[VHFcontesting] Coordinating uW

[Sean Waite]

Hi Rick,

I think part of our problem is trying to get a feel for division of labor
in the rover.

In January and June we technically had 3 operators, though the third mostly
just drove and did some logging for us. We're working on getting her on the
air more, if everything goes to plan she'll suddenly find herself a
contester. Surprise!

With 3 in the car, that left 1 seat open for an operating position. The
bottom 4 bands were in this position. While mobile, we would trade off
operators. When stopped, Chris would take over the bottom 4 and I would get
set up outside with my Milk Crate Microwaves and he would pass stations up
to me if I hadn't established a cell phone liaison yet.

I might try and rig up a raspberry pi/arduino thing to allow freq and band
control from the front seat for the IC-910, and we can pull the mic up
there. That would at least give us a second operating position. There's a
ton of other projects between now and then however.

>From what we experienced with the 2 contests we've run microwaves so far,
the bottom 4 bands can be run quickly. It then slows WAY down when we get
to the microwaves. Many stations are also only equipped with 70cm and
below. With 2 operators, it seems to make sense to divide the labor similar
to the way we had before - one op on bottom 4, one op on microwaves. With 3
ops I'd be inclined to divide up the bottom 4, maybe 2/70 and 6/222 or 2/6
and 70/222 (the former is easier with the collection of radios we have).
Right now we're loops only on the lower bands, but I was debating building
something like the N6NB 3 band cubical quads and have them on a separate
rotator from the microwaves.

Maybe the second rotator makes no sense and I should colocate them all on
one "mast?" It might get a bit tall, and the low band op would be stuck
with whatever direction the uW op is beaming but a couple elements on a
band has a much wider beamwidth than dozens of elements.

I probably could arrange to have one station be 6 through 222 and one
station be 432 through uWs. This means the uW hop has to handle the quick
passes from the Limited stations though. With separate rotators for the two
stations the Low Band Op could independently work while the uW Op is
dragging his feet with the slow contacts.

Maybe this is a secret sauce that we need to discover ourselves. Perhaps I
also have to stare more at the K8GP/R Super Rover write up to see how they
handle sharing antennas between ops.

I guess we're going to have to play and see. If most of the big fixed
microwave stations are using 2m as liaison, it makes most sense for us to
plan that. Also, if most are expecting that to be 2m sideband it makes no
sense for me to put 2m or 70cm FM gear in the microwave station to act as
liaison. Or maybe it does and I'll just use it where I can. Maybe I need to
sell a kidney a buy a second IC-910 (or one of them shiny IC-7900s..).

We're using SG Lab transverters, meaning we've got both 2m and 70cm IFs in
play for better or worse.

Having an auto dash keyer would be nice. My arm was getting tired banging
on the J-38 in June. We definitely noticed the imprecise frequency thing,
and part of that was probably sometimes us. Standing out on the asphalt in
the sun with non-locked transverters was interesting. GPS discipline is
something I'm planning eventually. I'll be building in or planning to build
in the keyer and 10MHz ref into the fancier microwave position I'm
planning. Just have to figure out what I need in there.

I do really like the idea of 432 liaison though. It keeps 2m free for
working new stations.

Thanks for the pointers and wow I wrote a wall of text.

73,
Sean WA1TE

On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 9:03 PM Rick R <rick1ds at hotmail.com> wrote:

> If all of your antennas are on the same mast and pointed in the same
> direction, we found it easiest to coordinate uW QSOs using 432MHz. Why?
> Because there is less activity there and interference unlikely. Also your
> uW IF frequencies are likely to be in the 2m range, and you may be blocking
> the uW IF if you're trying to communicate on 2m at the same time. Yes,
> telephone is also very good. And having a keyer that send automatic dashes
> is also helpful so you can send CW dashes while the other station tunes for
> you. Also remember that many folks do not have exact calibration of uW
> frequencies. Even though many are moving to 10MHz locked signals, GPS,
> Rubidium, etc, TUNE AROUND or use a bandscope SDR. GL es 73, Rick, K1DS
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