To me these kinds of SDR band display technologies are the #1 thing that makes
modern day VHF contesting fun. I can no longer even imagine trying to contest
without it anymore. It pretty much solves the problem of qucikly finding
stations across big chunks of spectrum real-time. And it also facilitates
interleaving CQ'ing with S&P, so you can always be doing S&P without really
having to stop your CQ'ing to do so. Making the Q after I have found them is
only about 1/4 of the fun of VHF contesting, finding and attracting the
stations to work is the most fun part of VHF contesting for me.
So that is the key technical solution piece of it. Now if we can just figure
out how get people to actually get on and operate..
Duane
N9DG
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 7/23/14, Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner@mindspring.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] VHF contest tips, tricks, and techniques
To: "Ken Alexander" <k.alexander@rogers.com>
Cc: "vhfcontesting@contesting.com" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2014, 6:40 PM
I have an SDR-iQ tapped to my 910h
IF, and it is a HUGE help during Eskip and Tropo openings,
and contests!
73, Drew KO4MA
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jul 23, 2014, at 7:04 PM, Ken Alexander <k.alexander@rogers.com>
wrote:
>
> I shut down my 2m transceiver on Sunday morning, tired
of endlessly tuning up and down the dial for 1 or 2
contacts. I hooked up the yagi to my Funcube Dongle
Pro+ SDR receiver and kept an eye on 2m that way. What
a difference! We nabbed several of the casual
call-a-few-CQs-then-go-mow-the-lawn types that way.
I'd hear one, disconnect the antenna and pass it to VE3EG
(our 6m op) and call out the frequency. He'd connect
it to his FT-857D and make the contact. It was clumsy
but effective. I'm sure we would have missed these
guys because they weren't "regulars" and didn't stay around
after working us if no one else called them.
>
> This convinced me that SDR is the way to go in a VHF
contest...you can monitor a big chunk of the band and miss
nothing. I am hoping to begin roving in the September
contest and will be using my Flex-1500 on 6m and 432 (with
an Elecraft XV432 transverter, just ordered) and an old
Kenwood TR-9130 on 2m.
>
> The Funcube Dongle Pro+ is no slouch on 2m. The
Funcube kept pace with the 857D with the same antenna, and
its built-in 2m bandpass filter kept everything clean even
when he was transmitting on 6m at 100W. The antennas
were on the same mast, about 3 ft apart.
>
> 73,
>
> Ken Alexander
> VE3HLS
>
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