[3830] ARRL June VHF N0LD/R Unlimited Rover LP

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ARRL June VHF Contest

Call: N0LD/R
Operator(s): N0LD KB0YHT KC0MTM W0HGJ
Station: N0LD/R

Class: Unlimited Rover LP
QTH: EM15
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:   65    56
    2:   65    44
  222:    7     7
  432:   33    28
  903:           
  1.2:    7     7
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  177   142  Total Score = 25,134

Club: 

Comments:

N0LD/R - Unlimited Rover

We departed from Ft Worth, TX in EM12 after visiting the Ham Com on Friday
evening.  A pesky ground problem was resolved Friday evening after much wailing
and gnashing of teeth.  

This year we added 220 and 1296 mhz.  We had three stations in the car... an FM
radio for the driver when in town, an FT-847 dedicated to 6m in the front right
seat, and an FT-736R radio in the rear.  We had to coordinate carefully, so
that we wouldn't operate 2m and 70cm at the same time (against the rules and
against our delicate receiver health with antennas in that close proximity).  I
will have pictures of the setup on the ARRL Soapbox page in a week or so.  We
had a pair of dual loops for 2m and 70cm, a vertical for 2m and 70cm, and 10 ft
long M2 antennas for 2m and 70cm.  We had a single loop for six meters.  We had
10 ft long gain antennas for 220mhz and for 1296 mhz.  The loops were what we
primarily used enroute... the beams were what we used when stopped.  However,
the beams were excellent for enroute travel to large cities - we could
generally work them from the previous grid.

We used 200 watts on 2m with care - by turning all our other switches when we
did.  We had 100 watts on 6m, 50 watts on 2m and 70cm FM vertical, 25 watts
barefoot on 2m SSB, 25 watts on 70cm barefoot (we should have fixed the power
cable to the 100 watt amplifier!), 25 watts on 220 MHz, and 10 watts on 1296
mhz.

We had 6m setup for digital - we didn't make any MSK144... but then again, we
didn't do any scheds; that is something we will correct next time out.  We were
almost setup for 2m digital as well.  That would have been great.

We were probably too aggressive on the grids we went through... we could have
gone through fewer without dropping our score... something to remember for next
time.

6m was so awesome - such a nice benefit after waiting the whole contest for it
to open up.  

Kansas City was OK for our scores... but we could have skirted the south half
and made all the contacts and avoided our attempts to work FM - no one was on
because of church and mid-day Sunday!  It was wonderful stopping for lunch to
see our old friend and mentor Bob Bailey, WE0Z in KC, though!

Tulsa - usually a WEALTH of contacts for us - was unusually silent because of
the 6m opening... so undoubtedly we traded some 2m for 6m scores... which I
would gladly do again.

We had three laptops, but used two in a network through my mobile hotspot on my
phone... one of them got hot from sitting in our laps too long.  Proving it is
good to bring a backup!  So our N3FJP VHF Contest logger was perfect - we were
able to log from the back or the front seat as the propagation allowed.  In the
future, I think we will dedicate some paper to the process for busy moments.

My daughter, Samantha Wing, KC0MTM, was our driver from Ft Worth to OKC... Then
Nick Farlow, KB0YHT joined Harvey Jones, W0HGJ and (myself) Randy Wing, N0LD. 
Having two working positions and one driver/FM position was perfect.  This
allowed us to change positions periodically... allowing everyone to use the
radios, log, and drive. 

I believe we left a few QSOs behind when we stayed on our schedule to complete
the contest... we also like to hit certain cities at the best times of the day.
 Next time, we will hit a few less grids, but operate fixed longer and I think
our score will more than make up for it.  Thanks to all of you who followed our
itinerary and gave us surprise contacts - staying on schedule gave you a good
prediction of when to turn on your radio... Next time, we will use APRS,
though, I think.

Best, Randy Wing, N0LD/R


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