[3830] ARRL Jan VHF K7BWH Limited Rover LP

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                    ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

Call: K7BWH
Operator(s): K7BWH
Station: K7BWH

Class: Limited Rover LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 17

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  109    14
    2:  118    13
  222:           
  432:   34     5
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  261    39  Total Score = 11,505

Club: Pacific Northwest VHF Society

Comments:

Rover operation in the 2013 January VHF Contest included three long days of
driving in dense fog. The weather was bad, too.

I was single-op rover-limited along the I-5 corridor from south to north,
starting in CN83 near Eugene Oregon, driving to Marysville Washington CN88, and
finishing near home in Issaquah CN97.

I was very much hoping to work California stations from my lofty 2000' perch on
a remote hilltop in CN83 near Eugene, but tropo was against us. A rare and
unusually strong and low altitude temperature inversion put the desired air
layer far below us. On the one hand, the hilltop was hot and sunny and scenic,
with freezing fog in the valley. On the other hand, the refractory air layer
was far below and provided no propagation assistance.

Thanks to a new logging system, I enjoyed this contest twice. First I
experienced "VHF Contest: In 3D" and then I got to enjoy "VHF Contest: The
Audiobook". It took me a week to transcribe my log from the sixteen hours of
recordings.

My logger was a Sony ICD-AX412 digital recorder. With an extra memory card it
has 100 hour capacity. Very nice audio quality and easy MP3 file transfer, but
the road noise and radio hiss defeated its VOX. The software from Sony is
helpful and can accelerate playback without sounding like chipmunks, but
transcription still takes a long time.

I had no big band openings as a rover with my barefoot FT-897 and stacked
horizontal loops. But a brief 6m opening Seattle-to-Phoenix was a lot of fun.

Also great fun was to circle the CN83-84 grid line with Tom K7ZL/R using three
bands. This was the first time I've had another rover nearby to do that.
Thanks, Tom!

FM Simplex gave me seven contacts with somewhat surprised but helpful local
hams along the way, but I didn't find any active contestants on FM.

I had fun driving and exploring new rover locations in Oregon. My host family
in Portland was so impressed by my mobile antenna farm they put a magnetic sign
on my truck: "Alien Extermination Rover". Boy, that sure gets attention on the
freeway.

Bottom line: 5.11 contacts per gallon.

73, Barry K7BWH


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