seems like I should be picking up more, but so far
it hasn't been the case. Sure, I pick up a few of the big guns, but not
many. So this time out I am going to head farther north and pick up EN61 &
EN71. I'm hoping the move further north along with improvements to the
station will pay off with a lot more QSO's. So I will start in EN61 & EN71
trying to stick to about an hour per grid. I will then head south to EN60 &
EN70, to my usual spot just north of Indianapolis. Again, try to stick to
an hour in each grid, then head south. EM79 and EM69 are usually problems.
There just aren't any good spots in EM79 that I have found. Average is
about the best you can hope for. There is a great site for EM69 over in
Brown county state park, but it takes a couple of hours to get to it, so I
usually just settle for average again. After an hour in each of these
grids, I will head south again. By the time I get down to EM78, it will be
getting pretty late in the evening, so I will likely try to pick up a few
QSO's, from the driveway at home, then get some sleep overnight. Early
Sunday morning I will hit one of my favorite hill tops in EM68. From here I
have worked north to Michigan and south to Georgia on 2 meters! Good band
conditions help, of course, but this is a 1000' peak, and an excellent site.
I will likely spend a couple of hours here, then head to an almost equal
site in EM78 about 30 minutes away. After a couple of hours here, I will
pack up and head south again and activate EM67 and EM77. The sites I
normally do there are only a little above average.
So, if all goes well, that will be 10 grids activated, more miles than I
care to think about, 1000's of QSO's, and a top ten score, hi hi! Yeah,
right.
73 & GL!
Dan
--
K9ZF
Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Clark County Indiana. EM78el
The once and future K9ZF /R no budget Rover
***QRP-l #1269
Check out the Rover Resource Page at:
<http://www.qsl.net/n9rla>
List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books
Ask me how to join the Indiana Ham Mailing list!
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