SEPTEMBER VHF CONTEST 2004
ROVER CATEGORY





OPERATORS

N2SLN -- all planning, driving, operating, and logging, under the callsign N2SLN/R





ROVER VEHICLE

N2SLN personal vehicle -- no pics available





ANTENNA SYSTEM

6 meter Par loop
2 meter 4-element end-mount yagi
2 meter KU4AB loop
222 DownEast Microwave DS222-8 8-el endmount yagi
mobile whips for 6m & 2m





RADIO EQUIPMENT

50:
    Icom IC-706
    100 watts

144:
    Icom IC-706
    7 watts
    Mirage B1016G amplifier at 150 watts

222:
    Radio Shack HTX-100 10m mobile
    50 milliwatts
    Downeast Microwave 222 transverter
    25 watts
    Mirage C2512 125 watt amplifier






DESCRIPTION

The annual ARRL September VHF Contest starts 2 pm eastern time each year, and runs through 11 pm the next day. This was my second solo rover trek. The first was June 2004 with just 50/144 working. I activated 2 grids using rover sites I've used before, both over 1900 feet ASL. Had the weather been better I would have tried to activate FN23 also.

I was again pleased to see the 6m loop exhibit a workable SWR at such low heights. The loop was less than 20 feet above ground, and without the tuner, the SWR was 1.5 to 1 or less. The 4-el 2m yagi performed flawlessly and was a huge improvement over the loop, but it was nice having the 2m loop operational while mobile, and I switched to it while working local station KA2HNG/FN22. The antennas were supported by a stackable pole assembly of a closet hanger rod, an old 2m yagi boom, and a large diameter wooden dowel. The whole thing is hand rotatable thanks to a hose clamp on the wooden dowel taking all the weight. My setup time was a bit over 10 minutes, but tear-down time was much quicker. The mast still gets mounted through the passenger's side rear window. That means I had to keep that window open and keep on operating after half the insect kingdom entered the vehicle.

There was no 6m E skip and no tropo on 144/222. But on the bright side, I found 222 to be a huge assistance again with points, helping to almost triple my June score. I calculated my score, then recalculated it without 222 just to see what impact the band had on my operations. As it turns out, 222 accounted for only 16% of my QSOs, but it provided 42% of my points! It was a great way to end 2004 after feeling glum about my poor results in January and June. The furthest contact was 463 miles (744 km) on 2m with N8ZM in western OH (EN80) when I was at my FN12 site.





POINTS SUMMARY


Band   QSOs    QSO pts.    Mults.
----------------------------------------------
50      26        26        15
144     32        32        18
222     11        22         9
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS  69        80        42
                            +2 grids activated
                            --
                            44


       --- Claimed score = 3,520 ---







If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the N2SLN rover team.