K7XC - 4 band hyper competitive rover setup in 97' Ford F150 4x4 W/all
radios/amps on wire shelf across jump seats in king-cab.
Actively Competed 20 straight yrs every Sept & Jan till 2008 car crash left
me disabled in 24/7 pain. Stay close to home now.
IC706mkIIg - Diplexers split 2 ports into four, 28mhz HF=222 xvtr+amp, 6M
100W Barefoot, 2M +160W amp, 432+110W amp.
H frame in front of truck bed made from 1/2" thick 2" Aluminum angle.
Holds heavy wall aluminum masts 8ft tall from bottom of bed to the top, one
either side of truck.
Drivers Side Front of Bed. 10ft yagis for 2, 222, and 432 in place while
driving down the road.
Drive truck in circles when stopped to aim yagis. REMOVE REFLECTORS from
yagis to create large lobe off the rear which works well to rear.
Passenger side front of bed. Stacked 2M KB6KQ loops for 2, Single 222 loop
in the middle, 432 EggBeater On Top.
6M KB6KQ loop on Passenger Side Rear Bed. All in place while driving.
Use coax switched to change from Yagi to Horiz Omni while driving.
Cab roof covered with mag mounts for 6, 2, 223, and 446 FM. Separate FM
radios always on squelched.
Use a separate deep-cycle battery in a box in the bed charged via heavy
cables to a Isolator under the hood.
Carry a small 1000W class generator to charge when stopped.
The goal: ZERO setup time! Maximize QSOs while in motion between convenient
High Spots Along the route.
PLANNING: Take a long time to plan EVERYTHING from radios, antennas, etc...
to the most important of all... THE ROUTE.
A good route can take years of running it back and forth till you find the
right balance between Number of Grids activated vs Miles traveled.
That is a rough syllabus of how my ROVER was consistently in the top 10
nationally over 10 years back in the 1990's/2000's.
Your Mileage May Vary...
73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09jh... sk
Adapt, Overcome, Succeed
On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 12:30 AM John Young via VHFcontesting <
vhfcontesting@contesting.com> wrote:
>
> Darryl
> Not sketchy at all. Very well described and easy to envision without
> looking at the citatations, which I will do after nets tonight.
>
> What you describe fits well with what I had in mind for the build. It
> sounds like you run two rotors, one front, one rear, I am anxious to look
> at the pics and if you run dual rotors learn how they were, I assume,
> linked together for parallel pointing for fast QSY, a later discussion.
>
> It is fascinating to compare the set ups for the many replies I have
> had. Each op area has slightly different configuration to take advantage
> of slightly different strategies for the NE, Plains States, SoCal and PNW.
>
> Reflector Users and PU Rovers:
> So as not to clog the reflector with stupid newbie questions I will be
> putting future replies direct to contributors and not cc'ing the
> reflector. If contributors prefer I only reply directly to them so as not
> to make "secrets" public let me know. We all work hard for the "unfair
> advantage" and I appreciate that. If contributors dont mind the public
> discussion on the reflector and no reflector members mind i will keep the
> discussion on the reflector so others might benefit.
>
> Darryl,
> Thank you. Incredibly helpful.
>
> 73
> John
> KM4KMU
>
>
>
> On Monday, January 27, 2020 Darryl J. Holman <djholman@uw.edu> wrote:
> John,
> Perhaps the best way to see photos is to go to my QRZ page and click
> on the VHF contests and sprints from 2015 through 2019. There are many
> pictures there of equipment, antennas, views, etc. You can find even more
> photos by "directory browsing" (https://djholman.csde.washington.edu/ww7d/).
> Directories have descriptive names and are a mix of VHF and HF mobile
> contests, SOTA activation photos, and a few construction projects. Pick
> ones that seem like they may be of use.
>
> In Washington state, overhang limits are 4' off the rear bumper
> (without flags/lights), 3' off the front bumper, 0" off the driver side
> fender and 6" off the passenger side fender. Therefore, my rear 6m 3el
> Yagi, has a 6' long mast and is stowed perpendicular to the direction of
> travel while in motion, and is "barely legal." The rest of the rear
> antennas are pointing in the direction of travel (or 180 degrees from
> that). When I extend the mast, the antennas are all aligned to the same
> direction, of course.
>
> For mounting the rotor frame, I build a bracket that attaches via the
> tailgate hinge bolts. That bracket lives in the truck full-time (and
> sometimes it is a nuisance). The rotor frame bolts up to that bracket.
> There is a lightweight bracket at the front of the rotor frame, as well,
> that is connected to the truck bed sidewalls with some home made clamps.
> But your pickup probably has much better options for mounting things than
> my Toyota has.
>
> The front antennas all fall within 3' of the front bumper when being
> rotated. They are held in a rotor that is on a custom built frame that
> bolts up to the front of the truck. It looks like I built that for the Jun
> 2013 ARRL VHF Contest (
> https://djholman.csde.washington.edu/ww7d/JunVHFContest2013/). I use
> short WA5VJB "cheap yagis" for all the front antennas except 6m. For 6m,
> I use a classic hex beam. I don't use a Moxon for 6m because it would not
> be legal unless pointed into or away from the direction of travel, as it
> would exceed the 3' overhang off the front. The classic hex beam has a
> small enough diameter to be legal. You can find pictures of the hex beam
> construction here:
> https://djholman.csde.washington.edu/ww7d/6MeterHexBeam/. A full
> construction article for the hex beam is part of the supplementary
> materials for the newest (24th) edition of the ARRL Antenna Book. If you
> don't have it, send me a email and I can share a preprint.
>
> My masts (for both front and rear) are highly modified Harbor Freight
> 20' aluminum flag poles. One must modify them by pulling out the internal
> segment locks and building a simple external locking mechanism made out of
> two hose clamps and a small aluminum connector between them. It is hard to
> describe, but basically, I loosen one hose clamp per segment junction to
> raise or lower the upper segment. I also add a short thick-wall aluminum
> pipe inside the bottom so the rotor can be tightened without deforming the
> lowest tube. Finally I add a fiberglass segment to the top to provide a
> bit extra height. The fiberglass segment is a replacement section of a
> JackKite fiberglass pole. It takes me about 5 minutes to unteather my
> antennas and extend the mast. I use parachute chord with carabiners on
> the front and back of the rear antennas to keep them from rotating while
> in motion. The other end of the cord goes to small c-clamps placed along
> the pickup bed rail.
>
> This all might sound sketchy and/or random, but it has worked pretty
> well for me.
>
> Best, Darryl ww7d
>
>
> On 1/26/20 21:01, nosigma@aol.com wrote:
>
>
>
> Darryl
>
> That is very helpful. Having an aluminum bed and not being able to weld
> to it for mounting the bed mast would need to be similar to what you
> describe.
>
> Do you have any pictures of your rig that you can share?
>
> You gave me the idea of adding a front hitch reciever to mount VV omni's
> and loops for working on the move and reserving the bed mount (whatever
> that might end up as) for beams and the rotor.
>
> Please describe the mobile moxon install.
>
> 73
> John
> KM4KMU
>
>
> On Sunday, January 26, 2020 Darryl J. Holman <djholman@uw.edu> wrote:
>
> John,
>
> I rove as a limited rover out of a 1988 Toyota pickup truck. My
> installation is done without drilling ANY holes. I have an antenna
> stack in the bed that extends up to 25', and another in the front that
> has small antennas that can be used (legally) in motion. For me, the
> trick has been to figure out ways to build a frame to hold rotors that
> can bolt onto existing truck structures. Welding skills are very useful
> here (for the rotor frame...I haven't welded anything into the truck :-).
>
> You can see my approach in pictures and words here:
> https://ww7d.wordpress.com/
>
> Good luck, and I hope to catch you rover-to-rover via sporadic E
> during a contest.
>
> Best,
> Darryl
> ww7d
>
> On 1/26/20 19:10, John Young via VHFcontesting wrote:
> > John, KM4KMU here.
> >
> > I will be moving to Eastern Kansas this summer. The FM Only Jeep
> Cherokee will get retired from contesting duties. I plan on setting up my
> 2018 F-150 shortbed crew cab as a Rover, 3456 and down.
> >
> > Looking to trade ideas with anyone out there who has configured a pick
> up as a Rover. Unlike the 92 Jeep that I could Butcher with a Saws-All and
> welder the XYL is not going allow that this time.
> >
> > I was in touch with a gentleman who Roves out of an F150 but lost the
> contact info. Hopefully you and others will reply.
> >
> > 73
> > John
> > KM4KMU
> > Nosigma@aol.com
> > Text: 703 678 6795
> > _______________________________________________
> > VHFcontesting mailing list
> > VHFcontesting@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>
>
>
>
>
>
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