Limited Rover Antenna Setup — K5ND/R

In December 2018 I updated my rover antennas to a roof mounted rotator and mast system. You can find the original blog post at VHF Contest Rover — New Antenna Setup.

Over the past year that’s worked very well. It got a good workout in the January 2019 contest over 10 grids and traveled to the Texas Panhandle for the June 2019 contest and 8 grids. This month I’ve added a 222 MHz Yagi to max out the bands available to the limited rover category.

I’m using the Directive Systems DSEFO-222-10RS, their ten-element Yagi with an 8-foot boom that matches their other rover Yagis for 2 m and 70 cm.

You can find the photos below and I’ve prepared a somewhat crude drawing to capture the dimensions. There’s not much space between each of the Yagis. But it’s the space that’s available.

Note that I have ordered a DEMI 222 MHz transverter from Q5 Signal. It’s the 25 watt version. I hope to eventually add an amplifier to bring the signal up to the 100 watts allowed for the Limited Rover category.

I plan to do some testing in early December, once the transverter has arrived. I will definitely put everything into action for the January VHF contest.