CQ VHF Contest Roving — 110° Temperature

Normally when you find a headline on my blog referring to degrees it’s referring to longitude and a satellite rover operation from a grid line. This time it’s referring to the temperature for most of my weekend VHF contest rover operation.

Perhaps that temperature wouldn’t be too much of a problem for most VHF contest rovers. They often operate from their car, truck, or van. Sometimes while driving, other times while set up at some excellent location.

A Stand-Up Operation

My operation, however, is a stationary only operation. Always from some previously scouted out high location with superb visibility to the horizon, often with a full 360° view.

At each location I set up a push-up mast, mount the antennas, fire up the rig, and stand under the tail gate of my SUV making contacts, twisting the mast by hand to point the antenna. I also try to minimize the driving distance between grids to maximize the number of grids and the time of operation. BTW — My new Directive Systems 2 meter rover yagi worked fabulously and with the quick mast mount really helped with set up time.

This type of operation works for me and my approach to roving. While it doesn’t make for maximum points, it does provide me with a typically excellent signal. Plus, I have a lot of fun doing it.

Well, it doesn’t work so well when the sun is beating down and the temperature is approaching and sometimes exceeding 110°. I can tell you from experience.

Grids Activated — Contacts Made

To make some accommodation for the heat, I decided to limit the number of grids I activated and increase the time operating from each grid. So for the CQ WW Contest instead of activating seven grids, I activated just four grids. That worked very well on Sunday, when six meters was wide open and many reported my 100 watts and a stressed moxon as the loudest signal on the band. Of course, that’s also the nature of the magic band.

Overall I made 169 contacts on six meters, 10 on two meters. With 107 multipliers, that brought my score to 20,223. I only had six contacts on FT8.

FT8 Boon and Challenges

My FT8 challenges as a rover continued. You can see my previous post about NA VHF Contest Mode — A Solution Looking for a Problem. I had those typical problems. Lots of people operating normal mode and a few in contest mode. Fortunately, in this contest I could see a number of stations sending either CQ DX or CQ WW. So I knew to try the CQ WW and that they would be in contest mode.

My big problem was that midway through the QSO, I’d lose connection with the IC-9100. That happened despite using the identical equipment and set up that runs in the shack. That was running my MacBook Air.

So, on Sunday I set up an HP laptop with Windows and had the same experience. By that time, I gave up on FT8 and ran SSB contacts. Fortunately, the band was open on Sunday and things went well.

I will also note that FT8 is a huge boon to six meter operation. Early last year I had 296 grids confirmed and came to the belief that getting to 300 was probably out of reach. Then FT8 hit. Now I have reached 400 grids confirmed, mostly using a vertical from home. It’s been a boon indeed!

Grid by Grid March in the Sun

Saturday at 1 PM, I activated EM11 and put just seven contacts in the log. Most of those were FT8 contacts on six meters as propagation was poor to North Texas. By 2:30, I decided to move on to the next grid. I skipped the planned EM12 activation to minimize my time in the sun with set up and to activate a somewhat more rare grid.

At 3 PM, I activated EM21 and put 25 contacts in the log. Six meters was improving. I shut down at 5:30 PM, flagging in the heat, and headed home.

On Sunday, I set up at my favorite spot in EM03 and was on the air by 8 AM. After testing FT8 once more, and finding the same problems, I dropped that mode and worked SSB. Fortunately, six meters was working very well. I put 66 contacts in the log and made a few people happy with a rare grid.

I shut down there at 11 AM and headed to my next favorite spot in EM02, getting setup and on the air by Noon. There the band opened up not only east but also west. That helped with a number of new grids. Overall I put 81 contacts into the log by the time I packed up at 2:30 PM and headed home. I had hoped to run until the close of the contest, but I was toast by this time and needed to shut down.

Overall Thoughts

It may be that my method of roving doesn’t work so well during the June and July contests. Although, I really did enjoy running my mini pileups on Sunday. It could also be that I need to set up my rover differently so that I’m operating from inside the SUV rather than the outside. Of course, that’s always the case — looking at results and determining what to improve. The good news is that I have lots of room for improvement!

I’m looking forward to the Central States VHF Conference this coming weekend. I’ll be putting in some time on Rover Row to see how others are tackling this type of operation. I was at the conference a couple of years ago when it was held in Austin, TX. But while the Rovers were fascinating I wasn’t yet operating that category — I will mention that my home operation with a push-up mast was pretty similar.

Thanks to everyone who worked my rover operation. I hope that I helped with your multipliers.