[VHFcontesting] Limited Roving - Worth the Effort?

[John D'Ausilio]

Heya Joe .. some responses to selected portions of your rant ;)

> Of course I can work the big guns with ease, but it seems that no one else besides them bothers to look for weak signals in the "weak signal" part of the band. Sometimes it seems that the only signals that get people's attention are those directly on the calling frequencies that jump out of the speaker, run up, and slap the operator in the face! And after they have worked all 10 of those in the first hour or so, it seems a lot of ops turn off their radios for the rest of the contest to go watch some ballgame on TV and drink beer. No matter which grid I start in, it is always the most productive. So I guess I should start at the most wanted grid, huh?

We've been starting in a relatively rare grid (FM26) well south of
where the east coast action is centered, and it's very tough to
attract attention. We can generally work a few of the larger stations
in DC and maybe a packrat or two, and K1TEO if there's any coastal
tropo. This time there was some 6M action at the start so it was very
slow from 26 and also from the three bay bridge-tunnel grids. Then the
big storms kicked in to the north and washed out FM28 and by the time
we get to FM18 it's midnight and everyone is sleeping :(

>
> I can call CQ on 144.210 or .180 for hours with nary an answer, and then someone 200 miles away stumbles across me and honestly (I hope) informs me that I'm S7 or 10 over S9 on his S-meter. Then they profusely thank me for the grid multiplier from FN11 or FN01, or wherever I am, and we walk up the bands. Then it's back to my "run" frequency for more fruitless CQing (if someone else who's S9+30 hasn't jumped on it the second I went to 432 -- and that same someone "can't hear" me when I try to work him!)

The Intergalactic Roving Battle Jitney has been operating on 144.247
for at least 5-6 years and, though Xtof assures me that people looked
for us in the past, it seems that not very many people bother to check
up there very often. I'm thinking of adopting a 5 minute CQ, 5 minute
S+P alternation .. or maybe return to .247 on the 15/30/45/00 or
something.

>
> Then I see rover scores from other rovers who claimed to work the same grids I work from. I have yet to hear a single one of them on the air. And their scores are usually 50-100 times my pathetic numbers. They must have rates of 100-200 QPH... somehow...

Are you comparing limited to limited? Those extra bands add up quick
.. plus if you do long haul roving the grid total gets large enough to
be a significant multiplier ..

>
>

Let me just say that, at least for me, I'm mostly competing against
myself and a small group of similarly equipped rovers who operate the
mid-atlantic area. I ignore the CA grid circlers, and the captives,
and just try to do better each time than I did the time before. I'd
imagine some rovers will abandon the road because of the gas prices
(we spent close to $400 on our 14-grid rove). I can't say whether
limited is worth the effort or not .. but remember, you can use *any*
four bands, not just the low four. Maybe 903 or 1296 would increase
the excitement (and interest of others?)

de w1rt/john