[VHFcontesting] KK6MC/r in Fall Sprint

[James Duffey]

I love the Sprints. They are short so they don’t require a big  
commitment of time, they are on an evening so that you don’t have to  
commit a whole weekend to contesting, they are on a single band so the  
rover setup is simple, you can use larger antennas than regular roves,  
and lasting 4 hours, they are rapid paced. Why isn’t the band packed  
Sprint nights?

After nine roves in 15 months, I think I am finally getting the hang  
of it. I left work an hour early and had the rover ready to go by 1730  
local. Since the last rove, I have gone to PowerPole DC connectors and  
it really reduces setup time. I don’t know why I haven’t used them  
earlier. We ate a leisurely supper, hit the road at 1800, and were in  
place at the first stop all set up to operate 10 minutes before the  
contest start. Usually I cut it closer than that or am a bit late.

We set up at a new site in DM75, the I-40 rest stop east of Moriarty.  
This is high, but had some electric fence QRN. Conditions were good  
and there was lots of activity. I worked the gathering for the Monday  
activity night in DM65, K0YW in DM67, a distance of 170 miles or so,  
and W6RQR in DM73. This was a good omen, in previous sprints, I  
usually worked the locals and not too much else. Long calls to the  
south for El Paso/Las Cruces stations and to the north for Colorado  
front range stations yielded nothing.

I packed up the long beam and moved to DM74. I thought I would keep  
interest by working mobile on the short three element Yagi, but I  
couldn’t raise anything. I thought this was odd as there is usually a  
bunch of activity on Monday night. I soon realized that I didn’t have  
the mobile antenna connected! Ah well, this is the hazard of roving,  
without a standard setup, it is easy to miss things one usually does  
habitually. I also managed to leave the electric screwdriver I use to  
tighten the coupler when I raise and lower the mast on the roof rack,  
but miraculously it was still there when we stopped.

Hitting DM74, we found an empty parking lot for an operating spot. It  
was dark by now and the LED head lamp really helped in putting up the  
long antenna. If you rove after dark, you really need one of these. I  
was on the air only five minutes behind schedule. The DM65 Monday  
night net was in full swing and I made a bunch of DM65 contacts. I  
also worked K0YW again and W6RQR. Again I called north to Colorado and  
south with no results. The sky was clear and dark here and the stars  
were great, but storm clouds were gathering to the west and north and  
I could see lightning flashes over the Sandias and Manzanitas. I think  
K5RHR in Los Alamos went QRT due to the lightning.

This time I remembered to hook up the mobile antenna before departing  
and we managed to sustain some interest on the frequency moving from  
one grid to another. Down the road, we parked on the road to the  
Moriarty Airport in DM64. K0YW heard me from here on the short three  
element Yagi at about 7 feet above ground and he was down right  
deafening after I erected the long beam. I worked W6RQR again from  
here and nearly completed a CW contact with K5LA in El Paso, DM61, but  
I missed his rogers. Maybe next time Floyd. Again nothing was heard  
when I pointed the antenna towards the front range of Colorado and  
called. By the time we finished in DM64, the sky had clouded over.  
After packing up, I raised the small beam to its maximum height, 12 ft  
or so, and we headed back to DM65. It started raining.

Entering DM65 in motion on I-40 I managed to work W6RQR on the short  
beam with a good signal and KC5EFM in DM65 as well. These contacts put  
KC5EFM and W6RQR in the log for a grand slam. Thanks Art and Robert.  
Activity is usually sparse the last hour and a half of a sprint, so I  
appreciate those who stick with it until the end. I couldn’t raise  
anyone from my driveway at home, including shots north and south  
again. It briefly stopped raining about 1045, so I took the  
opportunity to dismantle the rover. That took about 20 minutes.

I worked 21 stations in three different grids from locations in four  
different grids. I used a new to me FT290RII for the first time to a  
TE Systems linear at 125 Watts, and it all worked well. Several ops  
told me the FT290RII is about 1.6 kHz low. The long antenna is a  
CushCraft 13B2 up 15 feet when stopped and a homebrew 3 element WA5VJB  
Yagi when underway. Virginia drove and that made everything easier.  
Thanks to her for her support of my roving. She is getting good at  
picking out good spots to operate. I will be out of town for the 220  
MHz and 6M sprints, but look forward to the 432 Sprint in two weeks.  
Look for me!

The only bad part of the sprints is getting home late and then up  
early for work the next morning.
--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM