[VHFcontesting] Thoughts

Wed Dec 27 20:33:21 EST 2017

Mike

If you have no choice but to have antennas you need to stop and set up there is nothing like practice.  

Set it up and tear it down a half dozen times before the contest.  Do it at night a couple times, in snow or rain if possible.   Each time you do make changes that save you seconds or minutes.

Is your LED head lamp good enough?  Can you easily find items dropped in snow or mud?  If not paint them day glow orange or get rid of them.  Eliminate the need for tools.  Use double sided velcro in place of zip ties.  Hitch pins and clips beat fasteners hands down.

My first station set up took almost 90 minutes, now I am down to 20.  I dont rove but drive to mountain top sites and operate from one spot.  Speed is life when lightening gets close and you need to bug out ASAP to a safer spot.  

BTW:  I love my FT 991A.

Best of luck.  Practice practice practice.

73
John
KM4KMU

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail

On Tuesday, December 26, 2017 K7XC Tim Marek <k7xcnv1 at gmail.com> wrote:
Mike (KA5CVH) Urich via contesting.com
4:20 PM (6 hours ago)
So I'm considering trying to mount a limited rove in. January.

For a rig I'll use my FT991. However antennas is less than firm. I have
a KB6KQ loop and a Diamond DPGH62, both I can easily get up @ ~20-22'. Not
good choices, but any signal is better than no signal.

So I'm sorta looking at building a moxon, quad or equivalent. And I was
also just looking at commercial built as well.

Soooooo, I stumble across on DX Eng, an EAntenna 50DDO-R2. It's ~sorta a
squashed down quad. So I'm thinking about a slightly modified mounting
version. The short boom and height are pluses as I can turn is sideways in
transit. My only real question is ..... Would a traditional dimensional
design be superior and if so, marginal or significant.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Mike,

Is the loop for 6 or 2 Meters as you never said what bands your trying to
cover.

A KQ 6M Loop is PERFECT for use as a rover. Mount it in the clear, 8' to
10' above the road on the rear corner, let it hang off the back and your
perfect.

KQ 2M Loops are perfect for Rover use as well with the same caveats.
stacking 2 loops gives close to 5 dB gain over a single. Yes its more than
3dB when stacking simple antennas as my experience shows and a obscure
antenna engineering textbook verified.

Short (8 to 10 ft) yagis can be mounted securely while going down the road
(W/O the reflector) and you switch between the omni/yagi while in motion.

Don't forget to cover the FM channels too (146.52, 223.5, 223.5, 1294.5)
which means a good vertical for each band as well.

Radios are always a personal preference but mine is an IC-706mkIIg with a
pair of diplexers separating the 2 ant ports to 4 (28,50,144,432) with a
222Mhz xvtr attached to the 28MHz port for a very easy to operate yet very
effective 4 band rover that uses one Mic, one key, and one headphone. The
FM radios never have to be seen as their one channel devices as far as the
contest is concerned so put them somewhere out of sight and label the mics
so you know which radio is which.

My ROVER was a either a Ford Ranger or an F150 4x4 with loops for 2, 222,
and 432 on the front passenger corner of the bed, Yagis for 2, 222, and 432
on the front drivers side of the bed, the 6m loop was on the drivers side
rear corner of the bed, the roof covered in mag mounts for 4 bands, and a
HF whip on the Passenger side rear corner of the bed. You want the wide
antennas on the part of the vehicle that is farthest from obstructions like
trees, signs, etc.

Never stop and setup antennas as the one thing a ROVER never has enough of
is TIME! ALL antennas are mounted and operate while in motion and when
stopped you turn the truck in a circle to aim the yagis. With no reflector
on the yagis you loose 1 or 2 points of a dB forward gain but now have a
large lobe off the rear that allows you to work stations in that direction
with more gain than the loops, hence not stopping to aim the antennas.

Amps for 2, 222, and 432 to get you to the 150W level are indispensable. 25
- 50 watt FM radios are perfect.

Plan your route well ahead of time and publish it weeks before the contest
so people are looking for you. Dont get hung up on keeping an exact
schedule but rather a precise route and do your best each day to meet your
goals for each nights stop. Try to go thru a grid only once or your wasting
your time as people with dupe you.

I can go on and on about being a Winning ROVER as I was often finished in
top ten for almost 15 straight years before a car crash on the way home
from work one day slowed me way down. I miss it tremendously as there is No
More Challenging Class Of Competitor Than Be A ROVER! The top ROVERs have
years invested in their machines, learning from each trip and improving
in-between. Your goal for each trip will determine the best strategy to
pursue, how many grids to attempt, your route, planned Motel stops, gas
budget, and on and on.... The route that you wll plan & publish before
leaving is your best weapon for a successful trip.

I managed one time after 5yrs of trying to break N0LRJs record of 20 grids
in one weekend and made it from the DM 04/05/14/15 grid corner in the CA
desert all the way to a hill in CN92 near Bend OR after touching every grid
corner along the way. it was quite the ride with wind, head, dust, rain,
and finally snow at the end.

So... trust me when I say that being a competitive ROVER has sure changed
from I started in the 80s. So do some reading, study the results going back
20 yrs, and pick a category you feel comfy starting with and just go for
it! Have Fun! and if you planned well the competitive score is possible if
you pay attention to ALL the opportunists the route gives you during the
event.

Above all else, remember to have fun!

73s and GL de Tim - K7XC - DM09jh... sk

Adapt, Overcome, Succeed!

On Tue, Dec 26, 2017 at 4:20 PM, Mike (KA5CVH) Urich <mike at ka5cvh.com>
wrote:

> So I'm considering trying to mount a limited rove in. January.
>
> For a rig I'll use my FT991. However antennas is less than firm. I have
> a KB6KQ loop and a Diamond DPGH62, both I can easily get up @ ~20-22'. Not
> good choices, but any signal is better than no signal.
>
> So I'm sorta looking at building a moxon, quad or equivalent. And I was
> also just looking at commercial built as well.
>
> Soooooo, I stumble across on DX Eng, an EAntenna 50DDO-R2. It's ~sorta a
> squashed down quad. So I'm thinking about a slightly modified mounting
> version. The short boom and height are pluses as I can turn is sideways in
> transit. My only real question is ..... Would a traditional dimensional
> design be superior and if so, marginal or significant.
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>
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