uW3IY

Dedicated to roving the countryside, and seeking VHF, UHF & microwave activity...

Why am I making a web page? you may ask yourself.
That's a pretty good question, without a good answer.
Because some web space was available (for free?), I suppose...
plus I thought it would keep my mind from wondering
where it will otherwise go....not that that's a problem...but...here we are...

On the other hand...how can we actually be here or there...when we're not really anywhere at all?

The September VHF contest is now history. It was fun, even though conditions were poor-to-average. If you want to read my impressions of it, click here http://members.fcc.net/wseab/sept02.htm

to you by a crazy group of mobile-radio-active nuts...they are fueled by your level of interest...keep the flame burning. MAKE SOME NOISE!!

Here's a sample presentation which was given to a local radio club to provide some inspiration about VHF, UHF, & Microwave Operation

Don't forget

to listen for the weak ones...they won't be moving the meter like this...

Don't forget to point your antenna in the unusual directions...like south, west, and northwest... There are alot of guys out there, who would like some action!!

Band (MHz)	TxPo(W)	Antenna	EIRP(dBm)
50	375	halo/4el	+57/63
144	375	5el/9el	+66/70
222	225	8el	+68
432	185	19el	+69
903	200	32el	+73
1296	125	55el looper	+72
2304	100	76el looper	+73
3456	40	112el looper	+71
5760	10	2ft Dish	+68
10368	10	2ft Dish	+72
24192	0.5	19in Dish	+65
47088	0.03	10in Dish	+52

This amazing device maintains a constant +14.5VDC at the equipment, with battery voltage down to 9V or so. It will deliver 100 Amps!!

A 2nd battery is used in parallel with the vehicle battery to help supply DC current, and I leave the engine running while operating.

I installed high-quality ignition wiring from Magnecor to get the engine noise out of the Rcvr. See it here...

As you maybe gathered from the above links, I am an amateur radio operator ( aka a "ham"). I sort of specialize in the VHF, UHF and microwave radio operation and experimentation sector of ham radio, because I find it more interesting than HF. I have enjoyed ham radio since 1965, when I was licensed as WN3EIY in College Park, MD. I had a ball operating several HF bands using Morse code, and my parents were kind enough to let me erect some pretty big antennas on our house. Later, I was introduced to VHF, and I found it more rewarding to contact other more technically oriented radio amateurs on these higher frequency bands.

I do a lot of operating in amateur radio activities and contests...not so much to compete, but to take maximum advantage of the increased activity that contests generate. There are far fewer hams on the VHF and above bands, as compared to the world-wide communications on HF (shortwave)...and we need all the help we can get. The contests tend to bring everyone out of the woodwork...including myself. I have stuffed most of my gear into a mini-van, and I operate from various locations to help pass out latitude-longitude grid squares to other hams. This classifies me as a rover...Here is my rover vehicle...the official Intergalactic Roving Battle Jitney...

I actually have a few more that I set up on tripods after I get where I'm going...primarily for millimeter-wave communications on 24 and 47 GHz. Believe me, if I could drive with all the antennas erected, it would save a lot of wear and tear on my body, since I typically stop 10-12 times in the course of a busy radio-active weekend. That's a lot of setting up and taking down....but I actually leave most of what you see here erected, in-flight. The long antennas (4el/6m, 9el/2m) on the front have to come off, since they stick out too far to be safe. When I'm driving, I replace them with 6ft versions which can be operated "in-flight". The rear antennas can actually "fly" fairly well (when aimed straight ahead) at mach 6 and below. They glow with an interesting orange-red hue upon re-entry into the atmosphere...especially when I am transmitting with high-power to an earth-bound base station.

The secret to my antenna structure is the use of a 14ft long 2 x 6 inch (pressure treated wood) "diving board" bolted to the luggage rack. This idea was given to me by K8ISK, and it's awesome!! You simply drill/saw holes in the front and rear for your rotor masts, mount the rotors on bumpers/trailer hitches, and the board acts as a pretty robust thrust bearing, nicely supporting the masts with antennas. I use hose clamps to keep the board from flopping up and down on the masts. This approach will work with any vehicle with a luggage/canoe rack. The masts are well-supported at all reasonable speeds (below mach 7.5 or so at least).

I would like to specifically thank Brian, (ND3F), Terry (K8ISK), Owen (K6LEW), and Jim (W4RX) for many helpful suggestions that have made my roving experiences lots of fun, and more successful. These guys are a constant source of great ideas, and their experience and enthusiasm has really helped me out. I am very thankful to many other long-time operators who continue to remain active, and provide a lot of incentive for me to go out and make some contacts. VHF and above is an amazing media where anything can happen, and often does. I would also like to thank Cliff, W6NEC (SK) for showing me his ham station back in 1963, and planting the seed for my interest in real 2-way radio. It was way better than my experiences on CB radio. I got really interested in radio when I worked a guy in Tennessee on CB channel 2 back around 1960. I was on the beach in Ocean City, MD, running a Heathkit walkie-talkie putting out just 100mW! I just had to learn more after this experience.

From aurora, meteor scatter, sporadic-E, troposcatter, rain scatter, and airplane scatter to F2-layer band openings, these higher frequencies hold a wonderfully exciting set of surprises for those who will go out and find them. I completely enjoy the comradery, of my fellow VHF/UHF/microwavers who make every QSO very satisfying to me. Thanks, guys! Keep those radios tuning around, and keep those antennas turning. The next great band-opening may be just around the corner.

I hope that your browsing of this web site can help you to see why I enjoy this aspect of amateur radio so very much. Roving is just awesome. Once you get some portable gear, you can go and find a high-clear location where you can find others like yourself, who enjoy finding activity on the bands. I have good success finding activity on 144.200 SSB. The better the location, the easier it is to find random activity. It's amazing how different the radio propagation is from one location to another. It's lots of fun to go out and help other guys collect a new grid, or just see how well the rigs are working from day-to-day. There are an unlimited supply of potential rover-sites, which can make a new microwave path possible for some new QSOs. It's always necessary to do a site survey, and see if the trees and other potential obstacles are manageable...and if you need permission to operate there. You can find many beautiful places, meet some nice people, and make guys on the other end of a microwave link very happy. You just gotta go out and MAKE SOME NOISE!!! Just DO IT!! ._._.

(I am near LWX (Leesburg Airport), which is west of DCA (Regan National Airport)

This image is primarily a weather indicator, and doesn't usually show microwave propagation enhancement very well. It can help you point your antenna, however, for working rain scatter. This is a very effective means of working dx on 3456, 5760, and 10368 MHz!! Watch out for nearby lightening, though!! If you would like to hear what rainscatter sounds like, click here (350KB) Rainscatter Signal de G3LQR. There is a very good explanation of rain scatter here.... WA1MBA. You can work rainscatter if it's pouring rain between you and the other station, or of you both aim at a distant storm cell. I have only experiences the former method, and it is very impressive. Signals are unexpectedly LOUD between 9cm es 3cm, with loudest signals found on 3cm, from my experience. This is a great way to work stations which are not accessible due to local terrain blockage.

Radar can be a good indicator of microwave propagation. If you go here (Find Your Local Radar) you can pick a radar image near your QTH and look for large ground clutter near the center of the screen. This often indicates that propagation enhancement may be present. It is common after hot humid days, on calm summer evenings.

If you want to predict the expected signal-to-noise ratio for a particular microwave path, YOU CAN DO IT!!

Here is a map of my local area topology made from a software package called Radio Mobile. My Microwave Playground

Here's some background on why you can talk farther than you can see on microwaves. Troposcatter Propagation

The lighter shades of color are mountains. Microwaves like to travel in mountains.

I use the Radio Mobile software program (free!) all the time to identify potential rover sites. It is very effective, and shows you things without all the man-made clutter like roads, cities, etc. Of course you will need to make a site-survey and deal with all these earthly matters, but it's nice to have a pure elevation map for starters. The software is a bit challenging to learn, but it is DEFINITELY worth the effort. You should have a fast internet connection to download all the free digital elevation data (it's quite large, and if you want to cover lots of areas, you will need 100s of MB. (hopefully you at least know someone who can help with his lightening-fast ISP...). The biggest stumbling block for me getting into this software was the necessity of installing all the elevation data in the directory "dted" located in the root directory "C". Thanks to W3IP for setting me straight on this.

Here's another picture that was taken by Mike, W3IP. He came by one evening when there was a beautiful sunset taking place over the Blue-Ridge mountains in the background. The large object on the right is my 52 inch dish. It has a feed for both the 13 & 9cm amateur bands, and makes a very effective antenna system. I usually don't erect it while roving, though, because I am usually in a hurry to stay on schedule in the contests, and the loop-yagis on the rear mast work well enough for most applications. It's nice to have an "ace-in-the-hole", however. The round antenna just to the left of the big inch dish is a 24 inch dish, used for the 6 & 3cm amateur bands. The loop antenna at the top of the mast is a 6 meter omni-directional-horizontally polarized antenna. I have managed to contact Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific ocean using it, when the sunspots were cooperating one day in April, 2000. The rear rotatable mast on the left accommodates yagi antennas for the 70, 33, 23, 13, and the 9cm amateur radio bands. I wish they were up higher, but alas, I am quite happy to keep this monstrosity in the air as-is.

Anyhow...that's all the fun and games for now. I hope to get some more time to play some more with all this website madness, but alas, my brain has had enough for right now. Thanks for reading. So long...and thanks for all the fish...don't give up the ship!

Here's how many times people have been hoodwinked into reading this pseudo-web page...

united we stand...

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