[3830] ARRL Sep VHF NV4B/R Limited Rover LP

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                    ARRL September VHF Contest - 2022

Call: NV4B/R
Operator(s): NV4B
Station: NV4B/R

Class: Limited Rover LP
QTH: MS
Operating Time (hrs): 25.5
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:   92    30
    2:   93    31
  222:   40    14
  432:   42    15
  903:           
  1.2:           
  2.3:           
  3.4:           
  5.7:           
  10G:           
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  269    94  Total Score = 32,994

Club: 

Comments:

Coming into this contest, I didn't expect to make a terribly serious effort --
the weather and band conditions were predicted to be poor, and I was feeling a
bit burned out from the summer roving season.  However, only one of the two
forecasts actually panned out, and I operated almost completely unimpeded by
weather.

I started putting the rover together at 1430Z Saturday morning and got moving a
few minutes after contest start.  The only major change in the setup this time
was the deployment of my second mast (made of 4' military mast sections) for 222
and 432 stop 'n' shoot.  I liked this setup a lot better than trying to stack
everything on the fiberglass mast -- it was much easier to set up and tear down,
and it gave me the opportunity to operate 222 completely independently and 432
independent of 6m.  I often found myself wanting to operate 2 & 432 at the
same time, though, so I'm looking at a way to run both of my IC-9700s for
January.

I ran a similar route to last year's but with the first stops of each day
reversed.  I started at Woodall Mountain in EM54vs getting QRV around 1930Z and
operated there until 0030Z.  The activity level was quite high on Saturday, and
I stayed busy most of the afternoon.  The highlight of this stop was a brief TEP
opening on 6m that netted me a QSO with LU5FF -- also heard were CX7BJ and
PY5KD.  I then drove up to my usual hilltop in EM55va for operation with the
mobile antennas, but I was not able to operate from the specific spot I usually
use.  This limited the amount of time I spent in EM55.  I drove back home via
the usual route with a brief roadside stop in EM65aa.

Sunday morning, I went to Colbert Mountain in EM64dq.  Activity was way off, and
there was very little if any propagation enhancement.  I stayed until 1800Z,
then headed north to try a new spot in EM65.  I went almost two hours without a
QSO between 1800Z and 2000Z as I drove, but I found a decent location in EM65go
and operated from there until a bit after 0100Z.  It was at this point that rain
became an issue for the first and only time in the contest -- I was almost
through tear-down when a line of showers moved in.  Within a few minutes, the
rain had moved out, and I was able to finish teardown and get on the road headed
home.

Though my score is way off from last year's thanks to poor propagation, I am
still really pleased with the result considering I did no special prep for the
contest and relied on everything to "just work."  Unfortunately,
everything did not just work all of the time:  my IC-7100 started exhibiting an
oscillation on 6 meters again.  This plagued me in the 2020 June VHF Contest but
disappeared after sending in the radio for an unrelated repair.  The
"Band-Aid" fix of putting a wattmeter in line got me through the rest
of the contest (merely changing the length of the coax did not work in a
previous attempt).  I also had issues related to RFI and my USB cables when
transmitting simultaneously on 6m and 2m on the mobile antennas.  It looks like
I need to replace the extra ferrite choke I had previously placed on the IC-9700
USB cable.  I had added it to reduce radiation from the USB cable, but
apparently it was keeping RF out, too!

Thanks to all for the contacts, and I hope to see everyone in the upcoming SVHFS
Fall Sprints starting Monday night on 2 meters!

Station:
6m:  ICOM IC-7100 (100W), 1/4-wave whip (in motion), MFJ 1762 3-element Yagi
(stopped)
2m:  ICOM IC-9700 (100W), Efactor dual-band loop (in motion), Diamond A144S10
10-element Yagi (stopped)
222:  Yaesu FT-736R + Mirage C2512G (100W), M² HO loop (in motion), Directive
Systems K1FO 10-element "rover Yagi"
432:  ICOM IC-9700 (75W), Efactor dual-band loop (in motion), Directive Systems
K1FO 15-element "rover Yagi"

QSOs by Grid:
      6   2  222 432
EM54 25  34  14  13
EM55  6   6   5   5
EM64 43  33  12  13
EM65 18  22   9  11
-------------------
     92  95  40  42

QSOs by Mode:
FT8 249
FM  12
SSB 4
MSK144 2
Q65 2
CW  0


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