Texas Panhandler — June 2022 Rove and VHF Contest Results

Nearly as promised in my blog post on my roving plans, I activated DM84, DM85, and DM86, getting quite a few people in the log. All my contacts were using WSJT-X modes. BTW — with any luck at all, they are all in the Logbook of the World under K5ND/R. If not, let me know.

DM85

My DM85 activation happened on June 8th and 9th from my daughter’s small ranch. While there, I logged 196 six-meter QSOs, most occurring on the 9th with a big opening to the northwest, including Japan. I logged my first HL and, on one FT8 sequence alone, decoded 35 JA stations.

In total, Logbook of the World shows 182 six-meter VUCC grids including EA8, G0, ON, HL, and JAs confirmed. Some of those were probably from my DM85/DM86 grid line as well. I also confirmed 9 grids on two-meters. It shows just how good the conditions were in June.

DM84

My DM84 activation happened on June 10th and 11th. I logged 84 QSOs before the ARRL June VHF Contest started and 33 afterward. The temperature hit 105 on the 11th, along with 15 to 20 mph winds. I closed shop about 5 PM and headed to the ranch.

While at DM84, the rancher who owned the cattle shoot where I was set up visited while I was tearing down on Friday. I asked if I could leave my antennas and mast until I returned on Saturday. He agreed, and that saved a great deal of pack-up time.

DM86

My DM86 activation all day Sunday, June 12th, was on the grid line between DM86 and DM85. I used DM86 in the contest, but the LoTW QSOs show both grids. I managed to get 173 QSOs in the log, including an opening to Europe. The best part was providing the grid to a few FFMA chasers in the Pacific Northwest. We had tried last year when I activated this grid line with no luck. This time we got it done.

Like DM84, it was windy and hot with 20 to 25 mph winds and 106 temperatures. The photo at the top of this blog was taken in this same spot right after the antenna setup was completed in the morning. The sun only grew in intensity as the day went on.

Highlights

The primary purpose of the trip to the Texas Panhandle was to take care of our granddaughter Annabelle while her parents were out of town for a conference and getaway break. You can see her nearby testing out the rover setup. You can’t start them too young.

The Panhandle sunsets are always incredible. The nearby photo includes my daughter’s home in the foreground.

It was also great to have a visit from Earl, KD5XB, for setup on Friday in DM84. He drove over from nearby Clovis, NM, to see the setup and learn a few things to get on six meters for DM84 at home and perhaps some roving.

The other highlight and primary goal of the rover activation were providing needed grids for several FFMA chasers and probably for a few that haven’t yet recognized that they are chasing such grids. All three grids are on the FFMA needed list and ranked relatively high.

Lowlights

Moving all your gear from your ham shack into your car means you have a 100% chance of creating lots of problems. Then with each grid setup, new issues arrive. Plus, there are a few equipment failures along the way.

The significant failure for me was an intermittent attenuator on the six-meter amplifier input. Fortunately, at the last minute, I had packed a spare (intuition?) and could first figure out what was happening and then make the replacement.

In Between

Keeping up with all the chatter on VHF-Slack is enormously helpful. I brought a separate laptop (MacBook Air) for this task. At some points, however, it does become a burden to respond to every single request — point my way, drive to a new grid, and more. Still, communicating to implement VHF contacts successfully is necessary and enormously helpful.

I decided to bring along the pushup mast rather than my rooftop rotator setup. That meant I needed about an hour for complete setup and another hour for tear down. That realization made me decide to activate only one grid on each contest day rather than the two I had planned.

Before the contest and when operating from home, I use JTDX. It digs out far more signals, and the operating interface works fabulously. Once in the contest, I switched to WSJT-X to use contest mode.

My challenge is operators who answer CQ TEST with signal reports. They are not providing the needed grid exchange and then are having trouble completing the QSO since I’m sending R back at them instead of a signal report. Oh well, I limped through that.

The other issue is the WSJT-X does not automatically send a 73 at the end. Instead, you need to either send 73 manually or immediately call CQ. The JTDX setup does all this automatically. Perhaps this is an improvement for the WSJT-X team to explore. [I see that the upcoming version 2.6.0 will take care of this per K1JT. Hoorah!]

I also wish I could have put far more two-meter QSOs in the logbook. There were a few opportunities for MSK attempts, and tropo looked good at times. I didn’t have the multi-tasking skills to get it done.

Summary

I’m delighted I could add needed grids to a few station logbooks. It was also fabulous to spend time with my granddaughter during the week and my daughter and her husband on the weekend.

Overall, I’m considering ending my roving ways. At 72, it isn’t getting any easier, and the rewards have diminished considerably. I’ll probably focus on the home station for the future.

Thanks, everyone, for the QSOs and your assistance in making that happen.