ARRL VHF June 2021 Contest — Bone Weary, Equipment Wary, Early Wrap

The featured image is from EM03 as the sun was setting. I have lots of iconic images from that spot, mostly at sunrise. After the sunset there was a crescent moonrise. This was one of the few places that I was able to step back and take in the surroundings.

Overall Results

During the contest I activated 8 Grids instead of my planned 11. That included four on Saturday (EM11, EM01, EM02, EM03). I dropped EM13 as it was just too late.

On Sunday I activated four grids (EM14, EM24, EM23, EM22). I was too tired to go on to EM21 and EM12. Instead, at 4 PM I headed home for a cool beer and a splash in the pool.

I managed to get 225 QSOs in the log (all are now in Logbook of the World) with 114 multipliers — 177 QSOs on 6 meters, 36 on 2 meters, 6 each on 222 and 432 MHz.

I had a few SSB QSOs with K5TR and WA5RR/R on all four bands from EM02. Most other QSOs were FT8 including EA8DBM strong to EM24. W5ZN worked me on 144, 222, and 432 in every Sunday grid.

I did work FT4 when in EM23 where I found a number of stations, worked most, then everyone left! I found FT4 worked well, but too few people there to make it work.

Rigs, Amps, Computers

Setup started on Thursday getting the rooftop antennas and cables in place. Friday, I shut down the shack (missing a few new 6 meter grids from home over the weekend) and moved it all into the rover. That’s when the challenges started.

On first DC power up, my older TE Systems 170 watt 6 meter amp was completely dead. Couldn’t find the issue, so set up barefoot.

Then the WSJT setup to the IC-9100 and IC-910H had their issues. This was primarily about the audio interface and the settings. I fixed it, fixed it again on Saturday morning, and then again in almost every grid stop. Geez.

N3FJP and JT-Alert worked well. Rather than use N3FJP’s new interface to WSJT, I elected to use JT-Alert due to running two radios. JT-Alert deposits the QSOs into the one logging program.

The 4O3A Azimuth Indicator worked great. I had reworked it to avoid RFI issues and to easily reset it if it did hang up. Worked flawlessly and really gave me confidence I was pointing the antenna in the right direction.

Road Trip — Detours and Parking Lots

My 90 minute opening drive to EM11 turned into just over 2 hours as Texas closed a road and sent me on a long unmarked detour. The Google Maps I was using pointed out that I was going in the wrong direction for about 20 minutes after the detour.

Then as I got closer to my destination, roughly 17 minutes, it locked up entirely. Of course I didn’t recognize this issue at first. Looked at the map, 17 minutes left. Drove some. Looked again, 17 minutes left. Then it dawned on me that I’d either entered another dimension, quite possible, or the app wasn’t working.

There was yet another detour later on Saturday between EM02 and EM03. Fortunately, I know the roads well enough in that area to navigate it on my own with only marginal help from the app.

At the end of the day in EM03, the hotel I reserved called to tell me they were full. But, they did hold my guaranteed room and told me to ring the bell when I got there. I arrived at 11:30 PM to find the parking lot full save for one spot wedged in around a massive truck and trailer. I worried about being blocked in Sunday morning.

I didn’t need to worry, as someone did park very close by. There was just enough room to back out with a few inches to spare between two large trucks. Fortunately, my departure was at 5 AM with no one to watch my tricky bit of driving. Then it was a two hour drive to EM14.

Google Maps tried to get me again on my departure. It would show the route to EM14, I’d select GO and it would run the route to get me home. At 5 AM, it took me a while to figure it out. The mapping program continued to do that at the next stop. Then I moved to Apple Maps, which is now recognizing the latitude and longitude that I use to get me to the next stop. I’ll be deleting the Google Maps app.

Next Time — CQ WW VHF July 17-18

Attempting to learn from my above list of SNAFUs, I’m going to be simplifying my rover operations. That’s easier in the CQ WW VHF contest where it is only 6 and 2 meters. But right now I’m planning to only activate 6 meters. Simplify. Simplify. Simpleton.

I’ll be traveling to the Texas Panhandle. My focus will be support to FFMA award hunters and the grids DM85/86. I’m hoping for a grid line on Friday followed by activating both grids on Saturday before and during the contest. Then I’ll head to DM83/84 on Sunday. In discussions with AA5PR, it sounds like he will activate DM85/86 on Sunday. One way or another we ought to find some openings to help award hunters.

In the Panhandle I’ll be running 6 meters using 300 watts and a 5-element Yagi at 25 feet. Hopefully, that will be a big improvement over my Moxon and 100 watts. I’ve tested the setup this morning with a small gasoline powered generator. It is working! Hurrah. We’ll see what July brings…

Thanks everyone for the QSOs and working my puny signal in the contest.

Hope to see you in the CQ WW VHF Contest.