[VHFcontesting] FM antennas

[N6Ze]

One thing i do when i rove in SoCal is to post ahead of time  on various chat sites: radio club sites, wswss, vhf-contesting, arrl sb section site, etc to alert occasional users of 50mhz & up and typical motivated vhf operators that i’ll be out roving.  
(I local ham radio club member always telephones me on sunday afternoon to make skds!) 

N6ZE

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 29, 2017, at 13:31, Sean Waite <waisean at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Mark,
> 
> That's basically how we operate (or are planning to, depending). FM mobiles
> on 2/1.25/70 with whips. We haven't been too good about leaving them on
> listening for contacts, but are going to try more in the future. Every once
> in a while we'll toss out a call seeing if anyone is listening. It's
> productive enough to warrant it. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if
> while stopped it'd be more productive to have more gain/directivity on FM.
> We actually got a whole pile of FM contacts in September, but we had
> stopped by Boxboro for the ARRL convention and cleaned up a bunch there.
> 
> There's a few things with FM contacts. They are out there, and might even
> be that mult you're looking for, or at least a 70cm contact worth a couple
> points. However, most will be using mobile whips or HTs so their range is
> limited, and they are sparsely spread out. More gain will help you reach
> out and grab them, but it may also mean when they pop up they'll be off the
> side of the beam and you'll miss them, where a vertical would hear them (if
> they were close enough). I'm a little confused as to whether FM beams will
> be a benefit or a loss...
> 
> Sean WA1TE
> 
> On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 2:57 PM Mark Spencer <mark at alignedsolutions.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> My $.02 worth...
>> 
>> I focus most of my contesting on modes other than FM.   That being said I
>> try to have a reasonable FM setup for 2M and 1.25M running all the time.
>> I usually just run mag mount whips on top of the cab of my pickup truck
>> while roving.
>> 
>> 6M, 70 cm, 33 cm and 23cm FM is possible for me but only by prior
>> arrangement.   I don't recall ever making a 6M contest qso.
>> 
>> I believe I have made enough random FM qso's on 2M and 1.25M to make the
>> effort worthwhile.
>> 
>> Last contest I made a conscious effort to cut down on clutter in the
>> truck and left the 1.25M whip at home, I ended up picking it up at the tail
>> end of the contest to gain a final multiplier and had to enter as an
>> unlimited rover as a result.   I won't make that mistake again.
>> 
>> 73
>> 
>> Mark S
>> VE7AFZ
>> 
>> mark at alignedsolutions.com
>> 604 762 4099 <(604)%20762-4099>
>> 
>>> On Nov 29, 2017, at 10:49 AM, Sean Waite <waisean at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Since we're always thinking of the next station improvement, I've been
>>> thinking about the best way to implement FM in the rover.
>>> 
>>> We've found that it's worth carrying the gear. We don't get many
>> contacts,
>>> but they are out there and having the ability to make them on demand does
>>> get us points. Right now, I have a 2/70 vertical that is used for FM,
>> just
>>> a mobile whip. In January for our run 'n gun I'll probably move to a
>>> triband whip.
>>> 
>>> For the stop and shoots, though, we'll be better set up to run beams. We
>>> have a couple of the small Arrow yagis available that wouldn't be too
>>> difficult to strap onto a mast and have a v-pol beam available for the FM
>>> radios. Small LPDAs like the Elk satellite antenna are also another
>> option.
>>> 
>>> This would give us positive gain on FM...but i'm not sure it's worth it.
>> FM
>>> contacts are mostly opportunistic, either a periodic call on 146.52 or
>> just
>>> hearing someone and grabbing the mic real quick. The directivity a yagi
>>> would give us might blind us to some of the nearby stations calling
>> (though
>>> the arrows aren't particularly narrow) if they are off the side of the
>>> beam. The other drawback is that it'll take a little longer to set up if
>>> we've got another beam or three to attach to the mast and cable up.
>>> 
>>> What do other people do? Maybe better to have some always-connected, more
>>> efficient verticals on the roof the car and sacrifice a bit of gain?
>>> 
>>> Looking forward to your thoughts.
>>> 
>>> 73,
>>> Sean WA1TE
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> VHFcontesting mailing list
>>> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>>> 
>> 
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